In the heart of Central America, El Salvador's rural communities face the dual challenges of poverty and climate change. Distributed along the Dry Corridor, these communities are particularly vulnerable to environmental disasters such as droughts. Its population often faces challenges in securing sufficient farmland, accessing financial services, and obtaining modern farming technology—key elements for poverty reduction in rural areas.

Le Cameroun, troisième plus grand producteur de cacao en Afrique et cinquième au monde, a une longue tradition de culture du cacao dans des systèmes agroforestiers complexes, dans lesquels les plants de cacao poussent à l'ombre d'autres arbres pour recevoir la quantité de lumière et d'humidité nécessaire.

Comment orienter au mieux le secteur de l'huile d'olive du Maroc pour s'adapter au changement climatique et tirer parti de nouvelles opportunités sur les marchés de l'huile de qualité: deux sujets principaux abordés cette semaine lors d'une table ronde organisée par la Banque Européenne pour la Reconstruction et le Développement (BERD) et l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’Alimentation et l’Agriculture (FAO) en marge de la 16e édition du Salon International de l'Agriculture du Maroc (SIAM) sur le changement climatique et l'agriculture à Meknès.

In the past decade, the international chocolate market has become more sophisticated with an increasing number of consumers focusing on quality chocolate and manufacturers branding higher cacao content from specific origins. 

Le marché européen du cacao et du chocolat, le plus important à l'échelle mondiale, est stable et florissant. La majorité du cacao consommé en Europe provient d'Afrique de l'Ouest mais, durant les dernières décennies, les revenus des planteurs de ces pays ont beaucoup décliné, les conduisant à vivre dans la pauvreté.

A new investment programme, financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and developed with the support of the FAO Investment Centre, aims to enhance the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change and other shocks by transforming their ability to access markets and strengthening production systems.

The FAO Investment Centre has today launched a study highlighting FAO’s new methodology to identify and prioritize investments in irrigation and drainage in Belize. The study outlines a practical framework for policymakers and private sector investors to address climate-related risks and bolster agriculture resilience through investments in water management.

Investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment is not only more urgent than ever but also an incredibly smart investment to generate economic growth, food security, income opportunities and better lives, particularly in rural areas where most of the world’s poorest live.

In a move to boost livelihoods for livestock farmers in Burkina Faso, the African Development Bank (AfDB), with the support of the FAO Investment Centre, have launched a project which aims to modernize meat production and livestock value chains.

Jordan’s delicious mix of cultural heritage and gastronomic delights is set to diversify and supplement the incomes of local food producers through investments that will link them to tourism markets, an effort gathering pace after the first meeting of the Agritourism Development Task Force in early 2024.

A competition to find new ways to reduce antibiotic misuse in production animals has resulted in promising findings on how improved gut health in broiler chickens could boost immunity and reduce antibiotic-resistant bacteria, an approach that could bring wider benefits across the entire sector.

The urgency of a coordinated response to contain the threat of African Swine Fever was high on the agenda at the recent National Convention on Animal Health, Food Safety, and Quality in Serbia. At the event, lessons were shared from an EBRD/FAO project in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia that has taken a regional cross-sectoral approach to containing the spread of the disease.

SBKS, serving as the lead Apex Producer Organization (PO) of GAFSP’s Missing Middle Initiative (MMI) in Bangladesh, is introducing innovative climate-resilient practices to rural communities, such as saline agriculture. 

Le Centre d'investissement renforce ses capacités à répondre aux besoins croissants et évolutifs des pays membres et des institutions financières partenaires. Alessandro Marini, qui a récemment rejoint le Centre d'investissement en tant que nouveau chef du Service Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre, a partagé ses réflexions sur l'importance de l'acceptation du changement et de la prise de risques.

Giovanni Munoz, the Investment Centre's Service Chief for East and Southern Africa, reflects on a long career in the agriculture sector, his vision for the region and why getting out of one's comfort zone is good.

Coffee represents 14 percent and 52 percent of total agrifood exports in Guatemala and Honduras respectively, and a fifth of all exported Guatemalan coffee and half of the coffee exported from Honduras are destined to the EU. 

Service Chief Ekaterina Krivonos spoke of her experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, drawing on her expertise in agricultural policy and trade issues, and the need for win-win solutions to tackle the region’s pressing challenges.

The FAO Investment Centre has today launched a three-volume series, Social analysis for inclusive agrifood investments. Together with three innovative e-learning courses, these guides aim to boost the effectiveness of investments in agriculture and rural development through gender equality and social inclusion.

A new study from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Investment Centre in collaboration with the World Bank and launched during a virtual event today, unveils a variety of climate-smart policy actions and investment options set to shape Egypt's agrifood system's future.

The FAO Investment Centre has launched a toolkit aimed at empowering farmers and enabling agricultural human capital investments. More than 60 representatives from governments, national and international development banks, the private sector and development partners attended the virtual launch event in October 2023.