Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

The fifteenth joint edition of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook provides market projections for major agricultural commodities, biofuels and fish. The 2019 report contains a special feature on the prospects and challenges of the agricultural sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.  

Download the full report (projections by commodity listed separately)

Executive Summary

Press release

Introduction

The Eurasian Center for Food Security (ECFS) in collaboration with the World Bank is pleased to announce a new round of competitive selection of small research/case study projects on food and nutrition security policy. The objective of this project is to foster collaboration between researchers in the Eurasia region to generate analytical evidence for policy makers, and produce a set of short analytical and educational case studies on a relevant food and nutrition policy topic. The call is open to researchers, lecturers and professors with an active research agenda on a broad range of topics relevant to food and nutrition security. Applications are accepted until April 30, 2019.

 

2019 Research Topic

Proposals are invited to explore policy options regarding the use of the following sustainable agriculture practices:

• Organic agriculture (limitations on agrochemicals, veterinary medicines, high animal welfare standards etc. – may require certification by an approved authority);
• Climate-smart agriculture (productivity increasing, resilience enhancing, greenhouse gases (GHGs) reducing for meeting food security and development goals);
• Biological agriculture (chemical free, focus on improving the microbiology as a way of increasing plant growth and yield);
• Ecosystem-based agriculture (conservation, restoration or management of biodiversity, local ecosystem services).

Eligibility

The selected case study authors should be current full-time or part-time researchers, lecturers or professors working on topics relevant to food security, nutrition, agricultural development or related field from the Eurasia region, and affiliated with ECFS partner institutions in these countries. Collaboration between researchers representing two different institutions and two countries in the region is highly encouraged.

 

Selection Criteria

• Relevance of the topic (ability to justify the relevance of selected topic)
• Relevance of education and professional experience of the authors
• Quality of the proposal

 

How to Apply

1. Review the Call of Proposals which includes details on the case study methodology, project timeline, and deliverables.
2. The proposals should be no longer than one page (A4), and they should be submitted in English. If English language is a constraint, the proposals may be submitted in Russian.
3. The proposals should consist of (i) Case study title and the country of the case; (ii) Authors’ name(s) and affiliation(s); (iii) Problem statement based on the selected theme; (iv) Background information, including why this theme has been selected; (v) Description of stakeholders affected by the policy; (vi) Key policy issues identified.
4. E-mail your Case Study Proposal and CV to Yulia Mitusova [email protected] and Anna Kontoboytseva [email protected] Subject: Case Study 2019.

Funding

Travel assistance will be provided to participate in the presentation of the Global Food Policy Report 2019 and a training session on the Case Study Methodology (Moscow, Russia), and to present case study at the Annual Eurasian Food Security Conference (Armenia, Yerevan). In addition, project related travel assistance will be provided on a case-by-case basis, and when it is strongly justified that travel is required to collect data or interview stakeholders.

The “1st All Africa Synthetic Pesticide Congress” organized by the World Food Preservation CenterÒLLC merges with the Eastern Africa conference on “Scaling up Agroecology and Ecological Organic Trade” organized by Biovision Africa Trust, IFOAM Organics International and their Partners to become the “1st International Conference on Agroecology Transforming Agriculture & Food Systems in Africa”.

The “1st All Africa Congress on Synthetic Pesticides, Environment, Human and Animal Health” has expanded its goals by the recognition of Agroecology as a means of combatting synthetic pesticide and fertilizers contamination in the African continent and ensuring actions towards true sustainable agriculture and food systems. The “Agroecology and Ecological Organic Trade” equally see the need to address threats to sustainable agriculture and food systems.

The conference has attracted world leading scientists on both the impact of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers on the African people, their animals, and environment and advocates for Agroecology as a means of producing food without the need for synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. This rare consortium of leading world scientists, practitioners and other players will chart a course to substantially and sustainably reduce synthetic pesticide and fertilizer contamination in Africa. We invite you to participate in and contribute to this seminal event. https://www.worldfoodpreservationcenterpesticidecongress.com/

Among the keynote speakers at the conference are Professor Hans Herren, the first Swiss to receive the 1995 World Food Prize and the 2013 Right Livelihood Award (alternate Nobel Prize) for leading a major biological control effort. Also, Professor Tyrone Hayes, UC Berkley, who has pioneered in establishing that the herbicide atrazine is an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes male frogs. Other keynote speakers at the congress are on the forefront of research on the impact of synthetic pesticides and GMOs on the health of humans, animals, and the environment. Also, world leading scientists will be speaking on regenerative agriculture and food sovereignty.

