Within this section, you will find a selection of AGTER’s and other authors’ background papers which provide key elements on family farming and food security. Most of them have been published, but sometimes are difficult to access to.

The outcomes of an electronic conference that took place from april to july 2005, on the ‘Future of Food and Small Scale Producers’ are presented in this report. The conference was organised by The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Progressio (formerly CIIR – Catholic Institute for International Relations), The Small and Family Farms Alliance The UK Food Group, and The Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education (TEBTEBBA). "The (...)

What kind of agricultural system can better tackle the biggest present challenges of humankind? to provide healthy food in sufficient quantity to the population of the world, to manage natural resources without destroying them, to provide work to peasants and rural workers unable to be employed in cities or in non agricultural activities, to reduce conflicts and be part of building a peaceful context. We have to add to this list the struggle against the climate global warming. (...)

Two billion human beings out of the six billion that make up the world’s population suffer from malnutrition and 854 million go hungry according to the FAO’s latest estimations for 2001-2003. Three-fourths of the undernourished are either poorly located farmers on poor land with poor equipment, or are former farmers banished to the slums. Understanding the origins of poverty and malnutrition is something absolutely fundamental for being able to fight its causes. This becomes an unavoidable (...)

The highlands of Central Africa are defined by an altitude tropical humid climate, very low urbanization, very small farm-holdings with manual agriculture for family self-consumption. Burundi farmers have confirmed their outstanding capacity to innovate. While most international experts and Burundi agronomists thought since decades that demographic growth and land pressure had become incompatible with the sustainable intensification of the use of natural resources, Burundi farmers have (...)