Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Land Use Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol Agriculture, nutrition and economics through training: A virtuous cycle in rural Ethiopia Elena Urquía-Grande a , Elisa I. Cano-Montero b , Raquel Pérez-Estébanez a, ⁎ , Julián Chamizo-González c a Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain b Universidad Castilla La Mancha, Spain c Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Agriculture Economics Nutrition Training Sustainable development Village empowerment ABSTRACT The Sustainable Development Goals links together agriculture and education for developing countries towards sustainability. In line with these goals this research has done a “grass-root” experience in a rural area of a sub- Saharan country where a small NPO has been working for more than 20 years. Six villages have been chosen where the NPO already had built wells and child nutritional centres. Regularly, the NPO builds and donates the well for the farmers and starts a training program in both agriculture and nutrition on how to create small farms, cultivate several different vegetables. The main objective of this research is twofold; firstly, to identify the farmers’ training preferences. Secondly, to analyze the factors that determine agriculture, accounting or nutrition training courses priorities in small local areas in rural Ethiopia. This research work will follow the exploratory research and “grass-root” case study methodology. The researchers have gone to the NPO´s area with a cooperation project in agriculture, nutrition and accounting training and have surveyed the farmers with quantitative and qualitative surveys. The results will be analysed through multivariant statistics. Farmers’ have described their antecedents, their objectives together with all the projects they are currently managing and their need for training in the three areas: agri- culture, nutrition and accounting. Among the factors that determine their priorities were socio-demographic variables, types of crops, farmers´ financial inclusion, current and non-current assets and their use of income. Also, the reasons for the differences among the villages are reviewed. 1. Introduction Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were developed at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 (United Nations, 2012). The objective was to produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world. This research comprises SDG 2, SDG 4 and SDG 5. First, SDG 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food se- curity, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Agri- culture can provide nutritious food for all and generate decent incomes, while supporting rural development and protecting the environment. The food and agriculture sector offers key solutions for development and is central for hunger and poverty eradication. Second, SDG 4 aims to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning; this research is particularly focused on training farmers in skills for a long-life approach. Finally, this research connects to the aim of achieving gender equality and empowering all women (SDG5) through the training for both male and female farmers. Under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework, much research has been done regarding economics in rural areas, linking advances in agriculture with nutrition and health, with improvement being sought in all these areas to alleviate poverty (Cervantes-Godoy and Dewbre, 2010; Christiaensen and Demery, 2007; Christiaensen et al., 2010; Ravallion and Datt, 2002; Hanjra et al., 2009; Majid, 2004; Minten and Barrett, 2005; Ravallion and Chen, 2005; Sarris et al., 2006; Thirtle et al., 2001, 2003). Not all issues are necessarily important, but according to Maslow (1943), for example, a hierarchy of needs exists in the form of a pyramid. In the base of the pyramid stand the basic needs everybody require to survive such as air, water and food are basic. These are the ones the Non-Profit Organization (NPO) has tried to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.09.005 Received 17 April 2018; Received in revised form 4 September 2018; Accepted 5 September 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: eurquiag@ccee.ucm.es (E. Urquía-Grande), elisaisabel.cano@uclm.es (E.I. Cano-Montero), raperez@ucm.es (R. Pérez-Estébanez), julian.chamizo@uam.es (J. Chamizo-González). Land Use Policy 79 (2018) 707–716 0264-8377/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T