Skip Navigation

Agriculture & Environment: Food security

Opinions

Here is a list of the latest articles

Asia–Pacific Analysis: Refugee malnutrition remains

Child malnutrition among refugees who fled conflict in Myanmar still needs attention, writes Sandy Barron.

28 March 2013 | EN

Africa Analysis: Meat DNA testing can help save species

African governments need to boost local efforts to protect endangered species by supporting DNA testing, argues Linda Nordling.

8 March 2013 | EN | FR

Africa Analysis: Kenya sending the wrong message about GM foods

Kenya has bypassed its own biosafety watchdog in banning GM foods, which will stifle balanced debate of GM in Africa, says Linda Nordling.

7 December 2012 | EN

Man transporting livestock in flood in Pakistan

Why disaster warning and development go hand in hand

To engage people in early action we must understand their experience, behaviour and constraints, says disaster policy expert Andrew Collins.

21 November 2012 | EN | ES | FR

Rice farmer

Foresight studies: shaping the future for food security

The world's food security depends on the quality of the forward-looking agricultural studies we are carrying out today, says Mark Holderness.

2 November 2012 | EN | ES

Gaps in India’s implementation of biodiversity law

Ten years after introducing a Biodiversity Act, India is yet to put it to serious use, say Shalini Bhutani and Kanchi Kohli.

Source: Economic and Political Weekly

7 October 2012 | EN

Women farmers convey messages through theatre

Women farmers can influence policy through theatre

Theatre is a powerful tool to mobilise women farmers in Africa, say agriculture specialists Lindiwe Majele Sibanda and Sithembile Mwamakamba.

3 October 2012 | EN | ES | FR

Agroforestry in Indonesia

Let's add climate knowledge to agroforestry plans

We need to know more about how smallholder agroforestry can help farmers adapt to climate change, write James Roshetko and Rodel Lasco.

1 October 2012 | EN | ES

Women installing solar panels

Putting human rights principles into practice

Looking through a 'human rights lens' can improve S&T programmes, while S&T can help strengthen human rights work, says lawyer Jessica Wyndham.

26 September 2012 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

How research for agricultural innovation works best

Grassroots innovation: no support without solid evidence

A lack of evidence to convince policymakers holds back progress on grassroots innovation in agriculture, say Brigid Letty and Martin Bell.

20 September 2012 | EN | FR

Literacy lessons in Zambia

Public libraries — an underused resource for development

Evidence of impact shows that libraries can be local hubs for community development, says communication specialist Jean Fairbairn.

23 August 2012 | EN

Biomed Analysis: 'Frugal' innovation for good health

The developing world needs support for low-tech health innovations that do not compromise on effectiveness, says Priya Shetty.

15 August 2012 | EN | ES

A child during the Horn of Africa drought in 2011

Supporting an open source approach to development

Development programmes must move away from top-down approaches to empower networks of activity, argues USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah.

Source: USAID

14 August 2012 | EN | ES

Training session at Ethiopia's National Meteorology Agency

We can improve climate information for Africa

A collaborative project in Ethiopia that has created climate data and tools can be applied in much of Africa, says climate scientist Tufa Dinku.

1 August 2012 | EN

Asia–Pacific Analysis: Family planning for prosperity

Countries in South-East Asia must learn from successful family planning programmes if living standards are to improve, says Crispin Maslog.

26 July 2012 | EN

A boy drinking water in South Sudan

Africa's groundwater must be harnessed for communities

Debates around recent estimates of African groundwater storage capacity have been misguided, argue John Thomas and colleagues.

Source: AlertNet

24 July 2012 | EN

Young boys fishing off the coast of Papua New Guinea

Deep sea mining — a dangerous experiment

Pacific governments should not approve deep-sea mining until more is known about its likely impact, says conservation biologist Mellie Samson Jr.

12 July 2012 | EN

Asia–Pacific Analysis: Plan for growth in biotech crops

South-East Asian nations should follow the Philippines down the path to biotech crops for food security, argues Crispin Maslog.

27 June 2012 | EN

Woman harvesting rice, Nepal

Why we need Sustainable Development Goals

Rio+20 must launch SDGs to guide countries through complex development challenges, argues Colombian ministry official Paula Caballero Gómez.

24 May 2012 | EN | ES | FR

Pakistan needs a new crop forecasting system

Pakistan urgently needs to refine its crop yield forecasting and estimation system to improve food production, says Ibrar ul Hassan Akhtar.

16 May 2012 | EN