The abandonment of farmland has become a widespread phenomenon in post-socialist countries that have seen revolutionary changes in their economic systems. The phenomenon is notable in vineyard areas, where abandonment leads to the loss of the unique character of vineyard landscapes. This paper assesses the extent of vineyard abandonment in Slovakia and analyses the driving forces behind it. We used statistical and Corine Land Cover data to map the change in vineyard areas in Slovakia and analyse the pressure of underlying driving forces.

Agricultural development on floodplains contributes to hydrologic alteration and forest fragmentation, which may alter landscape-level processes. These changes may be related to shifts in the seed bank composition of floodplain wetlands. We examined the patterns of seed bank composition across a floodplain watershed by looking at the number of seeds germinating per m² by species in 60 farmed and intact forested wetlands along the Cache River watershed in Illinois.

There has been considerable discussion over the past thirty years on how to define “sustainable agriculture.” During most of this period, sustainability was exclusively considered an environmental issue and was therefore measured as such. The 2030 Agenda requires that all sectors, including agriculture, be considered from the point of view of the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental.

Over the coming 35 years, agriculture will face an unprecedented confluence of pressures, including a 30 percent increase in the global population, intensifying competition for increasingly scarce land, water and energy resources, and the existential threat of climate change. To provide for a population projected to reach 9.3 billion in 2050 and support changing dietary patterns, estimates are that food production will need to increase from the current 8.4 billion tonnes to almost 13.5 billion tonnes a year.

On 25 September 2015, the 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – including 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets – committing the international community to end poverty and hunger and achieve sustainable development between 2016 and 2030. Six months later, a global indicator framework for the SDGs – comprising 230 indicators - was identified to monitor the 169 targets and track progress, becoming the foundation of the SDGs’ accountability structure.

Sustainable agricultural mechanization (SAM) is an essential input for the development of the smallholder farm sector in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The benefits of SAM range from drudgery reduction to improved timeliness of agricultural operations, increased input use efficiency, facilitating sustainable production intensification, ensuring environmental protection, and contributing to make agriculture more ‘climate-smart’. SAM is also important at other levels of the food supply system, for example in post-harvest operations, processing, marketing and transportation.

This report addresses the economic, environmental and social dimensions of agricultural development, with the objective of ensuring food and nutrition security, in terms of availability, access, utilization and stability. It focuses on the livestock component of agricultural systems, given the role of livestock as an engine for the development of the agriculture and food sector, and as a driver of major economic, social and environmental changes in food systems worldwide.

This paper is specifically about agricultural mechanisation: the opportunities provided by mechanisation for intensifying production in a sustainable manner, in value addition and agri-food value chain development, as well as the inherent opportunities implied for improved local economies and livelihoods. The establishment of viable business enterprises agro-processors, transport services, and so forth as a result of increased agricultural mechanisation in rural areas, is crucial to creating employment and income opportunities and, thereby, enhancing the demand for farm produce.

The Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL) and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape (PLAAS) are engaged in a project called Supporting Smallholders into Commercial Agriculture: A social dialogue and learning project. This project has been designed to ensure strong linkages between academic research and processes of social dialogue, policy debate, media dissemination and institutional learning among stakeholders involved in the development of smallholder agriculture. This report documents the proceedings of the first innovation lab.

With Second Level Land Certification (SLLC), farmers gain increased security of tenure: this incentivises them to invest more in their land.

To allow for this productive investment to take place, the Land Investment for Transformation (LIFT) programme is working with micro finance institutions (MFIs) to roll out an innovative financial product: the SLLC-linked individual loan.

Accessing longer terms and larger size loans allows farmers to increase the productivity of their land, graduate from subsistence farming, and become more commercially oriented.

Supporting the agriculture sector

The GoE with technical support from the Land Investment for Transformation (LIFT) programme is issuing Second Level Land Certificates (SLLC) to increase the land tenure security of farmers. As a result, farmers are more willing to invest in their land in a productive and sustainable way. However, to allow for increased productive investment, farmers must have access to improved agri-inputs and technologies that are climate smart: this is currently a challenge in most rural areas.

The overarching aim of the study was to identify ways through which smallholder farmers could be supported to enter the sector.

The objectives of the project were to: