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Seventy-five percent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas. The agricultural sector, therefore has a key role to play in poverty reduction and improving rural lives. Maya Takagi, Deputy Leader of the FAO Strategic Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction, together with Ana Paula De La O Campos, Programme Adviser explain the importance of promoting inclusive economic growth; long-term support to the rural poor; social protection; empowerment of rural women; decent rural employment; equitable access to land and resources; and strengthening rural institutions are key in creating new income generating opportunities. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy [...]

Enough food is produced to feed everyone, but almost 800 million people currently suffer from chronic hunger. The right to adequate food is a human right. It is also a legal obligation under international law. Juan Carlos García y Cebolla, Right to Food Team Leader of the FAO Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division, together with Serena Pepino, Project Officer explain the importance of a human rights-based approach (HRBA) to food security and nutrition in tackling the root causes of hunger and malnutrition. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages, to achieve this. See all videos in the Policy [...]

Small-scale producers provide over 70% of the world’s food needs, while agribusinesses are one of the main generators of employment and income worldwide. Improving the sustainability of food value chains can massively benefit the rural poor. Florence Tartanac, Senior Officer of the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems Division together with Eva Gálvez Nogales, Agribusiness Economist of the FAO Agricultural Development Economics Division explain the importance of Integrating smallholders into food value chains to reduce poverty and improve food security for millions of poor households in developing countries. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages.  See all videos in [...]

From ending poverty, hunger and malnutrition to sustaining our natural resources to responding to climate change, food and agriculture lie at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda. FAO’s Strategic Framework is aligned with the SDGs, geared towards tackling root causes and Bringing numbers to life building a fairer society.

Social protection has helped lift millions of people out of extreme poverty.  However, seventy percent of the world population, particularly in rural areas, still lack social protection coverage. Benjamin Davis, Strategic Programme Leader ad interim of the FAO Strategic Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction together with Natalia Winder Rossi, Social Protection Team Leader of the FAO Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division explain how enhancing social protection systems in rural areas can contribute to reducing poverty and ending hunger. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN [...]

Over three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Most depend on agriculture to earn a living. However, rural employment opportunities are often informal, poorly paid and even hazardous. Peter Wobst, Senior Programme Officer of the FAO Strategic Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction together with Ileana Grandelis, Rural Employment Officer of the FAO Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division explain how promoting full employment and decent work in rural areas can contribute to food security and poverty reduction. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR [...]

Agriculture and social protection are fundamentally linked in the context of rural livelihoods in Africa. Poor and food-insecure families depend primarily on agriculture and partly on non-farm income and private transfers for their livelihoods, and are the main target of social protection interventions (FAO, 2015). When embedded within a broader rural development framework, stronger coherence between agriculture and social protection interventions can assist in improving the welfare of poor small family farms by facilitating productive inclusion, improving risk-management capacities, and increasing agricultural productivity – all of which enable rural-based families to gradually move out of poverty and hunger (Tirivayi et [...]

There is increasing recognition at the global level of the role that agriculture and social protection can jointly play in combating hunger and poverty. Efforts are also being made at the country level, in Africa and elsewhere, to bring together these two domains. However, more needs to be done. The full range of benefits to be derived from greater coherence between agriculture and social protection is not yet widely understood, nor are the means through which coherence can be promoted. This document presents a Framework for Analysis and Action with the purpose of filling this knowledge gap. By drawing from [...]

This 1.5-hour course guides users through the simulation of a workshop process using a methodology based on malnutrition problem-and-solution trees. It allows users to understand the multisectoral causes of malnutrition and food insecurity, and gain new facilitation skills for successful participatory workshops.  

The government of Burundi has timidly decreased State involvement in strategic value chains, with a view to open the market, enhance effectiveness, and reduce the fiscal deficit. With regards to social protection, no specific national programmes are in place, though the country joined the Scaling Up Nutrition movement in 2013 committing to tackle the alarming levels of malnutrition in the country (the highest in the region). For more country policy briefs by FAPDA please see here.