Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, signed financing agreements with Kenya, together with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta. The support provided will focus, amongst others, on supporting smallholder agriculture through access to finance, training or market integration.

An exploratory survey was undertaken in Doyogena district of Southern Nation Nationalities Peoples region of Ethiopia to understand the sheep production system, the breeding practices, selection criteria and sheep production constraints in order to develop a sheep breeding strategy. Data were collected from 107 households using semi-structured questionnaire and group...

The monthly value of EU agri-food exports in June 2016 reached EUR 10.9 billion and, thus, slightly exceeded the export values in June of previous years. EU agri-food imports went down from EUR 9.8 billion in June 2015 to EUR 9.5 billion in June 2016; thus the net trade surplus...

El Niño is the warming of sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific, which occurs roughly every 2 to 7 years, lasting from 6 to 24 months. While the main threat to food production is reduced rainfall and drought in some regions, El Niño can also cause heavy rains and...

Conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen are the prime culprit behind the doubling of undernourished people in the Near East, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today as he visited Beirut, where FAO is opening a new sub-regional office.Lebanon and 14 other countries in the Near East and North...

This assessment targets agricultural water extension agents and technical experts, providing them with clear indications on how to improve water harvesting (WH) capacity for agricultural production in the three case study countries, as well as how to select feasible and suited WH techniques for different geographical areas. It is an...

65 is the average age of farmers, and there are not enough young farmers to replace them. How did we get here?

Du 19 au 22 avril  2016 se tient un « atelier international sur la bactérie «  Xylella fastidiosa » et  «  Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS) : Syndrome du déclin rapide des oliviers’. Cet atelier est organisé par la FAO et la Convention internationale de la Protection des Végétaux (CIPV / IPPC)  et le...

In recent decades, the Swedish agricultural sector has been reshaped by economic change and the restructuring of the labour market, but it is still dominated by family farms dependent on the labour and time of family members. To date, the concept of temporality and time has attracted limited attention within...

In the last century, industrial oil palm plantations expanded around the world, first in Asia, then in Latin America. The development of high-yielding oil palms and new processing techniques—which transformed the traditionally viscous red liquid into a colourless, odourless oil suitable for global markets—made oil palm plantations a lucrative investment....

The EU Common Agricultural Policy after 2020 should mobilise both direct payments and rural development pillars, in order to pave the way for the introduction of much-needed digital technologies in the farming sector, experts in precision agriculture told. The rising demand for agricultural products, combined with the need to protect the...

En Tunisie centrale, l’élevage ovin reste très présent, malgré les nombreuses perturbations auxquelles il fait face depuis les années 1970 : aléas climatiques, évolutions socio-économiques et culturelles, développement des cultures. Ces évolutions entraînent une diminution des ressources issues des parcours. Il s’agit de comprendre comment des familles maintiennent une activité d’élevage...

El Programa Mundial de Alimentos en Ecuador, el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente (MAE), en coordinación con el Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Acuicultura y Pesca (MAGAP), trabajan junto a los gobiernos locales desde el 2011 para mejorar la resiliencia de las comunidades frente a los efectos adversos del cambio climático para...

Supporting small and family-owned farms is among goals of the Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2014-2020. Poland stands as one of the primary beneficiaries of this focus. Poland has one of the highest shares of small farms in its agricultural sector, yet the number of working poor smallholders is high. 73%...

Gender mainstreaming, as a formalized concept, was established by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 and grounded upon international frameworks – both obligatory and voluntary – that provide rationale and commitments upon United Nations (UN) Member States for its implementation. Gender mainstreaming is not an end in...

Farmers have traditionally maintained local seeds, and through them biodiversity, using indigenous knowledge passed through generations. Farmers select, plant, harvest, clean, and store seeds to feed their families today and in the future. They also exchange and share seeds with their neighbors, friends, and relatives. However, these traditional practices are...

The third transnational project meeting for the Farm-Success Project took place in Rome, Italy on the 15-16th September 2016. Representatives from each of the Project’s eight partners attended the transnational meeting; the third of many transnational meetings held throughout the duration of the Project. This third meeting provided a platform...

The Green Gate Organic Farm is the farm operation part of the National Environment Centre (NEC), a vocational education facility part of TAFE NSW Riverina Institute in New South Wales, Australia. The farm was set up in the mid 1990’s. In the process of planning a number of uncertainties were...

Bees and other pollinators are very important for human survival. One third of food produced in the world depends on pollination and bees play the most important role among the pollinators. By pollination, bees contribute to successful agricultural production, to providing food security, and they also assure the nutritional security...

Dairy farming is one of the leading agricultural activities in almost all parts of the world including Eritrea. Dairying in Eritrea is highly subsistence and major contributions come from small scale producers who owns have almost 90 per cent of dairy animal. There is high a demand for milk and...