2015 Side Events

Small Farmer Empowerment and Resilience:

The potential and reality of crop intensification

Empowering smallholder farmers and enhancing their resilience to cope with climatic and other stresses is a major development challenge. Sustainable crop intensification of smallholder farming systems is increasingly recognized as the pathway to address this challenge. Growing political and financial support from governments and donors for such strategies reflects this consensus. However, there are varied, even contrasting meanings and approaches to intensification that are a subject of considerable debate. This panel will offer the perspectives of people working in academic, government, and private sectors on developing approaches to sustainable intensification, leading into discussion of practical approaches to intensification which can make smallholder households more productive, secure, resilient and empowered.

Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Time: 7:30 to 9pm

Location: Dubuque Room, Downtown Des Moines Marriott Hotel

Moderator:

Danielle Nierenberg, President and Co-founder, Food Tank

Panelists:

Caryl Levine, Co-founder and Co-owner, Lotus Foods

Vara Prasad, Program Director, Feed the Future Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, Kansas State University

Norman Uphoff, Professor of Government and International Agriculture, Cornell University

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jim French at jfrench@oxfamamerica.org