Latin America

This paper in the Food Policy Journal identifies four common misconceptions regarding the nature and importance of farmer seed networks today. (1) Farmer seed networks are inefficient for seed dissemination. (2) Farmer seed networks are closed, conservative systems. (3) Farmer seed networks provide ready, egalitarian access to seed. (4) Farmer seed networks are destined to weaken and disappear. »

This article elaborates on the challenges of collecting sex-disaggregated data. While sex-disaggregated data collection is seen as an important step toward understanding women’s contributions to agriculture and including a gender perspective in agricultural research or development, social norms both in farming communities and research organizations often limit the amount of data collected from women. This reinforces the notion that women are not farmers or producers. »

This paper (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), examines whether local or global food chains are better at delivering food security and safety, decent employment, protecting the environment and contributing to economic growth. Using case studies from Senegal and Peru, the authors show a new and complex reality that challenges ideological views about re-localising food production and consumption. It points to the dilemmas but also to the potential and limits of national policies and food chain practices in a context of market globalisation. »

This year´s annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, takes stock of progress made towards achieving the internationally established Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) and World Food Summit hunger targets and reflects on what needs to be done, as we transition to the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. »

This article in ScienceDaily shows that that small farmers, in many cases women, are the ones preserving landraces of food crops. The researchers looked at new census data from 11 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and combined that data with field observations. »

This issue (PDF) of Farming Matters and Urban Agriculture Magazine is is a co-production between ILEIA and the RUAF Foundation. The issue looks at some existing experiences with strengthened rural–urban linkages and what they teach us about improving food systems for both consumers and agroecological farmers. »