By Ian Scoones. Next weekend the leaders of the G8 gather in Northern Ireland for their annual summit. This year it’s hosted by the UK, and Prime Minister David Cameron…
How can the G8 solve hunger?
The GM debate should not be closed down to what is rational, but opened up to multiple rationalities…. A response to Chris Whitty and colleagues
By Stephen Whitfield, PhD student, Institute of Development Studies (Knowledge, Technology and Society Team) Genetically modified rice / BASF In a recent commentary published in Nature, Chris Whitty…
Could the 3Ds breathe new life into farming systems research?
by Jim Sumberg, STEPS centre research fellow Hans Ruthenberg Hans Ruthenberg’s Farming Systems in the Tropics, first published in 1971, still stands as a classic. Through detailed and systematic treatment…
Contested agronomy: low-level evidence, high-level claims
Demonstrating ‘impact’ has become a strong imperative for those involved in agricultural research. But this pressure has led to some large-scale claims for techniques that have only been tested at…
The limits of ‘evidence’: Evidence-Based Policy-making for African agriculture
By James Sumberg, Martha Awo, John Thompson, George T-M Kwadzo and Dela-Dem Doe Fiankor, Researchers, STEPS Centre Livestock project Agricultural policy makers in Africa are now being dragged into the…
Ghana: take 70,900 metric tons of frozen chicken, add politics
A billboard advertising chicken in Accra, Ghana. By alew on Flickr By Jim Sumberg and John Thompson Convenors, STEPS Centre Livestock project The well known expression – that [something] is…
“Pastoralism” book launch, 29 November, London
On 29 November, we’re launching the book Pastoralism and Development in Africa with a panel debate and drinks reception in Central London, held in association with the Royal African Society….
Pastoralism and Development in Africa: Dynamic change at the margins
This book takes a fresh look at the livestock sector in the Horn of Africa. The region is often in the headlines for all the wrong reasons: drought, famine, conflict…
Land grabs: knowledge and resistance
by Nathan Oxley, STEPS Centre communications officer Shalmali Guttal from Focus on the Global South addresses the opening plenary The Global Land Grabbing II conference at Cornell last week brought…
GLOBAL LAND GRABBING II
See videos, photos, blogs and more from the second international conference on ‘Global Land Grabbing’. The STEPS Centre also has a range of useful resources on land, green and water grabs. Organised…