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.

Aquaculture holds a big potential to satisfy the growing demand for aquatic food. Setting out from lessons learnt in past development projects, our author describes what fish farming systems must look like to fit the needs of smallholders and the environment.

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.

In the Karnataka state of India, the First Agro farm has more than 40 varieties of vegetables on sale, all of them free of chemical residues. Both hotels and restaurants as well as more and more retailers are appreciating the range of certified products from this young enterprise.

How can the private sector contribute to the fight against hunger, poverty and malnutrition in the remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa? This article looks at a model that has been applied in Kenya and Tanzania, addressing the right tools, skills and knowledge to make smallholder production a success.

In 1978, the rural reform began in China, and since then farmers, including the poor ones, have benefited from a steady growth in income and gradually strengthened food security. This article explains how China achieved food security in the past three decades, how the reform process has affected poverty reduction and what aims are established to deal with extreme poverty and child malnutrition for the period of 2011–2020.

Logistics costs play a decisive role in food price development, especially when looking at local agricultural supply chains, e.g. for fruit and vegetables. The logistics cost burden on groceries varies greatly, depending on the prevalent supply chain setup. This article discusses the pros and cons of a traditional supply of agricultural produce into cities versus a modernised logistics setup, involving organised retail chains.

Livestock are critical to building sustainability in food and agriculture. Current and future livestock sector development needs to produce more, from less, and in ways that benefit all. Solving the sector’s challenges requires stakeholders to find common ground and to join forces towards continuous practice change. The Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock is one example of these new ways of working.

Policy-makers often lack information and analytical capacity to effectively monitor how policies impact on different stakeholders. The MAFAP initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization seeks to bridge this gap.

In the early 1980s, Germany’s KfW Development Bank financed the first irrigation project around Mount Kenya. A reliable supply of water was expected to enable farmers to achieve stable yields. In this way, they could not only safeguard their own food supply but also supply new markets and earn themselves an income. The following article takes stock of progress and benefits.

Tropical forage grasses and legumes as key components of sustainable crop-livestock systems in Latin America and the Caribbean have major implications for improving food security, alleviating poverty, restoring degraded lands and mitigating climate change. Climate-smart tropical forage crops can improve the livestock productivity of smallholder farming systems and break the cycle of poverty and resource degradation.

Despite good potential for food production, South Sudan’s agriculture is not feeding its population. The impacts of decades of armed conflict are posing enormous challenges for the sector. Farmer Field Schools seem to be a promising instrument to improve food security and livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the country.