Article

This article elaborates on how ownership of assets by women could positively influence the development outcomes at the household and individual levels. The research draws lessons out of eight mix-methods projects that evaluated the impacts of agricultural development projects on individual and household assets. The results show that assets both affect and are affected by projects, indicating that it is both feasible and important to consider assets in the design, implementation, and evaluation of projects. »

This article focuses on the urban-rural linkages in the emerging food system. Recent debates on food and agricultural issues emphasize the significance of the spatialization of food systems and location of agriculture. In this emerging food system geography, urban-rural relationships play a significant role in food value chains, food security and nutrition, which is still poorly understood. This presentation explores these issues based on rural-urban scenarios in 2050. »

In this article the authors argue a re-conceptualization of the concept of adoption of technology is needed. The notion of adoption is central to efforts to measure technological change in African agriculture, and plays an important role in the evaluation of return on investment in agricultural research and technology development. However, the adoption concept, as it is commonly used in both the literature and development research practice, is seriously flawed and leads to inaccurate and misleading conclusions.
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his article on the Food Security Portal states that international cereal prices remain significantly below last year’s levels due to abundant global supplies and strong export competition. While the Food Price Monitoring and Analysis of FAO shows that cereal prices are low, the regional story is more mixed. Grain prices continued to decline in most West African countries, but maize prices have soared throughout southern Africa, particularly South Africa and Malawi. »

This article in the Financial Times elaborates on the impact of extreme weather on food prices and on the reasons for the declining global food prices despite climate concerns and the impacts of El Niño. International food prices, including sugar and dairy, have been falling for the past four years, with only one exceptional spike in October, particularly for sugar. The sudden spike in sugar prices illustrated the economic impact of the unusual weather events triggered by El Niño, which is expected to further disrupt commodity prices in 2016. »

This article argues that multifunctional rooftop horticulture is one of the more promising strategies to increase horticulture production in urbanized areas. It summarizes the different models and advantages of rooftop horticulture and provides a review of the main features of rooftop horticulture. It brings together existing experiences as well as suggestions for planning of future sustainable cities. »