Organic agriculture is not a well-defined package of techniques or recipes. It is not a technological alternative to replace old inputs with new ones. It is the combination of a series of technologies applied to farming communities’ social, cultural, economic, environmental and political dynamics and realities of each farming community.
Fungi and other microorganisms living in the soil are of fundamental importance for the sustainability of ecosystems, mainly because they allow nutrients to flow through the trophic levels by decomposing organic matter.
More than 1,300 years ago, on the slopes of the Ailao Mountains and South of the Red River, the Hani people began to cultivate rice. The geographical particularity of the region together with the creativity and persistence of the Hani people were a symbiotic combination that gave birth to a cultural landscape that today is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site¹ and an FAO World Agricultural Heritage site².
On the morning of 8 September 2022, the sun began to rise in Recife, Brazil, and illuminated the Government Palace of Pernambuco. Fifteen thousand kilometres away, the same sun was setting in the afternoon in Beijing, over the China Agricultural University. Both places were the scene of an important moment for Brazil's northeastern family farmers. Chinese and Brazilian authorities there signed the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in agricultural mechanisation and energy.
We are in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with the predominance of artificial intelligence where technology dominates and controls a big chunk of people’s daily life.
Chocolate is synonymous with cocoa, a product born and brewed from peasant cocoa farmers' labour, toil and sacrifice, predominantly from Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Cocoa beans are refined and manufactured into chocolate far away from the shores and greens that make up the habitat of these farmers. Chocolate is enjoyed by consumers all over the world, with a global industry worth US$ 127.9 billion. It also has a worldwide consumption in 2023 pegged at 7.5 million tons and, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a popular product. Despite the fact that chocolate trade yields great benefits to manufacturers and traders, small-scale and peasant cocoa producers face harsh material conditions. In this article, we explore the factors and challenges Ghanaian producers face.
Although indigenous communities are at the heart of Mexican culture, indigenous women are the most vulnerable in society in the outward-oriented development model. In Mexico, indigenous women farmers in Puebla are working on high value-added agroecological production to address the negative impacts of climate change.
With the collaboration of the International Association of for Popular Cooperation, Baobab, the China Agricultural University (CAU) develops alliances with the University of Brasilia and the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in the areas of bioinputs and agricultural machinery for family agriculture. In 2015, China launched a plan to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers (by 2022, it had fallen by 15% to 50 million tons).
The member of MVIWATA and Word March of Women Tanzania talks about peasants’ struggles in the country. The peasant organization National Network of Smallholder Farmers Groups Tanzania[Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania – MVIWATA] is part of La Via Campesina and the World March of Women Tanzania chapter. The organization has been working on the issue of farmers and peasant rights in the country since 1993. We have talked to Theodora Pius, the Head of Program of MVIWATA and activist of the World March of Women in Tanzania, about the action of transnational companies and capitalist political agendas in the African continent and in her country.
On January 11, 2024, a cooperation agreement between Argentina and China took place. The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding covers areas of cooperation such as genetic improvement, biological inputs, agricultural machinery and equipment, education and training. It aims to outline a concrete work agenda for the development and access to technology for small agricultural producers.
In September 2023, an MoU establishing a cooperation for a Brazil-China center for research, development, and technology production in mechanization of family agriculture was signed by the University of Brasilia (UnB) and China Agricultural University (CAU).The International Association for Popular Cooperation, Baobab, has established a broader agreement between the countries for economic development and technological collaboration, which includes this particular activity.
After undergoing testing and training in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, Chinese family agricultural machinery demonstrated its capabilities in the city of Apodi, representing a notable advancement in agricultural cooperation between China and Brazil.
This article narrates IAPC (Baobab) visit to Baladi Bio Farm, an agroecological farm nestled next to an immense desert in Morocco.
For the first time, a delegation of rural popular organisations participated with a delegation that travelled to China within the framework of the Sino-Brazilian High Level Commission for Concertation and Cooperation (Cosban).
The "National Plan Planting Trees, Producing Healthy Food" was launched at the beginning of 2020, as a decisive action to project “the MST, popular agrarian reform, and agroecology as central axes in the formulation of alternatives to the environmental crisis”, in words of one its coordinators.
This research study aimed at examining, through a community mental health lens, the experiences of the Oñoirũ Agroecological Agriculture Association in Paraguay.
As part of an agreement between the Chinese Agricultural University (CAU), the University of Brasilia (UnB) and the International Association for People's Cooperation (Baobab), 50 Chinese agricultural machines have arrived in Brazil to be tested by UnB and farmers from the Landless Workers' Movement (MST).
In the face of the growing economic and climatic crises that have forced many peasants to abandon horticulture, rural women in Argentina are leading a transition to agroecological production.
Exhibition of 25 precious photos from the Xinhua News Agency Photo Exhibition "Mirror of the National News Agency - Light and Shadow of the Century".
From May 8 to 11, 2025, São Paulo will host the 5th National Agrarian Reform Fair, organized by the MST. Ten years after its first edition in 2015, the event showcases agroecological products from landless workers across Brazil, while promoting food sovereignty, agrarian reform, and social justice.
Cameroon is renowned for its stunning landscapes, ranging from lush rainforests to golden savannas. An inspiring narrative of resilience and innovation is captured by Mercy Dedaa Osei in this article.
Brazilian cities reflect the use and occupation shaped by the male-dominated world. Our cities have been designed and built from a perspective that ignores or disregards women’s presence in decisions about the form, function and mode of access to public spaces.
Cooperativism in Argentina has a long history and has been key to the economic and social organization of rural communities, towns, and cities throughout Argentina’s hinterland.