The “1st International Conference on Agroecology Transforming Agriculture & Food Systems in Africa: Reducing Synthetic Pesticides and Fertilizers by Scaling Up Agroecology and Promoting Ecological Organic Trade ” will be held at the Safari Park Hotel & Casino, Nairobi, Kenya on June 18-21, 2019.

You can register here.

CONTACTS:

Charles L. Wilson, Ph.D., Founder World Food Preservation CenterÒLLC, Charles Town, WV, USA

[email protected]

David Amudavi, Ph.D., Director, Bivision Trust, Nairobi, Kenya

[email protected]

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About World Food Preservation Center:

To feed the world's exploding population, we MUST save substantially more of the food that we already produce. Up until now we have invested a disproportionate amount of our resources in the production of food (95%) while only (5%) in the postharvest preservation of food. This has left us with tremendous postharvest "Skill Gaps" and "Technology Gaps" in developing countries. ​The World Food Preservation Center® LLC is filling these gaps by: (1) promoting the education (M.S. and Ph.D.) of young student/scientists from developing countries; (2) having young student/scientists from developing countries conduct research on much needed new postharvest technologies adaptable to their native countries; (3) organize continent-wide postharvest congresses and exhibitions for developing countries; (4) publish much needed new texts/reference books on postharvest technologies/methods for developing countries; and (5) develop a comprehensive database on all postharvest knowledge relative to developing countries with access portals for researchers, students, administrators, industry, businesses, and farmers.

About Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT):

Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) is a not-for-profit organization established in Kenya in 2009 by the Biovision Foundation for ecological development in Switzerland and supported by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi. The Trust’s goal is to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Kenya and other African countries through supporting dissemination of information and knowledge on appropriate technology to improve human, animal, plant, and environmental health. Agricultural output and food supply are however hindered by various environmental factors and lack of information and relevant training for the African smallholder farmers. Plant pests, for instance, are responsible for up to 80% of crop losses. Ecologically sustainable solutions are a practical alternative for African farmers to achieve good crop yields without relying on expensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides. What is lacking, however, are effective dissemination pathways to deliver relevant information to the farmers.                                                              

Theme: “Engagement for impact in agricultural development; Stories from the African youth”

As 2018 draws to a close and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) is developing its strategic plan covering the next ten years, the organization seeks to gain insights into the engagement of youth in agriculture on the continent by various agricultural institutions, members of the Forum. In this vein, the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) - Africa in collaboration with FARA is launching an essay competition to have youth articulate their experiences in youth engagement initiatives across the region, especially in the context of agri-preneurship. This is aimed at informing FARA and its constituents better on how to effectively engage with and feature youth and women in agriculture in the context of implementing FARA’s new strategy.

The essay should reflect the experience you went through as a beneficiary of an initiative involving an agricultural institution in your country or region. However, in case you were directly involved in the implementation of such an initiative, directed towards youth, and you are able to share the experience of engaging other youth, YPARD Africa may also consider your perspective as an ‘engaging youth’.

A selection of the authors of the essays of the competition will be contacted by a team of consultants to obtain further details of their documented experiences. A further selection will have a fully sponsored opportunity to participate in a three-day youth workshop/writeshop at the FARA Secretariat in Accra to share their experiences with FARA, its constituents and other youth participants. The workshop/writeshop will be scheduled in the first quarter of 2019. The dates will duly be announced.

Essay Guide

Your entry must address the following:

• Your contact details: Full name; email; WhatsApp number; Skype ID
• In what way has the initiative changed your outlook as a professional in agriculture?
  • insight
  • opportunities
  • income levels
  • networking
• •What kind of support did this intervention offer? (Describe the initiative clearly so we can attribute credit to the programme/institution)
• • What features of the initiative inspired/ empowered you most?
• • What are the challenges that this initiative helped you overcome?
• • Are there any challenges you still encounter?

