Results

As the world entered lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains around the globe faced serious disruptions, and many producers lost access to markets. The potential closure of wholesale food markets - which supply between 50 and 60 percent of fruits and vegetables in Latin America - posed a major risk to food systems in the region.  In response, FAO and FLAMA, which had initially joined forces to reduce food waste in Latin America, worked together to ensure that wholesale markets could continue to operate safely and efficiently during the pandemic. These markets represent the keystone of food systems,...

Since 2002, the Mountain Partnership, a United Nations voluntary alliance of partners whose Secretariat is hosted by FAO, has worked to improve the lives of mountain peoples and protect mountain environments around the world. Now, with the support of EcorNaturaSi, the partnership is able to leverage private sector expertise to better address some of the challenges that mountain communities face. EcorNaturSì has played a key role in improving the Mountain Partnership Products (MPP) initiative, a certification and labelling scheme based on environmentally and ethically sound approaches. The MPP initiative promotes conservation of agrobiodiversity and preservation of ancient techniques while bolstering short,...

A new programme designed to equip farmers with business and e-commerce skills is set to play an important role in revitalizing rural areas of China. Farmer Field Business School, a training programme developed by FAO with the support of private sector partners, helps farmers in rural areas acquire the necessary skills to improve the quality of their agricultural products and find a greater market for these products online. These business trainings support the SDG Villages Project, FAO’s first project in China to be fully funded by the private sector. In the context of the project, FAO, Guangfa Securities and China...

FAO Members endorsed a new Strategy for Private Sector Engagement 2021-2025 at the last session of the governing Council in December 2020. The Strategy reflects FAO’s new forward-looking vision for strengthening engagement with the private sector towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).As the key person in the core management team who led the consultations and negotiations on the new Strategy, FAO Deputy Director-General, Beth Bechdol speaks about why engaging with the private sector is so important for achieving the SDGs.   2020 ushered in the start of a Decade of Action - a call to speed up progress towards achieving the...

Together with Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and representatives from both the refugee and host communities, FAO launched a new project “Greening the humanitarian response in Uganda: Sustainable and affordable energy solutions for refugee and host communities”.  The project, funded by Innovation Norway in partnership with a local private company, Mandulis, and the Norwegian expertise provider NORCAP, aims to improve living conditions, increase agricultural production and build resilience in the Ugandan refugee settlements of Kiryandongo and Lamwo.  Sustainable and affordable energy solutions for refugee and host communities in Uganda (FAO and Mandulis Energy Limited).