CGIAR Initiatives on Agroecology and  Livestock and Climate held a national workshop on “Developing a National Strategy for promoting Feed and Forage Resources in Tunisia” in March 2023. ICARDA, and its key partners in Tunisia (namely the Bureau of livestock and pastures (Office de l’Elevage et des Pâturages), and the Institution of Agricultural Research...

Access to clean and safe water is a prerequisite to meeting basic human rights. Water is indispensable for all productive activities in the sectors of agriculture, industry and energy generation; it is also crucial to the existence of ecosystems and all life within them. However, water scarcity affects more than...

Yemeni honey has a history going far back into antiquity, tracing its origins to the tenth century BCE and gaining global fame for its quality. So not surprisingly, this golden liquid is found in practically every Yemeni home. It helps to sweeten many social events and is not only prized...

How can rain-fed crops grow without rain? That is the question facing farmers in water-stressed regions where rising temperatures, prolonged periods of drought and other impacts of climate change threaten food security and livelihoods. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), climate solutions hold answers to...

There is a special and nutritious cereal food born from the fire. Some call it “farik” or “frik”, but its true name is freekeh, which comes from the Arabic word farak: “to rub”. Norma Kozah Rahmeh and her twin daughters, like other women growers in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, harvest this durum wheat before...

Baraa Al Ali had already lived through a lot when the earthquake struck Syria and Türkiye on February 6. The 44-year-old mother of six from Al Ghab, a district in the governorate of Hama, had been forced to flee her home several times during the 12 years of the Syrian conflict...

Khaled Mohamed and Mohamed Abd ElAziz are two best friends working as farmers in the Oasis of El Kharga, Egypt. They share several commonalities other than being illiterate and having hearing impairments, as both men are married and both have four children. The two were also born into families of farmers...

“I love my town deeply, and I want it to serve as a model for other towns in Lebanon”. These were the words of Hrair, our civilian hero, a 35-year-old man residing in Anjar, located in the Bekaa Governorate. Hrair’s work primarily centers around agriculture, where he plants strawberries and...

The Family Farming Knowledge Platform (FFKP) Monthly Digest showcases the latest contents uploaded in the FFKP to provide its readers with relevant and up to date information on family farming main themes such as agroecology, smallscale fisheries, pastoralism, indigenous people, and more. For more documents, feel free to search in the...

While global food and fertilizer prices have continued to withdraw from their March 2022 peaks, they remain high compared to their 2019–2021 levels. International grain quotations also remain well above their value in preceding years. Tight international grain markets, the ongoing war in Ukraine, uncertainties about the Black Sea Grain...

Gender inequality in Palestine has contributed to the marginalization of women from access and control over available resources including water. This inequality has been entrenched through legal, political and social systems. Palestine’s Gender-Responsive Water Assessment was carried out in the West Bank in 2021 by the Food and Agricultural Organization...

Agrifood systems in the Near East and North Africa are characterized by increasingly degraded natural resources and vulnerability to climate change, rapid population growth and protracted crises. In addition, the region has been affected by conflict that has further exposed the fragilities and worsened the challenges already faced by communities. Conflict...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Virtual Learning Center for the Near East and North Africa (VLC-RNE), has designed an an online training course on Lumpy Skin Disease. The training is designed to support governmental and private veterinarians and specialist staff. . Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is an...

This paper analyses to what extent it would be possible to ensure food availability to the world population by 2050 with two objectives: healthy diets and no farmland expansion. Assumptions were made to project exogenous demand and supply variables. Climate change impacts on crop yields, grazing use intensities and maximum cultivable areas...

The Family Farming Knowledge Platform (FFKP) Monthly Digest showcases the latest contents uploaded in the FFKP to provide its readers with relevant and up to date information on family farming main themes such as agroecology, smallscale fisheries, pastoralism, indigenous people, and more. For more documents, feel free to search in the...

L’Association tunisienne de la permaculture (ATP), ONG tunisienne active, depuis 2015, dans l’agriculture durable et la valorisation de la diversité des semences paysannes tunisiennes, a soumis au gouvernement une proposition pour l’adoption d’un label Haute Valeur Environnementale (HVE) à appliquer sur les exploitations agricoles basées sur les principes de l’agro-écologie,...

Following the detection of foot-and-mouth disease serotype SAT2 (FMD SAT2) in West Eurasia and the Near East in February 2023, a qualitative risk assessment was conducted. Serotype SAT2 usually circulates only in Africa, and so most animals in the region are fully susceptible to infection by this virus. The likelihood...

Understanding the logic behind farmers' choice of adaptive water management practice is important to appreciate the opportunities and challenges they face and to scale targeted solutions effectively. This paper aims to understand the main drivers of change that induce adaptation in water management. The Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework that juxtaposed...

Two in three children between the ages of 6 months and 2 years are not getting the nutrients and food they need for healthy growth and development (UNICEF, 2023). Our food systems are major drivers of this problem. Current food systems processes, such as production, farming, processing and global supply...

The rehabilitation of the northern part of Homs-Hama irrigation network under the European Union-funded smallholder support programme in the Syrian Arab Republic was designed within the context of supporting agricultural productivity and sustainable use of water resources. The comprehensive multidimensional capitalization study led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of...