Hands, M. R. June 2002.
Alley-Cropping as a Sustainable Alternative to Shifting Cultivation. Final Report. Project HND / B7-6201 / IB / 97 / 0533(08). Tropical Forests Budgetary Line. Commission of the European Communities. DG I. Brussels.

Hands, M. R. 1998.
The uses of Inga in the acid soils of the Rainforest zone : Alley-cropping sustainability and soil-regeneration. In : Pennington, T.D. and Fernandes, E.C.M. (eds.) The Genus Inga : Utilization. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. England.

Our global food system is largely based on unsustainable industrial agricultural practices, is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, is controlled by a handful of large corporations and produces unhealthy food. Agroecology is a solution to these increasingly urgent problems.

After decades of being dismissed by mainstream institutions and defended in obscurity by grassroots movements and farmers, agroecology is suddenly in fashion. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, government ministries and even corporations are jumping on the bandwagon. But, are they pushing the same agroecology as developed by pioneering farmers and scientists and pushed for by peasant social movements, or are they seeking to co-opt the concept and give it different content? Rosset and Altieri, two of the world’s leading agroecologists, outline the principles, history and currents of agroecological thought, the scientific evidence for agroecology, the social aspects of bringing agroecology to scale and the contemporary politics of agroecology.

This issue of Farming Matters is about food sovereignty. Food sovereignty is a self-organised, grassroots response to today’s problematic food and farming system. Diverse people, such as producers, consumers, peasants, migrant farm workers and urban citizens, to name a few, are uniting around initiatives to regain control over their food and natural resources.

A publication launched by the African Alliance for Food Sovereignty, showcasing the huge potential of Agroecology to feed Africa, fix broken food systems and repair damaged landscapes, providing abundant healthy and nutritious food sustainably while increasing incomes and improving climate resilience. The publication also illustrates 15 case studies.

Opinion by Million Belay.
We are told that high input agriculture will boost food production in Africa. A persistent worry for Million Belay is the loss of knowledge related to our nutritious, traditional crops if they succeed.

India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is the largest public-works based employment programme in the world. Unanimously enacted by the Indian parliament in 2005, implementation began in February 2006. With an annual budget of six billion US dollars, it now supports some fifty million rural people – larger than the population of Senegal, Mali and Niger combined. This article focuses on the successes, issues and potential of the Act to improve the well being of workers and family farmers.

Le Malawi est confronté à une myriade de problèmes environnementaux, sociaux et sanitaires, y compris l’insécurité alimentaire, la dégradation des terres et la déforestation. Un programme d’agroforesterie promeut la plantation d’arbres pour augmenter les rendements des cultures dans les sols épuisés, lutter contre la déforestation et autonomiser les femmes.

Malawi faces myriad of environmental, social, and human health challenges, including food insecurity, land degradation and deforestation. An agroforestry program promotes tree planting to increase crop yields in previously depleted soils, reverse deforestation, and empower women.
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One way that family farmers improve their resilience to both climatic and economic shocks is to diversify what is produced. More and different crops and livestock, particularly local varieties and breeds are being promoted. Two other options stand out too – bees and trees. These have the added advantages of complementing the production of agricultural crops and enhancing the agroecosystem. In Zimbabwe, the Ruzivo Trust has been promoting beekeeping, and the results are showing the sweet taste of success. Bees can help farmers break out of poverty.

In August 2012, the Seidu family had to cope with the bad harvest. Like many farming families in northern Ghana, they had to adopt the ‘one-zero-one’ strategy for the children and the ‘zero-zero-one’ strategy for themselves. ‘One’ represents a meal, ‘zero’ is no meal. So during the lean season, their four children had breakfast in the morning, nothing at midday, and a meal in the evening.