CIHEAM Press Review

New African Society, a Sierra Leone-based organization, is working to promote food sovereignty in rural communities in the country's Eastern Province.

“I paid 20,000 CFA francs (€30.50) to ensure my [bean] harvest, and after the drought destroyed everything, the people at OKO paid me 30,000 CFA francs (€45.70). I was really surprised, it's a really good deal ! With this money, I was able to buy a 25-kilo bag of rice to feed my family. I'll definitely be taking out insurance again,” says David Gasso Kobly, a small-scale cocoa farmer in Côte d'Ivoire. This father of five, aged around fifty, is still amazed. In Bahompa, his village of nearly 10,000 (...)

The President of the CIHEAM Governing Board, Mrs Frida Krifca, and the Secretary General of CIHEAM, Mr Teodoro Miano, both newly elected, visited the CIHEAM Agronomic Institute in Montpellier on Thursday 21 September 2023.

The AgriPath project is evaluating the effectiveness of digital, in-person, and hybrid extension services across Uganda, Tanzania, India, Burkina Faso, and Nepal. The five-year project seeks to strengthen country-specific knowledge on gender and youth involvement among smallholder farmers.

The Andalusian regional gov­ern­ment and olive pro­duc­ers are work­ing together to mit­i­gate the worst effects of one of the most chal­leng­ing crop years in his­tory.
The Coordinator of Agriculture and Livestock Organizations (COAG) esti­mated that olive oil pro­duc­tion in Spain’s most sig­nif­i­cant olive oil-pro­duc­ing region fell by 58 per­cent com­pared to the pre­vi­ous sea­son. 

Photo : The Olive Times

As the world is becoming increasingly urbanised, urban food security and provisioning are the focus of growing attention. The inability of current food systems to meet the food demands of urban residents in sub-saharan Africa has been referred to as “the emerging development issue of this century” (Crush and Frayne, 2011, p. 6). While the literature on food security has for long been dominated by discourses on the need to increase food production, the need to consider consumers’ access to food is increasingly relevant in an urban environment where most consumers do not produce their food. Food purchased in markets represents more than 80% of food consumption in sub-Saharan African cities, compared with 50% in rural areas (Tschirley et al., 2020).

The Beira Cheese and Flavours Fair returns this year to the
Pavilhão Multiúsos de Tábua, on 4 and 5 March, with 120 exhibitors.

Projects promoting the growth of forests in Egypt could be the answer for furniture manufacturers and others having to import wood.

A new study on sus­tain­able strate­gies to stem the spread of pests and dis­eases in Italy has shown that organic veg­etable farms can cut phy­tosan­i­tary treat­ments by 40 per­cent com­pared to con­ven­tional farms.
The OrtoAmbiente study, financed by the north­ern Italian region Emilia-Romagna, mea­sured the ben­e­fi­cial impact of an inte­grated organic approach to crop defense over the last three years.

Tunisians in the southern region of the country have demanded a drastic change to state energy policy, after shortages, displacement and exploitation have left communities desperate for their right to a sustainable, viable future.

This website is an updated online flora of the Maltese islands. It provides information an over 10,000 photos of the wild plants found in Malta and Gozo. This page is the INTRODUCTION and MAIN page of the Project/Website where one can select the different pages / sections of this project, such as the main database, comments, botanical glossary, etc. Each plant profile in the database contains nomenclature info, botanical data, plant description, large, high-resolution pictures, images and photos of the plants and its parts, detailed information such as uses, history, habitat, and medicinal properties, pH properties of the flower extracts and more related information. All info is referenced. All material is under copyright and cannot be used without permission of the author (info@maltawildplants.com)

The vastness of the Sinai desert is juxtaposed with the small and hidden spaces that Bedouin women hold. Yet, when one enters these spaces, one realizes that their inner world stretches across the desert, and represents a deeper, multi-faceted and complex world that intersects with our own world. For Bedouin women, part of their heart […]

The African Development Bank signed on Tuesday 23 November with the Kingdom of Morocco a loan of 114,03 M€ intended to finance a part of the Programme of Support for the Inclusive and Sustainable Development of Agricultural and Rural Areas (PADIDZAR).

Women are disproportionately affected by climate change. We need stronger systems, inclusive approaches and data-driven planning to minimize climate-induced disruptions to women’s health and care.

Despite Morocco’s many legal advances in women’s rights, the lack of effective implementation and the existence of legislative loopholes undermines the country’s reputation as open, tolerant, and progressive. In recent years, Morocco has taken substantial steps to establish parity between the sexes in constitutional, family, and criminal law. A sharp social divide exists: While feminist groups work to push legislative standards toward equality, conservatives in non-governmental organizations, judicial institutions, and broader Moroccan society continue to fight to limit the gender parity legislation and its effects. Social and cultural barriers form other key barriers for women’s equality and inherent rights. Economic needs and social traditions tend to favor antiquated female roles as early brides and domestic workers. Education and literacy among girls is still not valued in many corners. This situation obscures the critical contribution Moroccan women make to the local economy; enables even more pronounced levels of poverty and vulnerability, particularly for divorcees, widows, and female heads of household; as well as prevents greater exposure of marginality and violence toward women, especially regarding conjugal and domestic violence. 

Out beyond the city life’s tumult and the cacophonous sounds produced by its traffic, there are places of stillness and quietness to be found. On the outskirts of Cairo, the fields are green, the flowers in full bloom, and the fruits load the trees. Where there are farms, there is tranquility — chances of reconnecting

Yemen's beekeeping industry is 'as old as civilisation itself'. But the ancient tradition is now under threat by the effects of climate change, forcing a hundred thousand enthusiasts into poverty

Most of cen­tral and north­ern Italy increased olive oil pro­duc­tion in the 2022/23 crop year, while the south expe­ri­enced a drop.
Puglia, Sicilia and Calabria, which usu­ally con­tribute a sig­nif­i­cant share of the national out­put, suf­fered from an ​‘off-year’ in the olive trees’ nat­ural alter­nate bear­ing cycle and a series of weather-related issues.

The flowers of Borage (which have a bit of a cucumbery taste), the leaves and the oil from its seeds are used as remedies for a wide variety of ailments.

This year marks Lebanon’s fourth annual olive harvest since an economic crisis began spiraling out of control in late 2019. Some people are forging ahead with their own spins on a traditional craft: olive oil soap.

Même si le poids économique de l’activité agricole a fortement diminué, elle reste un marqueur des espaces ruraux, façonnant les paysages. Il en va de même du secteur industriel, en perte de vitesse sur l’ensemble du territoire, mais résistant mieux dans les territoires ruraux. Ces deux activités structurent, au moins pour partie, les groupes sociaux des résidents, leur sentiment d’appartenance à leur territoire et leurs attentes.

The COP 26 summit in Glasgow that ended last month has seen world leaders attempt (quite unsuccessfully, again) to discuss and agree on measures to combat the climate threat and ensure our children’s future.
We personally witnessed instances of heavy over-exploitation of the steppe, both through over-grazing of livestock and the intensification of agriculture
Rural areas were most affected by the ecological crisis, which might explain why the rebellion grew stronger initially in these derelict and forgotten parts of the country. Based on our long-term experience working with both international organisations and the government in Syria, we know what is at stake if world leaders fail to act on the global climate crisis.