Introduction

In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly identified 17 universally applied global goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be reached by 2030. These SDGs are designed to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the compendium of global challenges ranging from poverty to inequality, from climate change to environmental degradation, from prosperity to affordable and clean energy. Most of these challenges are crucial to the development of rural areas. For instance, SDG 2 is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. Specifically, goal 2.a calls for increasing “investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries”.