FAO has focused and integrated its work in the Region through three Regional Initiatives. The Initiatives respond to the priorities of member-states and will achieve demonstrable impact in a time bound manner, whilst responding to FAO’s Strategic Objectives. In Africa, the Regional Initiatives were developed based on an in-depth cross-sectoral...

Since 2012, FAO has been working with the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) on a joint programme for  Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women...

Inclusive agribusiness umbrella organisations (which ideally are vertically integrated down to the level of smallholder farmers’ organisations) could be key institutions to contribute to policy dialogue and design from the perspective of the private sector. Furthermore, they have the potential to carry forward the implementation of such policies on the...

Land restoration in northern Niger is making degraded areas productive again, providing economic opportunities in a region where migration has become a tradition. Now, under FAO’s Action Against Desertification programme, these efforts are being expanded to six African countries. This success shows that land degradation around the Sahara is not...

In eastern Kenya, the dry season is getting longer. With less rain, three out of four maize harvests fail. Researchers have identified sorghum as a more suitable crop for the changing climate. Now they have to convince farmers to make the switch.

This working paper examines the development of regional socioeconomic scenarios for West Africa’s development, agriculture, food security and climate impacts. We present four globally consistent regional scenarios framed and outlined by regional experts who crafted narratives and determined key drivers of change. Stakeholders identified the type of actors driving change...

La production industrielle d'huile de palme s'est étendue à travers le monde au cours du dernier siècle, en Asie d'abord et en Amérique latine ensuite. Le développement de palmiers à huile à haut rendement et l'émergence de nouvelles techniques de transformation—qui ont modifié le traditionnel liquide rouge et visqueux en...

Promouvoir le dialogue, encourager des partenariats et trouver des solutions aux défis auxquels sont confrontés les éleveurs: tels sont les objectifs de la Plateforme de pastoralisme et de transhumance, une initiative multipartite lancée en mars 2015 par le Gouvernement de la République centrafricaine. Lors de sa deuxième réunion à Bangui en...

Innovation as a policy goal, normative practice, and a conceptual framing of purposeful human activity, has received increasing attention. The question of what kinds of purposeful innovation might benefit smallholders in developing countries has been raised. This issue presents and analyses the work of Innovation Platforms (IPs) established by the...

The National Committee for the Promotion of Family Farming in DR Congo has drafted and approved an Electoral Strategy for the Farming Community and a Pledge of Commitment addressed to the country’s public authorities and potential political leaders in order to galvanise support for Family Farming in DR Congo.

Rwanda is the first country in the world where women hold a parliamentary majority and new laws have given women rights to land, employment opportunities and education. Now, in the most remote parts of the country, gender equality is going a long way to reducing poverty.

Weaver ants help to protect your fruit and nuts from fruit flies and many other pests. If you don’t have weaver ants in your orchard yet, collect all the nests from an ant colony and transfer them to one of your fruit trees. Help the ants to spread to more...

The strongest El Niño weather episode in the last several decades has caused repeated crop failure, decimated livestock herds and driven some 10.2 million people across Ethiopia into food insecurity, FAO reported as it presented its emergency response plan to urgently protect livestock and rebuild crop production in the Horn...

Civil society has urged governments and public institutions to support the declaration on the Decade of Family Farming and to put in place the appropriate tools required to promote Family Farming in their countries.

El Niño has had an extremely heavy impact on livestock and agriculture in Ethiopia. Shukri Ahmed gives dramatic figures on the consequences of the drought. He also illustrates FAO Response Plan 2016, underlining the need for urgent action and the importance of building resilience.

From our field visits to Ndian Town, Fabe, Meangwe II and Ikondo-Kondo resettlement, we witnessed and heard about the tactics and strategies used by oil palm companies. The devastating impacts that plantations have had in other countries are more or less reflected in this part of Cameroon. We witnessed how...

Soil loss in Ethiopia is an expensive problem, adding up to more than US$100 million every year. The country is locked in a cycle of land degradation and poverty, costing it not just money, but soil and crop harvests as well.

Eritrea is a hot desert strip along the red sea coast with its mountains rising into the central highlands. The western plains extend to the border with Sudan, a vast arid area that receives little rainfall. The IFAD and GEF supported Catchment and Landscape Management Project (CLMP) is working in...

People enjoy cashew nuts, whereas cashew apples are less valued. Leaving cashew apples on the land is an enormous loss of money. However, cashew apples can be processed into a nutritious juice which can be consumed throughout the year.

El Niño conditions have caused the lowest recorded rainfall between October and December across many regions of Southern Africa in at least 35 years. Short-term forecasts from January to March indicate the high probability of continuing below-normal rainfall in the south, signaling that this could become one of the worst...