Agriculture in Senegal is predominantly rain-fed and so erratic weather patterns present an everincreasing risk to smallholder farmers across the country. Late onset of rain can lead to a reduced growing season; unexpected torrential rain and flash-flooding can lead to farmers losing scarce resources of seed, other farm inputs and...

The socio-economic value of the role of small family farmers in developing countries is a long debated issue. Conventional thinking, points at the social role of small farmers mainly as absorbers of excess labor in rural areas and suppliers of food. In economic terms the relative production efficiency advantage, is...

In its final newsletter of 2016, FAO-Rwanda shares valuable updates and inspiring success stories from our One UN nutrition project to reduce stunting and our Rural Women's Economic Empowerment project. This issue also includes highlights from World Food Day and information on the emergency relief work FAO is supporting to...

Smallholder farmers in Gambia are increasingly facing climate related induced disasters and vulnerabilities affecting their lives and livelihoods. During 2010-2012, farmers faced flash floods, periods of drought, disease infestation, saline intrusion, deforestation and massive erosion of their farmlands resulting in crop failure and reduced food security. ActionAid has introduced agroecological...

This publication was initiated by the FAO Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa to identify, analyse and document existing watershed management practices in the Eastern Africa sub-region that contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. There is opportunity to use this information to inform agriculture and watershed management-related policies, programmes and...

This issue of Farming Matters addresses the intersection of agroecology, food sovereignty and the climate crisis. Climate change is a political problem that highlights the need for systemic change to the way food is produced, processed and distributed. From agroecological practices that build resilience, to social movements that resist land grabbing,...

This one pager summarizes a study on the targeting system adopted in Senegal for implementing food purchases using procurement preferential treatment for small-scale family farming food outputs. The study provide a detailed description of the selection of farmers producing rice in the Kédougou region and discusses how it influenced the...

This issue coincides with a globally historic moment, namely the official launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs, which replace the Millen-nium Development Goals (MDGs), are part of an ambitious global sustainable de-velopment agenda focusing on economic growth, social inclusion and environ-mental protection. Having succeeded in reaching the...

Smoked and dried fish is a vital source of food and income for many African coastal communities. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, about 20-30 per cent of the local catch in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, or Ivory Coast, is consumed as smoked...

The publication contains success stories and describes a methodology that FAO and partners were using in Zimbabwe to manage climate-related risks to crop production and post-harvest handling. It features a description of the Learning Centre approach and captures the voices of farmers who benefited from the project.

Les modèles agricoles sont plus que jamais mis en débat, au Sud et dans les pays du Nord. Défis Sud poursuit son ambition d’éclairer les enjeux sous-jacents aux divers modèles agricoles en publiant un baromètre annuel des agricultures familiales. Approchées et interrogées tant dans leurs dimensions quantitatives que qualitatives, les...

Institutional procurement programmes are spreading throughout Africa, as they offer opportunities for economic inclusion in rural areas by enhancing market access. They can also contribute to increasing income levels, strengthening households’ investments and improving food and nutrition security, in line with the human right to adequate food (De Schutter 2014)....

SACAU CEO Ishmael Sunga represented African agriculture on a global platform when he joined leaders from across the globe in Davos-Klosters in Switzerland. The World Economic Forum’s 47th annual meeting took place from 17th - 20th January 2017 and focused on “Responsive and Responsible Leadership. SACAU participated in discussions on...

The programme’s goals were to increase the food security of smallholder farm households in southern Africa and enhance their livelihoods while conserving and improving the natural resources used for agriculture. The focus of the programme was on developing productive farming systems for smallholder farmers who managed maize-based systems, based on...

This edition provides an account on the activities and results of the FAO Sierra Leone Representation from January to March 2017. Food insecurity and poverty, a major challenge to meet-ing SDGs target 2.1 in sub-Saharan Africa.

The regional workshop, entitled “Engaging agriculture, forestry and fisheries in support to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” was held in Kigali, Rwanda from 19 to 21 September 2016. This event served as an opportunity for FAO to engage more effectively with countries in Africa, through its delivery mechanisms, on...

The paper focuses on the various stressors to which SSF are subject to, whether environmental or socio-economic and how it affects their vulnerability. The study was done in three coastal communities in Ghana that were closely assessed in terms of how multiple stressors combine to affect SSF.

The guide results from the accumulated lessons of many resource persons in many countries on supporting farmer field schools (FFS) in learning and adaptive management for sustainable land and water management. FAO supported the capacity development process through field projects and the field work that underlies the guide was conducted...

The project aims at improving food security and reducing rural poverty of smallholder farmers through providing guidance and technical support to enhance the quality, impact and sustainability of Agricultural Water Management (AWM) investments. Water is crucial to economies and to livelihoods and is central for poverty reduction. Sufficient availability and...

Past agricultural mechanization efforts in Ghana and Nigeria have focused more on the styles of machinery used in western countries or Latin America, where average farm sizes are much larger. While West African countries, particularly Ghana, are still relatively land abundant compared to Bangladesh, seeking the right balance across various...