Knowledge investment supporting the adoption of environmentally friendly farm practices is a key driver behind innovation processes in agriculture, yet impact evaluations and financial assessments of existing initiatives remain scarce despite dramatic changes in orientation, organisation and intervention. This report examines the role, performance and impact of farm advisory services,...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union Commission (AUC) on the implementation of the Regional Initiative on Resilience in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.

During the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition, held at FAO headquarters in Rome on 18 and 19 September 2014, stakeholders representing governments, civil society, science and academia, the private sector, and the UN system gathered to discuss the contribution of agroecology to sustainable food systems. The...

La hausse des prix alimentaires au Sénégal était telle que les Sénégalais ne pouvaient même pas acheter des produits de base car tout était importé. Sans accès à des semences de bonne qualité, ils ne pouvaient pas produire leur propre nourriture. Un projet visant à cultiver des semences de meilleure...

The sector of organic agriculture is continuously developing, involving more and more new enterprises, but the number of certified organic farms has stabilized, and in 2013 it reached 3473 farms. Lately, the areas of agricultural land used by organic farms show a stable growing trend. In 2013, similar to other...

El INTA promueve la agroecología como sistema de producción alternativo al modelo convencional de monocultivo, la diversidad es su eje central. Maximiliano Pérez, Licenciado en Biología e investigador del Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Agricultura Familiar de la Región Pampeana (IPAF) del INTA, afirmó que “la agroecología pone...

Mediante un Modelo de Regresión Logística se analiza la participación laboral de las mujeres rurales y los factores asociados. Se observa un aumento en la tasa de participación con reducidos niveles de desempleo,no obstante persistir brechas y precarización de las condiciones de trabajo. Mujeres con mejor preparación y con actitudes...

The biggest challenge we face now is the limited awareness of ecological practices and lack of land for smallholders. We are very much against the current push for hybrids and GMOs and the dependence that comes with them. Thus we call upon our government to declare Tanzania free of such...

This Blog article resumes the work FAO is undertaking with the European Union under the Millennium Development Goal 1c programme (MDG1c) to support smallholder farmers to develop improved post-harvest techniques. Since the inception of the project, over 260 artisans were trained in 15 districts of Mozambique in building and promoting improved...

The Republic of Angola and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed an agreement to finance the Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture Project (AFAP)  in Bengo, Cuanza Norte, Luanda and Malange provinces in the central-north region of Angola.

Fundatia ADEPT has been working since 2004 to protect the nature-rich, farmed landscapes of Transylvania, and to support the traditional farming communities who have created them over centuries and who maintain them today. ADEPT’s aim is to give these landscapes and communities an economic future and relevance in the 21st...

Agricultural production systems that provide environmental public goods, such as High Nature Value (HNV) farming, are in decline in most EU Member States. The principal drivers of this decline are various socio-economic forces that originate from both within the agricultural sector and the wider rural economy. These pressures are likely...

“Agroecology offers win-win solutions: increased productivity, improved resilience and more efficient use of natural resources” said José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations during the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food and Nutrition Security in Rome, hosted by FAO in 2014. The...

In 2007 our planet reached a remarkable milestone, with the world urban population overtaking the number of people living in the countryside. In Europe 68% of the population already live in urban areas. Scientists predict that as the world population increases (with estimates suggesting it is likely to reach 10...

We have been talking about women in agriculture – that they are important to farming, that they perform around 50% of the farming activities, despite having less access to resources and technical inputs. And we have been discussing this for more than three decades…with very little being done for them....

El Programa propone un esquema de apoyo y asistencia, orientado según las características de los grupos a atender: en el caso de Agricultores Familiares, procurará su vinculación a las cadenas de valor y mercados, a afectos de que mejoren en forma significativa sus ingresos en el caso de las familias pertenecientes a...

La convocatoria al Segundo Congreso Nacional del Foro de Universidades para la AF se enmarca en la necesidad de dar continuidad al proceso de fortalecimiento de los cinco Foros Regionales de la AF, para seguir pensando y desarrollando acciones en forma participativa y articulada con todos los actores vinculados: organizaciones...

L’étude sur le coût de la faim (CDFA) au Burkina Faso est une initiative placée sous le leadership de l’Union africaine (UA), de la Commission économique pour l’Afrique (CEA) et du Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM). L’étude régionale a été présentée en mars 2012 aux Ministres africains chargés des finances, du...

Australia’s agriculture and food industries are well placed to contribute to the economy’s future growth given the robust prospects of global food demand and the continuing high international competitiveness of these sectors. There are, however, important challenges that call for new ways to exploit agricultural resources and human capital. The...

Expressing concern over distortion of the credit culture in agriculture, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has written to the government, urging it not to give subsidy for the sector to banks and, instead, provide it directly to farmers.