Hence, improving food security and even economic growth will critically depend on removing the barriers faced by small farm holders and expanding their productive capacity, while paying particular attention to the needs of female farmers. This would entail both the establishment of a comprehensive national framework for sustainable use of resources, and a harnessing of the technology and innovation needed to increase the productivity, profitability, stability, resilience and climate change mitigation potential of rural production systems and forests. Water conservation, soil protection and biodiversity enhancement need to form part of an integrated approach of sustainable land and forest management,3 which must also integrate biophysical with sociocultural, institutional and behavioural variables, while recognizing the multifunctional nature of agriculture. In view of their competitive land uses, many solutions, involving difficult choices, will be reached through open and inclusive discussion and negotiation.