Land tenure and agricultural reforms are essential components of postwar development. The importance of land use and management systems to livelihood stability and economic growth is especially relevant in Rwanda, where eighty per cent of the population depends on subsistence agriculture in a rural system plagued by conflict over holdings and decreasing production.

Rapidly increasing demand for food, fiber, and fuel together with new technologies and the mobility of global capital are driving revolutionary changes in land use throughout the world. Efforts to increase land productivity include conversion of millions of hectares of rangelands to crop production, including many marginal lands with low resistance and resilience to degradation. Sustaining the productivity of these lands requires careful land use planning and innovative management systems.

In the Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopian highlands, rainfall distribution is extremely uneven both spatially and temporally. Drought frequently results in crop failure, while high rainfall intensities result in low infiltration and high runoff causing soil erosion and land degradation. These combined factors contribute to low agricultural productivity and high levels of food insecurity. Poor land management practices coupled with lack of effective rainwater management strategies aggravate the situation.

BACKGROUND: Maize is the most important staple food in Kenya; any reduction in production and yield therefore often becomes a national food security concern. To address the challenge posed by the maize stem borer, the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) agricultural biotechnology public-private partnership (PPP) project was launched in 1999. There were, however, pre-existing concerns regarding the use of genetic engineering in crop production and skepticism about private sector involvement.

A large number of mathematical models have been developed to support land resource allocation decisions and land management needs; however, few of them can address various uncertainties that exist in relation to many factors presented in such decisions (e.g., land resource availabilities, land demands, land-use patterns, and social demands, as well as ecological requirements). In this study, a multi-objective interval-stochastic land resource allocation model (MOISLAM) was developed for tackling uncertainty that presents as discrete intervals and/or probability distributions.

Japan, with a population of about 125 million, is a major importer of agricultural products. Japan's mountainous topography limits the area available for farming, with a total cultivated land area of around 4.8 million hectares. Farm holdings are small, averaging just over 1.5 hectares.Japan has producer support levels among the highest in OECD, driven in part by food security concerns and memories of food shortages during World War II and its aftermath.

Urban agriculture is potentially an important element of land reform and economic development programmes in South Africa. The social value of urban agriculture, such as improving food security, developing a sense of community and promoting ecological conservation, is well documented. But in order to effectively contribute to development agendas, urban agriculture must also present viable, sustainable economic opportunities. This study sets forth vegetable box schemes as a context-appropriate, economically feasible urban agriculture enterprise for which there is growing consumer demand.

The government of Indonesia allocated state land to private companies to establish forest plantations. However, ownership of this land was contested by some Sumatran communities. The plantation company, endorsed by the government, quickly developed a partnership to resolve the conflict, but this was unclear and inequitable. Action research was carried out to facilitate communication among stakeholders. This communicative action changed some perceptions and shared values began to emerge. A forum was established, which contributed to equitability producing a better partnership.

The rainfall pattern in the Sahel is very erratic with a high spatial variability. We tested the often reported hypothesis that the dispersion of farmers' fields around the village territory helps mitigate agro-climatic risk by increasing yield stability from year to year. We also wished to evaluate whether this strategy had an effect on the yield disparity among households in a village. Based on a network of approximately 60 rain gauges spread over 500km² in the Fakara region (Southwest Niger), daily rainfall was interpolated at 300m×300m resolution over a 12-year period.