News & Insights

Why have asparagus flown in from Peru if you can also grow them a stone’s throw away, in Haspengouw? In the Belgian town of Leuven, a short chain platform is being established, aimed at ensuring the town’s inhabitants eat more local produce.

In Peru, Rikolto supports the professionalisation of several cooperatives. In this article we share with you how we strenghtened the business relations between a coffee cooperative and an Australian coffee roasting company.

José María is farmer and president of the cooperative COOSMPROJIN. In his "finquita" he is developing the skills and practices needed to urgently inspire a shift to the conservation of Lake Apanás, a farm landscape in Nicaragua.

Koerintji Barokah Bersama Cooperative, Rikolto’s coffee partner in Jambi, Indonesia, is set to export 15.6 tons of Arabica coffee beans to Belgium. The export could take place due to the collaboration between government institutions, private sectors, NGOs, financial institution, cooperative, and coffee farmers.

Generation Food was launched on Wednesday 25 September. The result of a collaboration between the province of Flemish Brabant, Boerenbond, PROEF, EIT Food, KU Leuven, UCLL, KBC, City of Leuven and Rikolto. The partnership wants to combine their expertise and network in this way to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship.

In 2019, the Peruvian cooperative of Pangoa has once again placed itself on the list of the world's most exquisite cocoas. The Paris Chocolate Salon has traced its name in the list of the 50 most exclusive shows. Read more about how the people of Pangoa take care of their land and business.

In the context of rapidly-growing cities, urban farming helps city residents cultivate limited, vacant lots to produce food for subsistence, and increase their access to fresh produce. This is the second of four stories documented through Food Smart City Communication Learning Cycle activities, 8-12 July 2019.

In 2016, four vegetable farmers’ cooperatives in Jinotega, Nicaragua, started providing safe, high-quality vegetables to 24 national Subway outlets. Facilitated by Rikolto, they devised a business model that puts inclusivity at the forefront. We have examined all the learned lessons of the last 3 years in a comprehensive case study.

In Solo City of Central Java, a group of passionate citizens and hoteliers take more sustainable moves to reduce food waste, while help people connect better with each other. This is the first of four documented stories of Food Smart City Communication Learning Cycle activities, 8-12 July 2019.

How to put 'inclusive business' principles in practice? In this article, we give some examples about how transparency and risk-sharing are reflected in the governance of specific business cases brokered by Rikolto.

Last year, Rikolto tested the implementation of the Standard of Sustainable Rice cultivation with 12 farmers’ organisations worldwide. In a summary report, we share our insights with you.

In the often-crowded central market in the heart of Arusha, Baraka Mponda arranges his fresh vegetables ready for the buyers. He realises that more and more consumers are becoming aware of what they are buying and demand quality safe produce. Read how Rikolto is working together with the Arusha Council to improve public health and build an effective food safety system.

Seaweed cultivation has the potential to improve the livelihood of rural communities living along with the coastal areas of East Nusa Tenggara Province. Seaweed Coordinator of Rikolto in Indonesia, Ziaul Haq, shares some progress and challenges to make this happen.

The Ugandan government is developing a new National Rice Development Strategy for the period 2020-2030. Environmental sustainability is a new item on the agenda. Our colleague John Ereng was invited to provide input on our experience in developing and applying the global standard for sustainable rice.

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Rikolto's Rice Cluster members met in May for a week of field-visiting, cluster meeting and learning exchange in Uganda. During the six-day sprint, rice sector experts from Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Indonesia and Vietnam managed to complete a 2-day meeting to share insights, evaluate progress and explore strategic approaches to move forward within the rice programme.

Rikolto and its partners held the Healthy School Snacks Festival in Solo, seeking to educate and inform schools, parents and public to make healthier food choices.

Rikolto and Akvo held a knowledge exchange session in Bali, on Friday (26/4), that brought together NGOs, researchers and agri-tech companies to discuss opportunities and challenges to ensure that data brings value to smallholder farmers.

Since 2018, Dang Xa cooperative in Hanoi has been using a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) to guarantee that its vegetables are produced according to Good Agricultural Practices. Thanks to PGS, farmers from Dang Xa have been able to increase their access to markets and to better organise their production.

Mamadou Ciss, current Executive Secretary of APROVAG, celebrated his first 1,5 year as coordinator of the Association des PROducteurs de la VAllée fleuve de la Gambie (Gambia River Valley Producers’ Association). We decided to interview him to hear a direct account from the new coordinator of the banana producers’ organisation and a key figure in the project.

Like thousands of vegetables farmers in Honduras. Felix saw every year how excessive rain, pest and diseases of up to 70 percent of his crops. By using hydroponics models, he expects not only to stop his loss but also increase their production.

Rikolto, the National Coffee Board (CONACAFE) and the organization Solidaridad Network signed an agreement to update the national coffee policy in Honduras with a gender focus.

Farmers of Yachik, a commercial brand of small-scale farmer organisations from Pedro Moncayo and Cayambe – rural provinces in the north of Ecuador - are banking on themselves and their agroecological products by taking part in existing urban markets or by organising new ones.

Indonesian farmers are ageing. How can we save the country's agrarian industry and food security? This is not just a question to ponder, but to act upon. Millennials on the Move encapsulates our strategies, activities, progress, lessons and achievement on how we work to rejuvenate the ageing agriculture sector.

On 22 March 2019, the City of Da Nang in central Vietnam adopted its Food Smart City development strategy for 2020-2030 with a vision towards 2045. The strategy is the outcome of a fruitful collaboration between Da Nang’s Food Safety Management Authority, Vietnam National University of Agriculture and Rikolto.

Rikolto hosts 40 young people from the Uganda, Kenya, DRC, Tanzania and Rwanda in a workshop to learn more about food systems in East Africa and how to make them more sustainable. The workshop is organised in collaboration with Young Professional for Agricultural Development (YPARD), and is supported by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

YPARD in collaboration with FAO and Rikolto will organise an interactive workshop where young farmers can interact, learn and share best practices, with a focus on strengthening rural and urban linkages for sustainable food and agriculture.

On January 16, the EAT-Lancet Commission, a group of 30 world-leading scientists from across the globe, released a landmark report on Food, Planet and Health, in which they discuss this Great Food Transformation. In this article we look at a few solutions that Rikolto teams across the globe are already harvesting today to make the Great Food Transformation actually happen.

Integrated farming models, which combine rice cultivation and aquaculture (either fish or shrimp), have been implemented for decades in the Mekong Delta. This model enables the sustainable intensification of food production while diversifying income and decreasing farmers’ vulnerability to crop failure.

What do a smoothie on a home trainer, a bar of Nicaraguan chocolate, a seasonal vegetable challenge and a sandwich with seaweed pesto have to do with a food smart city? Everything, if you ask Michèle, Beate, Philippe, Hannelore and Marieke. They took us along for a trip through the heart of Leuven.