FAO.org

After decades of progress, hunger is on the rise again. The figures from The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017 report show an increase in the absolute number of people affected by chronic hunger and a rise in the global prevalence of undernourishment. Globally, the number of chronically malnourished people is estimated to have increased to 815 million from 777 million in 2015. In 2017, four countries faced a very real threat of famine and many more saw increasing numbers of people facing severe hunger. Protecting livelihoods by providing emergency agricultural assistance from the onset of a [...]

This sourcebook provides an overview of the second, digital edition of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook. The new edition includes new findings, case studies and lessons learned. It also takes into account the changes in the landscape of international climate action since the original edition was published in 2013. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – which encompasses the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – provides an international framework for strong national actions and collective efforts to achieve sustainable development. Climate-smart agriculture, as an approach to achieve sustainable food and agriculture, [...]

There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land, forests and environmental amenities, play in our lives. There are many competing uses for natural resources, and society is challenged to manage them for improving social well-being. Furthermore, there may be dire consequences to natural resources mismanagement. Renewable resources, such as water, land and the environment are linked, and decisions made with regard to one may affect the others. Policy and management of natural resources now require interdisciplinary approaches including natural and social sciences to correctly address our society preferences.  This series provides a collection of works containing most recent findings on economics, [...]

This publication is a compilation of the success stories covering different regions’ landscapes where on-the-ground climate-smart agriculture (CSA) work has been implemented in recent years. Climate change affects all agricultural sectors, from mussel production along Chile’s coastline to floating gardens in Bangladesh. There are many agricultural practices that can achieve the three objectives of CSA, ranging from climate-smart agroforestry systems implemented in the Dry Corridor of Central America to Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) in coconut-farming communities in the Philippines. Whether climate change is experienced slowly over the course of many years, on a seasonal basis or as an extreme [...]

This manual is designed for a four-day training course on climate-smart agriculture that would take the learner from the basics of climate science to the impacts of climate change and the linkages among climate, agriculture and food security. It contains four modules, each addressing a particular aspect and consisting of several sessions that are held either in plenary, as one group, or in smaller work groups. The content and structure of this manual has been developed and tested through fieldwork involving extension agents and agricultural producers in Zambia, Malawi and Viet Nam.  

This report provides an analysis of various dimensions of the resilience capacity of Mauritanian households. The results of the RIMA analysis (Resilience Index Measurement Analysis) provide evidence to demonstrate the factors that enable certain households to overcome shocks and other sources of stress better than others. The report discusses the results of the RIMA analysis according to households’ place of residence, livelihoods, the gender of the household head, and food security status, as well as the impact of shocks on the resilience capacity of households and subjective resilience capacity. The objective of the analysis is to inform the Mauritanian government [...]

Kyrgyzstan experienced an extremely cold winter in 2012, with heavy snowfall followed by a significant spring run-off. This harsh winter led to considerable livestock mortality and price rises for animal products, with a substantial impact on the welfare of livestock herding households. On average, households affected by the harsh winter experienced a 5 percent reduction in food consumption expenditure in the first year following the shock, and 8 percent reduction four years later with respect to households not exposed to this shock (Figure 1). The significant and persistent impact of the harsh winter is particularly evident for the wealthiest households, [...]

Many different policies affect rural migration through their impacts on agriculture, rural development, food insecurity and poverty. As countries at different levels of development face different challenges and policy priorities (as shown in the typology based on rural migration drivers), the migration context matters for related policy formulation and implementation. The challenge for policy-makers is to maximize the benefits of rural migration while minimizing the negative effects and, as much as possible, to create conditions so that migration is a voluntary decision based on real and informed choices. For this purpose policies must aim at: creating attractive rural livelihood opportunities, [...]

Crop diversification is an important policy objective to promote climate change adaptation, yet the drivers and impacts of crop diversification vary considerably depending on the specific combinations of crops a farmer grows. This paper examines adoption determinants of seven different cropping systems in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, and the impact of their adoption on maize productivity and income volatility – using a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model. These cropping systems consist in different combinations of four categories of crops: dominate staple (maize), alternative staples, legumes, and cash-crops. The study finds that relative to maize mono-cropping systems, the vast majority of [...]

Nearly 75 percent of Lesotho’s population live in rural areas and depend on farming for their livelihoods. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is increasing, and arable land is extremely limited (9 percent of the total area). When the El Niño-induced drought struck in 2015, the agricultural sector was strongly impacted, and the Government of Lesotho declared a state of drought emergency. Many households did not plant at all, leading to a drastic decline in food availability and harvest. In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) and the Bureau of Statistics, this project provided [...]