Secure tenure of farming and forest land is increasingly recognised as an important factor of household food security and nutritional status. This is borne out by a study by the Laotian Land Issues Working Group. It demonstrates mutual impacts, how government land-related policies affect the factors involved, and who the winners and losers are.

A project in Burkina Faso has given a clear demonstration of what supporting family farms can achieve in terms of poverty alleviation and rural development. One important success factor was the transfer of land to farmers, accompanied by a secure land-tenure policy adapted to their needs.

Sierra Leone is one of the least developed countries in the world and is still recovering from a civil war that ended in 2002. Increasingly, the Sierra Leonean government seeks to attract foreign investors through providing opportunities for large-scale land leases for the development of agribusiness. This has triggered a rapid transformation process that poses a considerable threat to food security and social stability. Despite being a pilot country for the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, there is no real change on the ground as yet.

The buying up of farmland by international investors is viewed highly critically. However, sweeping judgements could be inappropriate, as our author demonstrates with survey results from Ethiopia and Uganda.

Formal land titles are rare in pastoral communities around the world. In the past, this presented hardly any problems, since pastoral land was seen as of little use by most outsiders. But with growing competition for areas legal uncertainty is becoming an increasing threat to the livelihoods of pastoralists.

Access to land is key to achieving food security, poverty alleviation, social equity and environmental protection. A brief insight in land governance-related principles and policies of the German development assistance.

Representing 30 per cent of Ghana’s formal trade in maize, the Techiman market serves as the main cereals trade platform within the country and the sub-region. However, its role in the region’s economic development is threatened by several shortcomings. The Municipal Assembly and the Techiman traders have therefore launched an innovative public-private initiative to upgrade the maize market infrastructure.

Grain markets in Africa suffer from a range of constraints. Smallholder farmers are particularly affected owing to their vulnerability to price fluctuations and their weak bargaining position. Many African governments as well as donors reckon with improvements through warehouse receipt systems. The article illustrates the theoretical potential of the WRS and some of the obstacles in setting them up in African countries.

Agricultural development has moved up the agenda. Today it has not only to reduce poverty and hunger, but also become environmentally sustainable and climate smart. Disputes over agricultural policies are highly visible, but consensus exists on fundamentals for growth. It is not just what to do that matters, but also how to do it. Increasingly, the search is not for optimal policy, but for ‘good fit’, or even ‘good-enough’ policy.

The former Soviet Central Asian republics have undergone de-intensification of their livestock sectors, resulting in an increased reliance on natural pastures. Property rights systems are key to the sustainable management of this resource. However, as the authors demonstrate, it is not easy to implement the respective reform processes.

Initiated by an international packaging company and a local retailer enterprise a project was set up in the Jaffna district in 2013 supported by the GIZ “development partnerships with the private sector” (develoPPP) initiative. The project aims at an increased quality and quantity of milk production and medium-term coverage of the regional demand. Within a couple of months, the monthly collected amount of milk has increased from 3,100 litres to 35,610 litres, and the number of participating farmers has increased tenfold.

Market liberalisation in the 1980/90s brought about fundamental changes to marketing structures in Africa, creating new opportunities but also, often, making it more difficult for smallholders to access markets.