The Africa Solidarity Trust Fund (ASTF) is an innovative Africa-led fund to support Africa for African development initiatives. Its main goal is to strengthen food security across the continent by assisting countries and their regional organizations to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, eliminate rural poverty and manage natural resources in a...

Sub-Saharan Africa is generally characterized by low production and productivity in the agriculture sector, despite rapidly growing human population which calls for closing the production gap in crops, livestock, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries. At the same time, ecosystems are under pressure, a situation which is further challenged by climate change,...

Trees produce timber and firewood, but also fruit, pods, leaves and medicines for people and livestock. Some species help improve soil fertility and reduce local temperatures. The system supports crops and livestock.

Bidco Africa Oil Refineries has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Conservation Agriculture initiative to encourage farmers to take up growing of soya beans and sunflower seeds in a bid to increase the supply of the two crops.

An Open Letter by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food highlighting concern over the Regional Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Plant Varieties by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)The letter highlights concern that the Arusha Protocol is inappropriate for the ARIPO region and the non-transparent...

Based on experience and lessons learned in 2014-15, Africa’s Regional Initiative 2 (RI2) (originally entitled “Integrated Management of Agricultural Landscapes in Africa”) has been revamped for implementation in 2016-17 to sharpen its focus and to make it more programmatic. It takes a food systems approach with two integrated components, namely...

USA/ Statistically, the family farm makes up ninety-eight percent of all American farms, while farmers in general comprise 2% of the work force in the United States. 40% of the crop market is accounted for by 2.5% of nation's total farms, while family farmers produce approximately twenty-seven percent of the...

Integrated soil fertility management is based on maximising the use of organic fertilizers and minimizing the loss of nutrients.

Participatory research approaches are widely being used for promoting the uptake of agricultural integrated innovations. The methods encourage greater knowledge sharing among farmers and give them more confidence in the technology being promoted which in turn brings about wide adoption of the technology in question. Therefore, understanding efficiency and effectiveness...

The FAO Youth Mobility, Food Security and Rural Poverty Reduction (RYM) project aims at mitigating distress economic mobility in Tunisia and Ethiopia. With the support of the Italian Development Cooperation, the project will promote innovative mechanisms and rural development strategies with the objective of mitigating distress migration for rural youth...

The 29th session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa will be held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, at Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire, from 4 to 8 April 2016. Jointly hosted by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Conference is...

The main aim is to reduce costs and improve profitability. Soil health is improved as is soil moisture. Zambia is leading the way in Sub-Saharan Africa and this programme shows how the technique is practised.

Increasing plant populations by reducing the planting distance is a key step to achieving a uniform crop stand and a high yield. On the other hand, when plants are too close to each other this can hamper good crop development. The plants will be thin and will be susceptible to...

Populations in Africa are increasingly exposed to the negative impact of natural and human-induced disasters such as drought, floods, disease epidemics and conflicts which threaten the agriculture production systems and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. The initiative on “Building Resilience in Africa’s Drylands” was developed to enhance the capacity of these...

In an already precarious context characterized by structural vulnerabilities, the socio-political crisis that started in April 2015 has increasingly affected the population in the country with 1.1 million Burundians in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. Access to basic services was restricted and communities were forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms,...

Une colonie d’abeilles peut se diviser en produisant un ou plusieurs essaims de production si elle grossit et devient surpeuplée. Ces essains peuvent s’installer dans des ruches places par les apiculteurs ou bien dans d’autres endroits adapter pour le development de la colonie. Cette fiche explique comment capturer une colonie...

1st March 2016, themed “Home Grown School Feeding: a Conduit for Africa’s Sustainable Development”, will mark the first edition of the Africa Day for School Feeding, to be observed jointly by the African Union Commission, AU Member States and development partners. Niamey, the capital of Niger, will host the official celebrations with...

The experience of the Shashe community in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, is a microcosm of the broader vision of La Via Campesina (LVC). Shashe is a community of peasant farmers who gained their land first through a land occupation, and were then benefitted by the Fast Track Land Reform Program implemented...

Youth employment and hunger are two key issues that have been impacted by the economic crisis. This is particularly true for youth living in developing countries, representing 85% of the world youth. In an attempt to address these issues, the Global Youth Innovation Network, GYIN, has initiated its second Global Youth Summit called the...

Food and nutrition insecurity has been a major challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). With land frontier closing, farmers in SSA must intensify and diversify food production to alleviate food and nutrition insecurity. In the face of climate change, African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) can offer opportunities to diversify production systems and...