Ph.D. thesis: ‘Farming like we’re here to stay’. Fernando Funes Monzote from Cuba defended his Ph.D. thesis in October 2008. The thesis report is available in electronic format directly from the library in the Netherlands. It provides a lot of interesting and valuable details and analyses on integrated agro-ecological tropical livestock systems, of course with focus and starting point on ‘the Cuban case’. For more information, please see the metadatarecord of Wageningen University, or download you can find the pdf version of his thesis (224 pages).

News from the working group: New report on Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa! [November 20, 2008]

A report has recently been launched as an UNEP-UNCTAD Capacity-building Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development: 'Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa'. It is a result of joined forces in order to contribute to the search for sustainable solutions to the food situation. The study examines the potentials for organic agriculture in order to ensure food security in Africa, with particular focus on East Africa.

The conclusions of the study point to the fact that organic agriculture seems to be more sustainable and more conducive to food security in Africa compared to most conventional production systems, and that organic farming - certified or non-certified - contributes considerably to a sustainable solution to the food problems in Africa, when handled in a clever way e.g. integrating knowledge-building, training and social capital development into the implementation. It is crucial to focus on the smallholders and think of organic systems as holistic, well integrated systems.

To read the report, please follow this link.    

The following links are in various ways central and essential to understand issues of organic farming in a development perspective, and/or can inspire to discussion and reflections:

The IAASTD report from 2008, with the overall conclusion ‘Business as usual is not an option’. To read the report, please follow this link (16 mb file - may be difficult to view online. To download, pls right click on the link).