FAO.org

The objective of this corporate Framework (the ‘Framework’) is to guide the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in carrying out its mandate in its areas of competence and comparative advantage, i.e. food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture, towards a more deliberate and transformative impact on sustaining peace. Following the April 2016 Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on peacebuilding, the concept “sustaining peace” encompasses activities aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict, including addressing root causes and moving towards recovery, reconstruction and development. The United Nations Secretary-General has called on all UN entities to [...]

This leaflet summarizes the modeling framework used in the corporate publication "The future of food and agriculture - Alternative pathways to 2050" and related inputs from the FAO Global Agriculture Perspectives System Partial Equilibrium model (GAPS) and the Environmental Impact and Sustainability Applied General Equilibrium (ENVISAGE). Click here for the publication "future of food and agriculture".

A repository of national and thematic food composition tables, completed by an online library of methodological guidelines and user guides. It was first compiled in 1988 and most recently updated in 2018.   

This studies report aims at contributing to achieve SO4. Particularly, it serves to produce and share information and results in order to deliver under Output 2.2 of SO4, notably “Evidence-based food loss and waste reduction programs are developed at national, regional and global levels”. Fresh fruits and vegetables contribute significantly to food and nutrition security, poverty reduction and to economic development in the countries belonging to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Smallholders who make little use of post-harvest (PH) technologies produce most of the fresh fruits and vegetables supplied to mass markets in the Region. The high qualitative [...]

“Food Systems for an Urbanizing World” is the outcome of a collaborative effort between the World Bank (WB) Global Practice for Food and Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). it addresses a growing global concern regarding food availability and consumption patterns in an ever increasing urbanized world. Our increasingly urbanizing world carries tremendous implications for food systems and for their evolution, management and performance. Urban food issues are a critical dimension of an integrated urban-rural development agenda, contributing to multiple outcomes that are key to meeting the World Bank Group’s twin goals of boosting shared [...]

The global market of organic products increased fivefold between 1999 and 2014, Organic Monitor projects growth to continue. This trend is also true for the Asian region where the third largest market for organic products in the world and forty percent of the world’s organic producers are located (a total of 0.9 million producers, mostly concentrated in India). Consumers in the region are increasingly demanding organic products to ensure food safety. This trend represents an opportunity for smallholder farmers practicing organic production to increase their sales and improve their livelihoods. Yet, this opportunity is not readily available to smallholder farmers in [...]

An adequate nutrition provides us with the necessary energy for the appropriate functioning and care of our body, and is the first defence against diseases. However, many people today still do not have access to food, do not eat enough or do not eat poorly. Nutrition problems (malnutrition, obesity, etc.) encompass inappropriate choices and practices that can be addressed through effective public policies. In this context, parliamentary alliances such as the Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, and specialized agencies such as FAO, play a key role in educating consumers and preventing diseases. During an event on [...]

Nearly 75 percent of Lesotho’s population live in rural areas and depend on farming for their livelihoods. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is increasing, and arable land is extremely limited (9 percent of the total area). When the El Niño-induced drought struck in 2015, the agricultural sector was strongly impacted, and the Government of Lesotho declared a state of drought emergency. Many households did not plant at all, leading to a drastic decline in food availability and harvest. In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) and the Bureau of Statistics, this project provided [...]

The Understanding Codex will be at its 4th Edition and it is a very useful tool to introduce the Codex Alimentarius and its collection of international food standards to the public. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards that have been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Such standards cover all the main foods and also  material used in the further processing of food. Codex provisions concern the hygienic and nutritional; quality of food, including microbiological norms, food additives, pesticides and veterinary drug residues, contaminants, labelling and presentation, and methods of sampling and risk analysis. The Codex Alimentarius [...]

Family Farming, represented by more than 500 million farms, produced about 80% of the World´s food in value terms, using reduced resources. It is fundamental to Food Security and Nutrition (FSN), fighting poverty, mitigating the impacts of climate change and preserving biodiversity and landscape. Family agriculture contributes directly to ten of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and will be on the international political agenda for the next ten years in the face of the recent adoption of Resolution 72/239 on the Decade of Family Agriculture (2019-2028), by the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. This importance can also be [...]