Reductions in Swedish development assistance could affect smallholders in Paraguay

Of: Agnar Kjeller and Juan Felix Martinez Garcia

Next year, almost a third of the development assistance budget may be used to finance the reception of refugees. In the long run, maybe even more. We want to share the great concern this decision creates for people in Paraguay - one of many countries where Swedish development aid makes crucial differences, write agronomists Juan Felix Martinez Garcia and Agnar Kjeller.

December 10, 2015, Debate

Trade agreements and seed laws hit small farmers hard

Of: Annelie Andersson and Edgardo Garcia

The world's small farmers account for 70 percent of the world's food production, even though they only have access to 24 percent of the world's agricultural land. New trade agreements and seed laws also benefit large international companies and make it difficult to survive as smallholders, write the Latin American groups and the Latin American smallholder network CLOC-La Via Campesina Central America.

April 17, 2015, Debate

Should water be used for food or energy?

Of: Terje Østigård

Agriculture, which today accounts for about 70% of the world's total water consumption, can be used to produce food or energy. The need for water and food will increase by 70-90% by the year 2050, while global demand for energy is expected to increase by 50%. The equation simply does not go together and the question is whether food or energy should be prioritized in agriculture, writes Terje Østigård at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI)

March 22, 2014, Debate

Power in agriculture - a prerequisite for saturating the globe

Of: Charlotte Petri Gornitzka

At the same time as development aid means less and less to more and more countries, development aid still has a role to play in accelerating positive development. It can be about supporting projects such as "Powering Agriculture", which today presents 14 innovations for green energy in agriculture. Not all investments will pay off, but any gold nuggets can have enormous positive consequences for people in developing countries. That is the opinion of Sida's CEO Charlotte Petri Gornitzka

December 11, 2013, Debate