Few aspects of development policy are better furnished with empirical evidence than the interplay between support for agriculture in the context of rural development and the reduction of poverty and hunger. It is therefore surprising that German Development Cooperation has today largely disengaged from activities in this area: Despite the evidence that practically nothing is more effective and sustainable than combating poverty where it is most often found, namely in the rural areas of poor countries,we fail to take that route.

Water and soils are increasingly becoming a limiting resource for meeting the food requirements
of a growing world population. Integrated concepts for managing natural resources in a sustainable
and environmentally sound manner show encouraging impacts, if applied on a large scale and
over a long period like in Tigray, the northernmost regional state of Ethiopia.

Life without liberty would result in some or the other form of slavery. Liberty cannot be there to a person having an empty stomach.The individual's right to life will have no meaning if the State fails to provide adequate food or food articles.The Indian Constitution provides «right to life» as a Fundamental
Right.That right is given a wide interpretation by the Supreme Court so as to include «right to food» so that democracy and full freedom can be achieved and slavery in any form is avoided.

In November 2004, after a two-year drafting process, the FAO Council adopted the Voluntary Guidelines on the right to food - in effect, a new legal instrument for defending and enforcing the right to food.This article addresses the following questions:
What will this instrument be capable of achieving? Will the effort expended in creating the Guidelines prove to have been worthwhile? And, finally, will the implementation of this new approach to human rights contribute towards reducing the numbers of people suffering from hunger?

Poverty in rural households have deepened in the past two years through world events: unprecedented rises in food and fuel prices were followed by global economic meltdown, all amidst growing climate uncertainty. Balancing water availability within and across growing seasons, water harvesting helps to buffer households against drought. Research on water harvesting in South Africa has focused on rural household livelihoods. Innovative results on appropriate water harvesting technologies and food security facilitation techniques are now being implemented in villages across South Africa.

Fragile states, posing a major challenge of our times, are increasingly becoming a focus of attention in international politics and development cooperation. But very often, the viewpoint of the people affected by fragile statehood is not sufficiently heard. Parts of the international community prioritize their own security policy interests, the motto being the «war on terrorism». People in fragile states, by contrast, are primarily concerned with their own survival and the quest for development opportunities for themselves and their communities.

Until 1978, the Afghan state was weak but stable. In contrast, rural regulatory structures that complemented the state have always been strong. It was only the attempt to establish a strong state on the basis of foreign ideologies and military over the heads of the rural population that ultimately led to chaos and collapse.Whereas the central state sometimes broke down, many state
institutions in the provinces demonstrated remarkable resilience, leading to a definite nation-state consciousness throughout large sections of the population.

Although «urban» and «rural» development are often considered as in opposition to each other and seen as competing with each other for investment and support, many urban centres owe much of their economic base to agriculture. Ironically, one of the best tests of whether rural development is working is whether local urban centres are booming - as increasing agricultural output is served by markets and producer services there, and as real increases in income for a wide range of rural households are reflected in increased demand for goods and services provided by urban-based enterprises.

Agricultural value chains link urban consumption with rural production. Changing demand, as a consequence of urbanization, emergence of «modern» consumption patterns or new trends in international trade, impacts on rural areas along value chains and spills over to marketing and production systems.These rural urban linkages bear challenges but also mutual benefits for producers and consumers and can be promising entry points for development interventions.This is illustrated with the case of the Kenyan potato value chain.

Dans le sillage de la crise alimentaire mondiale de 2007/2008, le Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale (CSA) a subi une profonde transformation. Le processus de réforme est prometteur dans la mesure où il reconnaît le CSA en tant que principal forum mondial débattant de la sécurité alimentaire et qu’il ouvre ses portes aux acteurs concernés, à savoir les organisations de petits producteurs de denrées alimentaires et de consommateurs urbains pauvres.

Le PDDAA est un plan ambitieux de la Communauté des États africains, qui vise à revitaliser la politique agricole du continent et à faire de l'agriculture un instrument essentiel de croissance économique et de réduction de la pauvreté et de la faim. Les résultats obtenus par le PDDAA en termes d'amélioration de la visibilité de l'agriculture africaine au niveau international sont incontestables.

Contrairement à l'idée reçue que la crise alimentaire de 2007-2008 et la crise économique mondiale n'auraient rien à voir l'une avec l'autre, cet article montre que les deux événements sont dus à des causes macroéconomiques comparables. Il montre en outre que les conséquences de ces deux phénomènes ont des effets cumulatifs qui atteignent les personnes les plus pauvres parmi les pauvres dont la plupart vivent dans les zones rurales des pays en développement ?