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2008 2007 2006 2005 2003-4 2002 2001 2000 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993

SOFA 2007:
Paying farmers for environmental services

The State of Food and Agriculture 2007 explores the potential for agriculture to provide enhanced levels of environmental services alongside the production of food and fi bre. The report concludes that demand for environmental services from agriculture - including climate change mitigation, improved watershed management and biodiversity preservation - will increase in the future, but better incentives to farmers are needed if agriculture is to meet this demand. As one among several other possible policy tools, payments to farmers for environmental services hold promise as a fl exible approach to enhancing farmer incentives to sustain and improve the ecosystems on which we all depend. Nevertheless, challenges must be overcome if the potential of this approach is to be realized, especially in developing countries. Policy efforts at international and national levels are necessary to establish the basis for such payments. The design of cost-effective programmes requires careful analysis of the specifi c biophysical and socio-economic contexts and consideration of the poverty impacts programmes may have. By clarifying the challenges that need to be addressed in implementing such an approach, this report is intended to contribute to the realization of its potential.

  > Read the Executive Summary
  > Download the full SOFA publication
  > Order SOFA

>	Paying farmers to protect the environment? FAO publishes The State of Food and Agriculture 2007
>	SOFA 2006 Presentation to the FAO Council by Prabhu Pingali, Director, Agricultural and Development Economics Division, November 2006
>	Scientific Facts on Genetically Modified Crops: SOFA featured as the "leading scientific consensus report" by GreenFacts
>	New FAO report on agricultural trade and poverty Agricultural trade reform offers benefits, but the poor could be left behind...
>	Review of the State of Food and Agriculture Presentation to the FAO Conference by Hartwig de Haen, Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Department, November 2005

The State of Food and Agriculture in Asia and the Pacific 2006

This is the first issue of The State of Food and Agriculture in Asia and the Pacific. Its focus on regional dimensions of food and agriculture makes it a complement to The State of Food and Agriculture published at FAO headquarters in Rome, which focuses on specific issues at a more global level.

> Download the full publication

Latin America and the Caribbean

Trends and Challenges in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean

> Read the Executive Summary
> Download the full publication

2008: Bioenergy: Can it fuel a rural renaissance?

2006: Food aid for food security?

2005: Agricultural trade and poverty: Can trade work for the poor?

2003-4 : Agricultural Biotechnology : Meeting the needs of the poor?

2002 : Agriculture and global public goods ten years after the Earth Summit

2001 : Economic impacts of transboundary plant pests and animal diseases

2000 : World food and agriculture: lessons from the past 50 years

1998 : Rural non-farm income in developing countries

1997 : The agroprocessing industry and economic development

1996 : Food security: some macroeconomic dimensions

1995 : Agricultural trade: entering a new era?

1994 : Forest development and policy dilemmas

1993 : Water policies and agriculture