The Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) is a COVID-19 recovery programme that emphasizes food self-reliance, improved nutrition and the development of sustainable, equitable agricultural livelihood opportunities for rural communities in Fiji and five other Pacific Island countries. PIRAS is helping farmers get back on their feet and increase their income...

Following severe forest loss in recent decades, Southeast Asian countries are increasingly employing social forestry as a means to ensure the sustainable development of their forest-dwelling communities. Given the potential of agroforestry to provide multiple ecosystem services, habitat for the maintenance of biodiversity, and the economic and social development of...

In this era when many societies have embraced fast food and convenient, ready-made meals, it was refreshing to watch a documentary on the Korean Air flight back home recently, showing how citizens, chefs and scientists across the globe are increasingly waking up to the importance of nurturing and promoting local...

The Sustainable Ocean Initiative Capacity-Building Workshop for the Wider Caribbean and Central America on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in the Marine Fishery Sector was co-organized by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The workshop was held...

‘Going to the field is compulsory for our students’ – told a professor, ‘…even I go to field regularly. As you see, the knowledge of the farmers is quite poor, particularly about the latest technologies.’ ‘We go to collect data to understand farmer’s problem’ – chirped a student from behind. Our...

In this video, How I Build Soil in My Garden, Nasira Habib explains how nature works to provide nutrients to plants. She also shares her experience of hot and cold composting. Additionally, she tells about the compost water extract.

One of the most important staple foods, rice, is agronomically- and nutritionally-sound and provides the calories needed by around half the world’s population. There is an urgent need to take all necessary actions to produce rice in a sustainable manner in order to fulfil the future demand for food that...

Soil is our lifeline. It sustains life with a variety of foods, holds and filters water to provide us with clean and safe potable water and maintains ecological balance by storing carbon. But there is so much to understand about soil and how it works. Agroecology is a holistic approach...

Humans depend on a thin planetary ‘skin’ made up of life in all its diversity: biodiversity. Agriculture now covers the largest portion (46%) of the global land surface area; its ecological health and resilience in the face of changing climate is therefore critical to human survival. The biodiversity found within...

The Family Farming Knowledge Platform (FFKP) Monthly Digest showcases the latest contents uploaded in the FFKP to provide its readers with relevant and up to date information on family farming main themes such as agroecology, smallscale fisheries, pastoralism, indigenous people, and more.

We met Dal Bahadur Kandel, a farmer in Sundwari village, during an ICIMOD/GRAPE team visit to Karnali Province, western Nepal, in November 2022. Kandel gave us a tour of his traditional farm, a 2,500-m2 property around his home. He showed us the different crops he was cultivating – gourds, melons, cauliflower,...

Reducing food loss increases both food supply and income. This was the case in Thailand, thanks to some simple technical innovations in germinated brown rice processing. A Japanese-funded project brought together FAO, The Thai government and Mahidol University to explore ways in which to reduce food waste in micro-, small...

Millets have finally arrived on the global scene. With 2023 being declared as the International Year of Millets, by the United Nations, the spotlight is on millets. While half a billion people across the globe consume millets as a traditional food, it has taken decades, for it to get its...

This document on consumption-based water management (CBWM) distils and expands on the findings of an expert consultation hosted by FAO and the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR), 29–30 October 2019. The meeting brought together Chinese and international experts to discuss the technical, governance and broader dimensions...

In South Asia, the long-term provision of agro-ecosystem services is threatened by accelerating climate change and undesirable farming practices. Conservation farming could help ensure sustainable ecosystem services and food security. This study was conducted in nine purposively selected districts in west and northwest Bangladesh. Data on conservation farming practices were...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on food security in Indonesia. Ensuring food production and availability is a major concern for policymakers. The Indonesian government has historically made various efforts in this regard, encouraging and providing facilitation to farmers as the main producers of food, such as through...

By installing an integrated farm, you can produce something on every inch of land, while reducing waste and buying fewer inputs. Draw a map of your farm and decide where to grow what crops, trees and vegetables, based on your knowledge of which crops need sun and which grow in...

Mixed crop–livestock systems, the world’s most widespread farming systems, promote farm resilience through diversification and allow for crop–livestock integration (CLI). Intensification and specialization challenge these systems. In Northwest Vietnam, the standard farm model is based on mixed crop–livestock family farms but is shifting towards more specialized farming systems. The aim...

Because of our seed bank, we have native varieties again. By using indigenous seed our costs have reduced as we can grow and keep our own seed. So, we don’t have to depend on the market. In our seed bank, we also train farmers how to grow crops organically, free...

The waters that surround the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Pacific are home to remarkable marine ecosystems. The fish and other marine species they host are deeply intertwined with many Pacific peoples’ cultures, livelihoods and food. But while the communities of these islands continue to consume fish in...