Magazine

This magazine focuses on youth e-agriculture entrepreneurship. Young innovators in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific region, have recognized the need for creative solutions to raise agricultural productivity and the huge prospective market for their ICT-enabled services in agriculture. The issue includes articles with many examples and challenges of scaling-up initiatives and ensuring inclusive initiatives and on how to set up healthy, supportive eco-sytems for ICT start-ups in agriculture. It also offers practical advise on how young e-agriculture entrepreneurs can fund their initiatives and on how to develop a business strategy. »

This issue of Policy in Focus (PDF) by the International Policy Centre for inclusive growth (IPC) sought to present readers with a selection of contributing authors and articles that share a holistic interpretation of the human right to adequate food and nutrition. This interpretation reaffirms that its true realisation goes far beyond the mere fulfilment of basic food and nutritional needs but, rather, must incorporate multiple dimensions. The contributing authors featured in this issue present critical analyses of some of the most relevant public policy strategies aiming to overcome challenges towards the realization of these dimensions. »

This issue explores innovative ways to demonstrate that agroecology provides critical solutions to the challenges of our time. Agro-ecology is gaining recognition for its potential to address climate change, biodiversity loss and malnutrition, and many successful examples exist. However, to garner the necessary support in policy and practice, looking differently at ‘progress’, ‘performance’ or ‘success’ of farming and food systems is key. »

In this issue of the Urban Agriculture Magazine the central theme is community involvement in urban food planning. Urban agriculture and food systems are gaining the attention of planners and policy makers across the global south and north. While this emerging planning and policy attention is laudable, it must build on decades of community-led efforts to rebuild urban agriculture and community food systems. Failure to build on these on-the ground practices run the risk of developing policy that is uninformed and disconnected from the lived experiences of people in communities. »

This magazine illustrates how the collective creation of knowledge lies at the heart of agro-ecology rooted in family farming. It presents stories of diverse actors who have jointly created agro-ecological solutions that are suited to their own, local contexts. Agro-ecology can be seen as knowledge-intensive and for successful outcomes the combination of different types of knowledge is essential. In the context of climate change, knowledge co-creation is especially relevant and urgent since developing climate resilient agriculture needs knowledge related to locally rooted adaptation strategies. »

This issue elaborates on the potential of drone technology for agriculture. Drone technology could help farmers around the world monitor their crops, fend off pests, improve land tenure, and more. But to realize its full potential, regulatory regimes are necessary, while keeping citizens’ safety and privacy rights secure. »