Thanks to improved access to information and a powerful participatory communication approach, villagers in isolated communities across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Niger are making strides to improve gender equality and empower women. FAO Dimitra community listeners’ clubs are helping rural populations participate in the development of...

In sub-Saharan Africa, almost 239 million people face serious problems related to food security and nutrition. Family farming appears as an effective model that can provide solutions to overcome this challenge. During the African Regional Dialogue on Family Farming (6-7 November 2013, Cape Town, South Africa), participants identified specific actions...

Raised wire-mesh racks, covered with small, silver lake fish drying in the sun, stretch across the Burundi shore of Lake Tanganyika near the small fishing village of Mvugo. While simple in design, these drying racks have made an enormous contribution both to local nutrition and the local economy. Before the...

From a situation of widespread undernutrition, consuming fresh vegetables all year round has now become a reality for many Nepali households thanks to their expanding home gardens. But the stories they tell show that the benefits of home gardens are not limited to improving household nutrition. The gardens also help...

This edition opens with a report of the last session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which has helped to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment feature prominently in the post- 2015 Development Agenda. This will take over from the Millennium Development Goals, whose 2015 deadline...

The product of a two-year collaborative effort among Khon Kaen University, Thailand, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other partners, this publication sheds light on the need to promote underutilized and indigenous food sources for overcoming malnutrition and hunger in the Asia-Pacific region. I sincerely hope...

The right to food sovereignty is a part of the Plurinational State of Bolivia’s constitution, but what does this actually mean for family farmers? The truth is that many people in rural areas are far from having access to adequate food and nutrition, with 37% of children under five reported...

The International Year of Family Farming was launched as part of a global campaign to reinforce awareness and support for small scale and family farmers around the world. The move to focus on family farmers for the international year was driven by strong advocacy from civil society, mainly the World...

This technical guide has been prepared under the direction of Francesca Romano in collaboration with a team from the Forest Peoples Programme and Samuel Nguiffo of the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED) in Cameroon. The guide was written by Marcus Colchester and Sophie Chao, with contributions from participants...

Food fairs are an important tool and space to promote food sovereignty as they take place in local public spaces and within people’s own socio-cultural settings. One excellent example was a food fair in Ghana, organised by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD). Women farmers exhibited traditional...

A three-day technical meeting has come to a close for the Regional Conference for the Near East and North Africa (NERC32). During the conference, government ministers and senior officials from countries across the region reviewed the overall state of food and agriculture. They also discussed urgent issues facing countries, including...

Improving the situation of family farmers is a burning need. And as they produce an estimated 70% of the world’s food, it is an issue that affects us all. The 2014 International Year of Family Farming aimed to create a better understanding of family farming and support the development of...

I am a family farmer. I know my soil, my climate and how to make things grow, says Joan Brady. And as farmers, especially women and youth, we will deliver answers from our passions, our expertise and our resilience.

El evento buscó contribuir al acercamiento de actores y actoras sociales y políticas en Colombia, en El Salvador y en Guatemala en temas de gobernanza ambiental, transformación de conflictos y participación política de las mujeres. Los procesos de paz de El Salvador, Guatemala y de Colombia tienen diferencias y similitudes,...

This edition opens with a report of the last session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which has helped to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment feature prominently in the post-2015 Development Agenda. This will take over from the Millennium Development Goals, whose 2015 deadline is now close. Today, the post-2015 Development Agenda...

This issue highlights experiences of development approaches that are helping in the fight against poverty in rural areas. Reducing rural poverty is one of FAO’s strategic objectives for the coming years, to which the Dimitra project is making a special contribution. Innovative methodologies have been developed which seek to place...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

Legacy of IYFF 2014 and the way forward as agreed by the International Steering Committee (ISC) of the IYFF 2014 on 13 November 2014, and endorsed at the Closing Event in the Philippines on 27 November 2014.

Programme Italien pour la sécurité alimentaire (PISA), appui aux transformatrices de produits halieutiques au Sénégal.

Discussion paper on scaling up agro-ecological approaches: In recent years, especially since the agriculture prices spike in 2008 that sparked ‘food riots’ across Africa, Asia and Latin America, a growing consensus has emerged on the need for proceeding to major changes in agricultural and food systems in order to ensure...