Blog and news
The food security discourse has weak focus on the agro-pastoral systems typical for sub-Saharan drylands. These regions have 40% planetary land cover and host 1/3 of its population - often among the poorest. Much of these lands are degraded for food security and livelihood potentials. Trees are important structural components in these systems and related to attempts of restoration.
Conference organizers have managed to facilitate stimulating discussions in spite of the very short time at hand and, while I am not learning that much about resilience, there are many other insights to be gained!
The demand for protein sources of animal origin is increasing worldwide and the hunt for alternatives is on. Insect derived protein for human consumption and for animal feed is a hot topic and the 2013 FAO-report on the same topic states that innovative ways of producing food to support the growing world population is inevitable.
The best quote of the day: Question: Have you fed the larvae with human biosolds? Presenter: Human biosolids? You mean shit?!!
Food sustains us; it gives us energy to live and feel alive. We love it; we hate it. It makes us laugh; it makes us cry (especially when slicing onions). Whatever the reason, food is highly emotive.
A growing population as well as the growing role of biofuels has set the trend for increased demand on agricultural production systems. Meeting future food and energy demand on limited land area requires intensification in production and, hence, increased investment in the agricultural sector.
In February 2014 experts from SLU Global held the first in the series of workshops supported by SIANI and organized around the theme ‘Sustainable Agricultural Production and Food Security'.
Carbon finance has become a hot topic in rural development, with many governments and civil-society groups looking to leverage the carbon capture potential of trees and soil to raise funds for agricultural and agroforestry projects.
Rodents can not only make people jump in fright, but can also pose serious problems to food security. Although only 20 out 1700 rodent species are qualified as pests, each year they cause harvest losses of approximately 17%, enough to feed more than 25 million Indonesians for a year.