News, Events, Bulletins

“Perennialize” Agriculture

Perennial agriculture, including perennial grains, oil seeds and legumes as well as forages and trees can take sustainable intensification to the next level and achieve productivity goals as well as social benefits and functioning ecosystem processes and ... [more]

Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

The Seeds and Plant Genetic Resources Team of the FAO is pleased to advise that the Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (endorsed by the Commission for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at its Fourteenth ... [more]

Supporting Communities in Building Resilience through Agro Pastoral Field Schools

This publication details the development of Agro Pastoral Field Schools (APFS) in Africa from FFS, first developed in Asia. The publication describes the unique challenges of pastoralists and the APFS program itself which  addresses these problems through a multi-functional approach ... [more]

5th Session of the International Treaty Governing Body Concludes On An Upbeat Note

The Fifth Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (GB5) officially concluded on an upbeat note in Muscat, Oman.Delegates at Fifth Session of the Governing Body unanimously agreed to explore ... [more]

FAO collaborates in fight against coffee rust disease in Central America

FAO is collaborating with partners in Central America in the fight against coffee rust, a disease currently posing a serious threat to the region’s coffee crop.Representatives from agriculture ministries and institutions working on coffee met for a regional workshop co-organized ... [more]

Producing quality seeds means quality yields

Some two million small family farms of one hectare or less dot the agricultural landscapes of Central America. In most cases, farmers plant two main staple crops – beans and maize. These fields rarely produced the yields they could have, ... [more]

Seed marketing with SMS

FAO is using novel ways of delivering quality seed to farmers. Last week, national staff from Ivory Coast participated in a training workshop on mobile technology-based information systems, which will help to enhance seed marketing in the country.A two-week training ... [more]

Inauguration of upgraded greenhouse facility for surveillance of wheat rust diseases

Wheat rust diseases are economically the most important diseases of wheat occurring almost in all wheat growing regions. These fungal pathogens frequently evolve and produce new races which can attack the wheat varieties that may have been resistant previously. The ... [more]

Why plant new crops every year? - Re-imagining single-use crops

The world needs to produce food for a population of 9 billion by 2050, while coping with soil and biodiversity losses, water and energy scarcity, and the risks of climate change variability. Perennial crops provide a way to reduce environmental ... [more]

Wheat rust diseases remain a constant but neglected threat

FAO is calling for countries in the global ‘wheat belt’ to step up monitoring and prevention for wheat rusts – fungal diseases that do especially well in particularly wet seasons. Yields could be affected across North Africa, ... [more]

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