Nutrition has become one of the buzz words of the year, like resilience, and landscapes. What they have in common is that they refer to complex situations with political forces competing over the backs of rural and urban communities. The nutrition challenge is clear – with a billion hungry people on this planet and another two billion overweight – it is time to act. Persistent hunger and undernutrition are inexcusable in a world of plenty. But the crucial question is: who should act and how?

Started in 2013 to 2013 by ONGAGDL FAHAMEY IRI BONSE AND COMMUNITY in Twenty (20) villages vulnerable in the center – north of the Region of Tillaberi where The agricultural production system in the target area is based on rainfed agriculture based on the cultivation of millet, sorghum, cowpeas and groundnuts on depleted soils.

In addition, rainfall is low and poorly distributed and there is a gradual decline in productivity (300kg per hectare of millet) and a continuing degradation of existing agroforestry areas are an important source of income and food for people; and a disappearance of the soil itself as a natural resource. Population pressure (human and animal) complicates the scenario, and there is a difficult food situation. A situation made even more precarious by the alternation of good and bad crop years due to drought unpredictable. The people in the area consider rice as a ceremonial meal that is consumed during festivals, weddings and baptisms which often forced the heads of households to sell millet is consumed 12 out of 12 months at a low price to pay for the rice very expensive day parties. Improving the precarious food situation and the fight against land degradation require a diversification of agricultural production systems. The introduction of rice cultivation ponds is on the one hand more adapted to the environment, and other high-performance and high economic potential in production systems represent a promising way to food security; generation of income and environmental protection

Food fairs are an important tool and space to promote food sovereignty as they take place in local public spaces and within people’s own socio-cultural settings. One excellent example was a food fair in Ghana, organised by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD). Women farmers exhibited traditional crops and foods, emphasising their importance for local and national food and nutrition security. The fair reminded community and political leaders of the value of neglected traditional foods. Some years later, it can be seen how this and subsequent food fairs helped to ensure the improved integration of traditional foods and agroecological farming into national food security plans.

Women have been the nurturers of the family and providers of food on land, while men have been providers from the sea. Children are expected to help their parents and other elders in their different tasks. This is the story of the Paulauan traditional family farming system in the western most regions of the Caroline Islands in the Republic of Palau.

The right to food sovereignty is a part of the Plurinational State of Bolivia’s constitution, but what does this actually mean for family farmers? The truth is that many people in rural areas are far from having access to adequate food and nutrition, with 37% of children under five reported to be suffering from stunting caused by malnutrition. Amongst the institutions and initiatives that aim to improve food security and sovereignty, the cuy (or guinea pig) project stands out for the inroads it has made towards improving food and nutrition at the family level.

‘Land grabbing’ has grabbed people’s attention in recent years, but this phenomenon is not restricted to developing countries. In the heart of Europe, young German farmers like Paula Giola are also struggling to retain and regain access to farmland.

After the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas in 1990, former land owners returned to Nicaragua from the USA. They began to take back their former estates through legal and less than legal manoeuvering, driving many rural people off the land they had been cultivating. This ‘agrarian counter-reform’ as it became known, left many hundreds of people landless in its wake during the 1990s and early 2000s. Now a national union has adopted agroecology and is leading the way for peasant farmers to collectively work their way out of poverty and towards a more resilient model of agriculture.

Recurring drought and crop failure in many parts of the world have led to food and nutrition insecurity, and a dependence on food aid. But recently, some farmers in Kenya have been developing their own sustainable way to secure enough nutritious food along with extra income so that they can send their children to school. Traditional drought tolerant, nutritious crops such as cassava, sorghum and millet that were losing popularity due to a surge in maize production are again becoming commonplace, with reliable harvests improving diets and income.

From a situation of widespread undernutrition, consuming fresh vegetables all year round has now become a reality for many Nepali households thanks to their expanding home gardens. But the stories they tell show that the benefits of home gardens are not limited to improving household nutrition. The gardens also help to empower women and conserve biodiversity, two much needed conditions for better family and community nutrition on a broader scale.

Ecuador is going through a substantial nutritional transition. This, coupled with the paradox that rural families that produce food are often those most affected by undernutrition, shows the ironies of ‘modern’ food systems. It also highlights the importance of rural-urban linkages around family nutrition which can help to address such contradictions. This is what we see among families living in two rural villages, San Francisco Alto and Ambuqui, in the north of Ecuador, who through various strategies have managed to achieve healthy, diversified and nutritious diets.