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BookletStrengthening sector policies for better food security and nutrition results: Crops and varieties
Policy Guidance Note No. 15
2021Also available in:
No results found.This policy guidance note is part of a series developed to support governments and their development partners in creating a policy and institutional environment to achieve sustainable food security and nutrition and meet SDG2. This note focuses on crops and varieties, the foundation of agriculture and food production, and outlines policies and actions needed to ensure that farmers have access to quality seeds and planting materials of well-adapted and preferred crop varieties. Good quality seeds and plant materials, of crop varieties which have desirable traits bred into them do not just happen; they have to be developed. This policy guidance note shows how this development depends on a continuum of activities to manage plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), from the conservation of plant genetic diversity, to the effective use of this diversity in breeding productive and nutritious crop varieties, to the delivery of seeds and planting materials to farmers. This note presents practical steps that governments may take in articulating policies and activities, drawing heavily from the Second Global Plan of Action for PGRFA, an internationally agreed framework for the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA. This note helps policymakers to understand the potential of PGRFA to improve food security and nutrition, and to recognise this in their policies. -
DocumentOpening Plenary Session. Chapter One of the Proceedings of the FAO International Symposium on the Role of Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition 2016
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No results found.The opening plenary session contains the texts of the welcome address by José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN; the keynote address by Louise Fresco on "The state of knowledge in biotechnology"; the keynote address by Maurício Antônio Lopes and Dr. Pedro Luiz Oliveira de Almeida Machado on "Biotechnologies in action in Brazil"; and the address, "Breakthroughs in resource productivity" by Gunter Pauli. The FAO international symposium on “The role of agricultural biotechnologies in sustainable food systems and nutrition” took place from 15 to 17 February 2016 at FAO headquarters, Rome. Over 400 people attended, including 230 delegates from 75 member countries and the European Union, as well as representatives of intergovernmental organizations, private sector entities, civil society organizations, academia/research organizations and producer organizations/cooperatives. The symposium encompassed the crop, livestock, forestry and fishery sectors and was organized around three main themes: i) climate change; ii) sustainable food systems and nutrition; and iii) people, policies, institutions and communities. The proceedings provide the main highlights of the symposium which covered a broad range of biotechnologies, from low-tech approaches such as those involving use of microbial fermentation processes, biofertilizers, biopesticides and artificial insemination, to high-tech approaches such as those involving advanced DNA-b ased methodologies and genetically modified organisms.Read the full reportFull report chapter by chapter:
For more information, visit the webpage http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/agribiotechs-symposium/en/. -
Book (stand-alone)Voluntary Guidelines for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Farmers' Varieties/Landraces 2019The cultivation of diverse farmers’ varieties/landraces, which tend to be well-adapted and suited to local production systems, confers increased resilience for crop production. Farmers’ varieties/landraces are also potential sources of traits for crop improvement, especially for developing varieties tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses and for incorporating farmer-preferred traits. Unfortunately, many of these genetic resources have been replaced by modern cultivars in recent decades, resulting in a reduction in the total number of different varieties grown and/or loss of heterogeneity. Such losses make farming systems less resilient, especially to shocks from abiotic and biotic stresses. These guidelines, intended as reference materials for preparing a National Plan for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Farmers’ Varieties/Landraces, will contribute to addressing this continuing loss of diversity. The guidelines are therefore a useful tool for development practitioners, researchers, students and policymakers who work on the conservation and sustainable use of these valuable resources.
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