Wake up now to make agriculture sustainable

UNCTAD Trade and Environment Review 2013
UNCTAD Trade and Environment Review 2013

“The world needs a paradigm shift in agricultural development … to an ‘ecological intensification’ approach,” states the UNCTAD Trade and Environment Review 2013 released yesterday (18 September 2013) in Geneva. “The required transformation is much more profound than simply tweaking the existing industrial agricultural system.”

The new report, titled Wake up before it is too late: Make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate,” is a clarion call for drastic changes to agriculture globally in order to combat hunger and curb further damage to the environment in the face of a changing climate. Read more. . .

The little-understood indigenous African fruit trees

What do ‘monkey bread’, desert date, and jujube have in common?

For one, they are fruit trees native to sub-Saharan Africa, mostly known only in their immediate localities. They are also united by a severe shortage of research data on their nutritional composition. As researchers from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) discovered, information on the composition of these, and seven similar indigenous African tree species, is “limited and fragmented.” Read more. . .

More people, more trees: the pathway to food and nutritional security in Africa

Evergreen farming for food and nutritional security in Africa
Evergreen farming for food and nutritional security in Africa

It is not a very old term, yet a google search of Evergreen Agriculture returns over 10 million hits. What exactly does it involve?

“Evergreen Agriculture is a form of intensive farming of crops with the right trees,” explained Jonathan Muriuki, a Scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). “The ‘doublestory’ system has both food crops and trees, and means higher crop productivity and a diversified income base for farmers. It brings numerous environmental benefits too.”

Muriuki was speaking on 15 July at an ICRAF side event at the  Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6) in Accra. Read more. . .

Photo by World Agroforestry Centre scientist in semifinals of Adaptation Fund contest

Mr. Sumari, an agroforestry Farmer in Jambi, Indonesia, processing his coffee
Mr. Sumari, an agroforestry Farmer in Jambi, Indonesia, processing his coffee

Among the photos that made it to the semifinals of this year’s Adaptation Fund photo competition is one by Hetsi Tata, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) scientist from Indonesia. The photo shows Sumari, a farmer from Jambi, Indonesia, processing coffee beans from his agroforestry farm.

Hesti explains why this photo is a classic illustration of farmers adapting and building resilience in the face of climate change: Read more. .

UK Environment Minister Richard Benyon visits ICRAF Hq

Minister-Benyon visit to ICRAF 18-02-2013
ICRAF DG Tony Simons (L); scientist Dr Katja Kehlenbeck; UK Environment Minister Hon Richard Beynon; and scientific staff. 19 Feb 2013

During a visit to the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) headquarters in Nairobi on 19 February 2013, UK Environment Minister Hon. Richard Benyon said agroforestry had many beneficial spillover effects.

“You are providing [agricultural] practitioners with the ability to increase production sustainably. This work has vast potential to unlock gains to smallholdings that go way beyond agriculture… gains such as stability, progress, and education,” said Hon. Benyon. Read more. . .