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This paper calls for modernization of the rice production sector in Rwanda and analyses the challenges to expanding production, including protective trade measures and a lack of investment in land, infrastructure, and irrigation. (36 pp.) 

Trade Policy Brief No. 32 With agriculture accounting for roughly 70 percent of employment and 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in low-income countries, trade in agricultural products has the potential to significantly affect rural employment, incomes and poverty in these countries. See the complete series: Trade Policy Briefs  

This document summarizes the online discussion Sustaining the impact of capacity development initiatives for African youth in agriculture, which was held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition in Africa (FSN Forum Africa) from 25 October to 17 November 2017. The aim was to solicit opinions on capacity development sustainability initiatives for young agripreneurs in Africa, and to contribute to identifying challenges and opportunities related to sustaining the impact of all interventions (existing and future ones) aimed at developing capacities and engaging youth in agriculture. See all ongoing and past discussion on the Global Forum on Food Security and [...]

The country fact sheet provides a contribution to organizational outcome by monitoring and analysing recent policy trends related to food and agriculture in the specific country, thus providing evidence on what policies are implemented or not in the country and what could be challenges or policy gaps. Thailand country fact sheet provides a glimpse of the overarching agriculture, food security and nutrition policy frameworks and highlight trends in key national policy decisions affecting producers, consumers and trade in the country. The fact sheet synthesizes policy information that is stored in the online policy database, the FAPDA tool. See all FAPDA country fact sheets.

Good institutions are a fundamental pre-requisite to successfully achieve structural transformation in growing developing countries (UNECA, 2016). Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a rapid growth but a weak and slow structural transformation process, which is mainly characterized by the reallocation of labour from agriculture to low skilled services. The focus of this paper is to explore how political and economic institutions affect structural transformation in a panel of 11 sub-Saharan African countries. Our empirical analysis reveals a positive and statistically significant effect of quality of institutions and economic freedom measures on structural transformation between sectors, which translates into movement out of agriculture. Better institutions appear to not improve productivity [...]

Ce Profil national genre des secteurs de l’agriculture et du développement rural a été préparé dans le cadre du projet de coopération technique de la FAO et de la Commission de la CEDEAO portant sur : « la Réponse Genre aux Plans Régionaux et Nationaux d’Investissement Agricole pour relever le défi Faim Zéro dans la région de la CEDEAO ». Le projet couvre les quinze pays membres de la CEDEAO sous le leadership de Bukar Tijani, Directeur General Adjoint et Représentant Régional pour l’Afrique de la FAO et Siga Fatima Jagne, Commissaire de la CEDEAO pour les Affaires Sociales et [...]

The main objective of the Forum is to reach a better understanding of the drivers and impacts of migrations for forward-looking policies and programmes. Speakers Kostas Stamoulis, Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Development Department, FAO Gianni Bonini, Vice-President, CIHEAM Anna Triandafyllidou, Global Governance Programme, EUI Saïd Bhira, Special Counsellor to the Secretary General, UfM Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit at EC - DG DEVCO, European Commission Luca Maestripieri, Deputy Director General, General Directorate for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Leonardo Carmenati, Director, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation At the crossroads of three continents, all Mediterranean countries are areas of origin, destination and [...]

Throughout history, land has been considered a main source of wealth, social status and power. This publication analyses the impacts of legal pluralism on women's land rights in Mozambique arguing that despite Mozambique's progressive legal framework, efforts are still needed to fully achieve gender equitable and socially just outcomes on the ground. With a largely rural population, and limited knowledge of statutory law, customary rules that are discriminatory towards women tend to prevail over the gender sensitive statutory law, undermining women's land rights. Based on FAO field experiences in Mozambique, the document presents the realities of customary justice and challenges faced [...]

FAO encourages sustainable crop production intensification farming practices and technologies that support the development of resilient crop production systems. The approach is founded on a set of science based environmental, institutional and social principles.  

Millions of pastoralists worldwide provide food and important environmental benefits, yet they have little say in policies that affect them. In this video, experts and pastoral representatives discuss the importance of pastoralism and the role of the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub in bringing together various stakeholders to advocate sustainable pastoralism. For more information on the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub, please visit http://www.fao.org/pastoralist-knowledge-hub/en/