Jahrgang 2012

Focus 4/2012: Responsible investments in the food chain
Since the 2007/2008 world food price crisis at the latest, the international community has tirelessly reiterated the key role played by the agricultural sector and rural areas in efforts to combat hunger and poverty. The many years of neglect of the sector in international cooperation – and in many of the policies adopted by the affected countries themselves – is now to be remedied as quickly as possible. Large sums have been pledged and, in the best case, have been deployed. But will those for whom they are intended, namely the smallholders and rural poor, profit from all this investment? What shape must investments take in order that they really reach the target group? And which – desired and undesired – side effects are to be expected? Our authors have explored all these questions and more. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 3/2012: Organic farming
Is organic agriculture, which does not seek output maximisation, able to feed a growing world population, or will it always remain a fine but small niche? Can smallholders in the South achieve stable incomes by converting to organic production? Or is it possibly even grossly negligent to entice them to join the markets – doubtlessly expanding – for organic food as they may never actually be able to enter them due to the high quality standards and entry costs? While our authors do not have simple answers to these questions, they are very instructive. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 2/2012: Cooperatives
The cooperative model has been sidelined for many years now in development cooperation – for various reasons: On the one hand, cooperatives have been completely overestimated as an instrument and were expected to solve a whole bunch of problems at one stroke. On the other hand, they were long misused for state purposes and therefore regarded with mistrust. The fact that the United Nations has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives is a good opportunity to take a closer look at this special form of enterprise. In this issue of Rural 21, we wish to give you an idea of the range of manifestations that the cooperative model has taken worldwide and of the role cooperatives can play in overcoming rural poverty. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 1/2012: Fragility – a huge challenge
Fragility is a huge challenge for rural development – and a very multifaceted one. In our journal, we can only address some of the aspects involved. We look forward to your reporting on your experience in this respect or also on other areas of this highly complex topic at www.rural21.com. Erfahren Sie mehr