- In what ways do you envision these challenges could be dealt with?

- In what way can sharing your experience be useful to other youth?

Your essay can range between 500-1000 words long and could be written in either French or English.

To ensure that your entry can be shared within the YPARD network, please first register as a member at YPARD’s website. Send your entry to [email protected] and [email protected] by Sunday, 16th December 2018

EVAL-ForwARD is a new Community of Practice on evaluation for Food Security, Agriculture and Rural Development, jointly promoted by the evaluation offices of the Rome-based agencies: CGIAR (formerly known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), FAO, IFAD and WFP.

Its first public launch took place at EvalColombo2018 during the side event The role of Evaluation in the public sector: how best to support national capacities. Conference participants had the opportunity to engage with the Directors of the Evaluation offices of FAO, IFAD and WFP on the aims, opportunities and thematic focus of this initiative.

The objectives of EVAL-ForwARD are to enhance awareness and capacities at country-level about evaluation in the agriculture, food security and rural development sectors, with a close focus on the evaluation of efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 – End Hunger.

Evaluators, development practitioners, researchers and government officials are welcome to join the Community of Practice and:

• Exchange evaluation information, practice and knowledge;
• Propose resources and blogs;
• Post information about events, conferences, training opportunities.

The first EVAL-ForwARD webinar on Evaluating with a Sustainable Development Goal 2 lens: experiences to date is planned for the second half of October and aims to uncover the challenges encountered and the good practices on which the development community could build, fostering further discussion and exchanges on the topic, which is at the core of the Community’s mandate.

EVAL-ForwARD uses a Dgroup mailing list for knowledge-sharing and a website as a repository of information and resources. To sign up to the Community and to find out more, please visit: www.evalforward.org

Today, the 2017 edition of the State of Food and Agriculture has been released. This year, the theme of the report is “Leveraging food systems for inclusive rural transformation”.

The new report looks at how population growth, increasing urbanization, technologies, and climate change are transforming rural and urban areas, and how the world’s food systems are evolving. The report concludes that fulfilling the 2030 Agenda depends crucially on progress in rural areas, which is where most of the poor and hungry live today, and outlines a strategy for how agriculture and rural economies in developing countries can provide prosperity.  

Please visit the following website to download the report and additional material one of the six UN languages:

http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-agriculture/en/.

12:30 - 14:30 Rome time, FAO Headquarters.

This Special Event will provide government representatives, UN entities, civil society and the private sector and other stakeholders with a platform to share experiences in accelerating progress towards gender equality and rural women’s empowerment. It will highlight forward-looking strategies and partnerships in the fight against hunger, malnutrition and extreme poverty.

Rural women play an important role in agriculture and rural development, and make a strong contribution to food security and nutrition at household and community levels. Worldwide, there is an increasing recognition that rural women must be at the centre of any intervention to promote sustainable agriculture and eradicate food insecurity and poverty. The 2030 Agenda envisages a future in which no one is left behind, where achieving gender equality and empowering women is an absolute precondition to break the cycle of poverty and hunger, and to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The event can be followed on webcast: http://www.fao.org/webcast

Programme

Opening remarks

José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO

Presentation on FAO’s technical work on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Kostas Stamoulis, Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Development Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO

Panel discussion

• His Excellency Hugo Martinez, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador

• Her Excellency Néziha Labidi, Minister of Women and Family Affairs of Tunisia

• Her Excellency Fatimata Dia Sow, Commissioner for Social Affairs and Gender of ECOWAS

• His Excellency Ty Sokhun, Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia

• His Excellency Ali Recep Nazli, General Director of Foreign Relations and EU Coordination of Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey

• Haowa Bello, CEO and Founder of Madame Coquette - Beneficiary of the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme

• Jessica Vega Ortega, Coordinator of the Yani Tundavii Dikuintií Collective of the Network of Young Indigenous Peoples of Latin America, Focal Point for the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus

Questions and answers

Concluding remarks