Sub-Saharan African countries, through their regional organizations, have embarked on the harmonisation of plant variety protection (PVP) systems. These initiatives are largely modelled on the UPOV 1991 act, which claims to incentivize plant breeding and facilitate agricultural development. Civil Society Organisations (CSO), however, strongly criticise this process for being out...

The International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) is meant to drumbeat the issues of family farmers before policy makers and other stakeholders in the rural development community. But, it is not only that. It is also aimed at bringing back the dignity of farming by recognizing the contribution of family...

Esta cartilla describe el manejo agronómico del cultivo en tres especies forrajeras (millo, yuca, fríjol caupí), para su utilización en la alimentación animal como experiencia en el departamento del Atlántico.

Este número de LEISA presenta experiencias que se refieren al valor de la pequeña escala de producción, desde lo ambiental –conservación de los recursos naturales– y lo nutricional, especialmente para el caso de aquellos países que son centros de origen de la agricultura y donde el conocimiento acumulado de siglos...

Marcela Villarreal, la directora de la Oficina de Comunicaciones, Asociaciones y Promoción de la FAO, nos explica porque la agricultura familiar es tan esencial para las comunidades por todo el mundo y los objetivos de FAO durante el año

The 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report—the ninth in an annual series—presents a multidimensional measure of national, regional, and global hunger. It shows that the world has made progress in reducing hunger since 1990, but still has far to go, with levels of hunger remaining “alarming” or “extremely alarming” in...

Se estima que del total de las yemas que posee la semilla de caña, solamente 70% germinan y emergen cuando se siembran en campo, por lo cual se hace necesario implementar la labor de resiembra, con el fin de asegurar una alta densidad de tallos molederos por hectárea y de...

Smallholder agriculture has long served as the dominant economic activity for people in sub-Saharan Africa, and it will remain enormously important for the foreseeable future. But the size of the sector does not necessarily imply that investments in the smallholder sector will yield high social benefits in comparison to other...

This report, and the events recorded in it, focus upon seven countries which are at various stages of active or potential candidature to join the European Union. Six of the countries are in the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and...

Fisheries play an important role in the economic and social life in Burundi. Yet, about 10 to 15% of the harvest was lost during the processing phase. Fish drying, which is the most common processing technique in the country, was done generally on bare ground. This has led to partial...

Smallholder agriculture in many developing countries has remained largely self-financed. However, improved productivity for attaining greater food security requires better access to institutional credit. Past efforts to extend institutional credit to smaller farmers has failed for several reasons, including subsidized operation of government-aided credit schemes. Thus, recent efforts to expand...

This presentation includes the following contents: International Year of Family Farming – An Opportunity Family Farming in the Caribbean – Conceptual Challenges Small/Family Farming in the Caribbean – Characteristics Alternative Vision and Family Farming – Policy and Program Priorities FAO’s support for Family Farming in the Caribbean

Comparing and contrasting where the challenges to and opportunities for growth in productivity are located, and doing so at multiple scales and over time, can give us powerful insights that can enrich our understanding of the variables that affect agricultural productivity. The Atlas of African Agriculture Research & Development presents...

The agricultural economics literature provides various estimates of the number of farms and small farms in the world. This paper is an effort to provide a more complete and up to date as well as carefully documented estimate of the total number of farms in the world, as well as...

The beneficiary of the project is a tradition female farmer who deals with cultivating and trading vegetables in Malta. This is where the project idea came from and the financing possibility allowed her to put it into practice, transforming her traditional vegetal farm into a farm with bio-products. The general...

Este manual se constituye en un instrumento orientador, que se apoya en datos obtenidos en diferentes regiones, producto de investigaciones realizadas por Corpoica en sus diferentes centros de investigación principalmente en Bogotá y Rionegro. Así mismo, una gran parte de los datos fueron el resultado de las investigaciones realizadas en...

David Booth investigates the scope for reforming African agricultural policy choices. While recognising the difficulties that many countries face in developing the agricultural policies they need to transform their economies, he encourages policymakers to abandon 'pessimistic' political-economy diagnostics. Instead he provides evidence that social and economic reforms can be achieved...

Conventional wisdom holds that Sub-Saharan African farmers use few modern inputs despite the fact that most growth-inducing and poverty-reducing agricultural growth in the region is expected to come largely from expanded use of inputs that embody improved technologies, particularly improved seed, fertilizers and other agro-chemicals, machinery, and irrigation. Yet following...

The applicant of this project is a 38 years old farmer who meets the minimum requirements in terms of education, by graduating the Melle Agricultural College in the year 1990. Between 1990 and 2008 he supported his father in the development of the farm activity. In 2008, when his father...

Colombia is ranked 18th in the world in citrus production and contributed 0.9% of the total world share. Among four important citrus-producing regions of Colombia, the Orinoco region (3 to 6°N, 68 to 74°W) consists of two citrus-producing states, Meta and Casanare. Citrus leprosis is the most important viral disease...