Urgenci's Newsletter - The International Network ofCommunity Supported Agriculture. Urgenci's newsletter has been named TEIKEI,«cooperation» in Japanese, as a tribute to the pioneering role of the Japanese organic agriculturemovement in setting up the first Community -supported Agriculture models. It is also a tribute to the victims ofthe March 2011 Earthquake and...

For rural women and men, land is often the most important household asset for supporting agricultural production and providing food security and nutrition. Evidence shows that secure land tenure is strongly associated with higher levels of investment and productivity in agriculture – and therefore with higher incomes and greater economic...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a woody perennial shrub of the Euphorbiaceae family. In view of its favourable agronomic traits, tolerance to abiotic stresses and adverse environments, the crop is produced by small farmers in marginal agricultural areas in the Caribbean as well as other parts of the world. In recent years in...

Born in Venado Island, in the Nicoya gulf of Costa Rica’s Puntarenas province, 44-yearold Sonia Medina Matarrita is part of the fourth generation of a small-scale artisanal fishing family. A single mother, Sonia has taken care of her family of two girls and one boy singlehandedly for the past 13...

The Too Big to Ignore (TBTI) Digest contains all of the project's recent activities and outputs.

The Bosphorus, the narrow strait in Istanbul that connects the Black Sea basin to the rest of the world, hosted a special guest on 12 July. Affectionately named “Bilim” (Turkish for “Science”), the oceanographic research vessel (RV) from Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey was just embarking on...

The objective of the assessment is to analyse the agricultural and rural sector of Zambia from a gender perspective at the macro (policy), meso (institutional) and micro (community and household) levels in order to identify gender inequalities in access to critical productive resources, assets, services and opportunities. In particular, the...

Bluefin Tuna: the move from recovery to management must directly benefit coastal artisanal fleets.

Livestock Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) are “schools without walls” where groups of small-scale livestock producers test, validate, and adapt good agricultural and marketing practices that help them increase their production sustainably and to improve their, and their families’, livelihoods. Over the past two decades, Livestock FFSs have been implemented/supported by...

El Simposio reconoció el papel central de los agricultores familiares en la innovación agrícola. Con este aspecto clave en mente, los resultados principales que extraigo de este Simposio se resumen como sigue: Elementos fundamentales de la innovación agrícola sostenible 1. La innovación requiere un compromiso a largo plazo por parte de diferentes...

A Hungarian master attentively places his basketry utensils while Konobaeva Venera, a weaving master from Kyrgyzstan, packs up after a weaving workshop. Nearby, other masters from Uzbekistan and Hungary prepare for their time slots in the FAO stand at the Festival of Folk Arts, which runs through 20 August at...

The objective of the assessment is to analyse the agricultural and rural sector of Liberia from a gender perspective in order to identify gender inequalities in access to critical productive resources, assets, services and opportunities. In particular, the assessment identifies needs and constraints of both women and men in FAO’s...

This study investigates the determinants of farmers’ crop choice decisions, crop area diversification, and income diversification in Sub-Saharan Africa using nationally representative panel data for Nigeria and Uganda.

En la nueva Constitución, Ecuador incluyó la soberanía alimentaria entre los derechos del buen vivir; es decir, colocó la cuestión agroalimentaria en un horizonte alternativo al régimen alimentario corporativo, priorizando la garantía del derecho universal a la alimentación. De esta forma, se ha planteado la centralidad de los sistemas alimentarios...

Cada año se celebra el Día Internacional de la Mujer Rural el 15 de octubre, fecha establecida en el 2007 por la Asamblea de las Naciones Unidas para reconocer a la “la función y contribución decisivas de la mujer rural, incluida la mujer indígena, en la promoción del desarrollo agrícola y rural,...

Deep rooted problems, great expectations: can the ministerial declaration and regional plan of action signed recently in Malta turn the tide of fortune for small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea?

Montenegro is looking to strengthen the links between agriculture, food and tourism, uniting its mesmerising coastline and spectacular mountains with its traditional foods – ranging from speciality cheeses and cured hams to bitter greens and crisp wines. As part of this agritourism push, at the end of June a Montenegrin delegation...

In May 2017, following decades of civil war and political upheaval, coupled with persistent and worsening drought effects, nearly half of the Somali population (6.7 million people) faced acute food insecurity. With one of the least-developed fisheries sectors – averaging one per cent of the county’s annual gross domestic product...

A survey among seafood professionals, while revealing gender inequalities across the seafood industry in most countries, also provides pointers for positive change.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are playing an increasing role in addressing problems faced by agriculture. The challenges faced by agriculture from climate change alone are enormous and the need for the farming communities to adapt and become resilient is key to feeding the world’s growing population. Harnessing the growth...