The first FAO Training Workshop on the establishment of Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) and risk assessment of pesticide residue took place in Budapest, Hungary, from 8 to 12 November 2010. Fifteen trainees participated in the workshop, thirteen of them coming from developing...[more]

Since the last rainy season, an upsurge of the Migratory Locust is underway in Madagascar. The food security and livelihood of nearly half a million Malagasy households is threatened. From May 2010 onwards, locust swarms have progressively moved northwards from the outbreak...[more]

A successful TCP project in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China to advise on improved management of alfalfa has many lessons for other regions of China, as well as other countries. In addition to finding that old stands of alfalfa need to be replanted and management practices...[more]

Driven by the need to obtain food self-sufficiency and to increase production of export crops, many Governments have, as part of their agricultural intensification programmes, promoted agricultural production systems that rely heavily on toxic pesticides to reduce crop ...[more]

The Crop Calendar provides information about sowing and planting seasons and agronomic practices of the crops grown by farmers in a particular agro-ecological zone.[more]

More than 25 million hectares of cultivated land in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) are potentially threatened by locusts and grasshoppers every year, and infestations have increased by 65 percent since 2006. The three main locust pests (Italian, Moroccan and Asian Migratory...[more]

With support from FAO, eight African countries, members or observers of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), agreed to launch the Forum for African Seeds Testing during the ISTA 29th Congress held in Cologne, Germany, on June 20th 2010.This is an important...[more]

For years, and especially after the 12 January Earthquake, many institutions have implemented seed relief interventions in Haiti. FAO has participated in June 2010 in the implementation of a Seed System Security Assessment in order to better target future seed interventions.[more]

The adoption of sustainable farming practices allows small farmers of cotton in West Africa to increase their yields and incomes, reduce their use of toxic pesticides and protect the environment and their health.These are  the results of a training program for small farmers...[more]

Towns and cities in the world’s developing countries are growing on an unprecedented scale. Ten years ago, an estimated 40 percent of the developing world’s population - or 2 billion people - lived in urban areas. Since then, their numbers have expanded almost twice as fast...[more]