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This policy brief analyses the main programmes and interventions aimed at promoting youth employment in Uganda, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, as well as innovation and replication potential. The document also provides a series of recommendations towards the replication and upscaling of successful interventions that will inform the National Strategy for Youth Employment in Agriculture (NSYEA), as well as future strategic discussions on youth engagement in agriculture and food systems.  

Interest in contract farming as a mechanism to coordinate linkages between farmers and agribusiness firms has grown considerably in the recent past, in large part because of the international trends towards tighter alignment in agrifood supply chains. FAO has been responding to this growing demand for information and technical support on contract farming issues by means of actions that include a series of capacity building workshops on planning and implementing contract farming operations, the dissemination of knowledge through the Contract Farming Resource Centre and the development of publications on conceptual, operational and legal aspects of contract farming.  Building on the above, [...]

These Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication have been developed as a complement to the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (the Code). They were developed to provide complementary guidance with respect to small-scale fisheries in support of the overall principles and provisions of the Code. Accordingly, the Guidelines are intended to support the visibility, recognition and enhancement of the already important role of small-scale fisheries and to contribute to global and national efforts towards the eradication of hunger and poverty. The Guidelines support responsible fisheries and sustainable social and economic development for the benefit of [...]

Trade in agricultural products is expected to continue to increase over the coming decades and will therefore influence the extent and nature of food security and nutrition across all regions of the world. The challenge is how to ensure that the expansion of agricultural trade works for, and not against, the elimination of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. Trade policies affect levels of agricultural trade, which in turn affect availability of food in domestic markets, food prices and incomes, along with other important variables that ultimately affect food security and nutrition outcomes. The impact of trade policies on various aspects of food security and nutrition has given rise to [...]

Preventing animal disease and plant pest outbreaks and food safety incidents before they occur is essential to protecting the food chain. Most food chain crises are preventable with timely actions and the right investments. The Food Chain Crisis - Emergency Prevention System, known as FCC-EMPRES, is FAO’s approach to pursuing just that. This publication, based on 23 FCC-EMPRES information sheets published on a monthly basis by the FCC Intelligence and Coordination Unit of the FAO Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, showcases some of the best practices currently in use. This publication promises to help experts, policy makers, national institutions, and development [...]

SMAACNET is a web-based database for sharing information of agricultural mechanization that is best adapted to different agro-ecologies and categories of agri-food chains in the region of Asia and the Pacific. SMAACNET focuses on the needs of smallholder farmers and Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs). The overarching goal of SMAACNET is to ensure that Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (SAM) contributes to food security, economic development and ecological balance in Asia and the Pacific Region.  More specifically SMAACNET aims: To exchange knowledge, share experience and promote collaboration and concerted efforts among all stakeholders on the use of SAM across agri-food chains To advocate for the economic, social [...]

The present study reviews recent trends in rural finance and investment in general, and in the agricultural sector in particular, within the Asian region. The analysis of these trends aims to offer a critical perspective on some of the main constraints to achieving more inclusive rural financial systems in developing countries in the region, and to propose areas of public and private intervention that could advance this objective, based on evidence compiled from important innovations led by local rural actors in various countries within the region. The study makes a joint analysis of recent trends in both agricultural markets and [...]

Turkey’s agri-food sector will be of tremendous importance in the decades to come. In 2013, in terms of its total gross agricultural production value (at 2004-06 constant prices), Turkey was ranked eighth in the world, just behind Argentina and closely followed by France and Mexico. The first objective of this report is to compile empirical evidence from official statistics on water usage in the Turkish agricultural sector and to combine this with available qualitative information and first-hand company-level and stakeholder information about water usage in typical processing steps along the Turkish food value chain. This analysis was conducted while taking [...]

The brief contains recommendations and a framework for developing an Institutional Food Procurement Programme (IFPP) based on lessons from ten case study appraisals of WFP's purchase for progress initiative and Brazil's national food procurement programmes. 

The main objective of the Second FAO Africa Regional Nutrition Coordination and Programming Consultation meeting was to improve the coordination of FAO’s Nutrition interventions in particular mainstreaming nutrition into agriculture policies, programmes and investment plans and jointly reinforce technical capacity in advancing nutrition sensitive programming through multi-sectoral strategies. It was also the opportunity to discuss the Post ICN-2 agenda for Africa, the Malabo Declaration and the CAADP Nutrition Initiative in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) being implemented, jointly by FAO and NPCA/NEPAD. This second regional nutrition consultation brought together close to 60 Nutrition Experts from 32 country, sub-regional and regional offices, and FAO Head Quarters. This report highlights the [...]