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The April 2016 proclamation of the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016–2025) provides a unique opportunity for stakeholders to strengthen joint efforts towards eradicating hunger and preventing all forms of malnutrition worldwide.

These Proceedings provide accounts of the expert presentations made by each Roundtable speaker and panellist, synopses of plenary discussion, and summaries from each Roundtable Chair. Taken together, the report comprises a compendium of analyses and illustrations of some of the most pressing challenges facing today’s nutrition advocates. These Proceedings are an important complement to the official ICN2 outcome documents; they provide background information, country examples, and rationale for many of the Rome Declaration and Framework for Action recommendations.

This Toolkit showcases examples of robust policies to promote stronger economic linkages between the agriculture and tourism sectors, thus increasing the value of tourism to PICs. Specifically, it provides case study examples of the tools available to policy-makers to improve market opportunities by incorporating local food into the cuisine offerings provided by PIC tourism. This will not only create employment and business opportunities for rural communities; it will also enhance the marketability of the Pacific as a tourist destination. Furthermore, the Toolkit provides advice on various implementation methodologies to ensure their adoption by national and regional authorities. This resource, therefore, is [...]

Women play key roles in rural economies. However, compared to men, rural women often experience greater constraints in accessing resources, services and opportunities. Brave Ndisale, Director Ad Interim of the FAO Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division together with Illaria Sisto, Gender and Development Officer explain the importance of empowering women and achieving gender equality to ensure food security and reduce rural poverty. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages, to achieve this. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP

High levels of investments are required to unleash the potential of agriculture for sustainable development and poverty reduction in developing countries, but low public budgetary allocations to the sector have slowed growth. To address this problem, innovative partnerships that bring together business, government and civil society actors are increasingly being promoted as a mechanism for pooling much-needed financing while mitigating some of the risks of doing business in the agriculture sector. Commonly referred to as public–private partnerships (PPPs), these initiatives are expected to contribute to the pursuit of sustainable agricultural development that is inclusive of smallholder farmers. However, there remain [...]

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 [...]

This video explains the climate-smart agriculture approach including its objectives and why it is needed. Climate change will hit farmers, herders and fishers the hardest. The Climate-smart agriculture approach promotes the development of the technical, policy and investment conditions to achieve sustainable agricultural development for food security under a changing climate. It seeks to: increase sustainably agricultural productivity and incomes, help adapt and build resilience to climate change impacts and wherever possible, reduces and/or removes greenhouse gases.  To make climate-smart agriculture a reality we need to: expand the evidence base; improve policies; empower local institutions; and combine new financing options. Let’s make [...]

Is trade a threat or an opportunity for food security? Longstanding debates over this question remain unresolved. This is understandable when one considers that the agricultural sector serves a range of vital functions in society. This paper seeks to shed light on this debate by providing an overview of the main opposing narratives and the rationale behind them. It does not seek to advocate one viewpoint over the other. Instead, it seeks to examine the contours of the debate with a view to uncovering why it is so polarized, and how we might move beyond the current impasse in international [...]

Uganda is putting significant efforts toward addressing the constraints responsible for its low agricultural productivity, which affects farmers’ incomes and therefore, their food security. The biggest developments are being seen in improving the added value of its production, as well as in supporting strategic commodities such as livestock and rice. 

The National Inputs Voucher Scheme (NAIVS) will be ending at the close of this cropping year (2013/2014). NAIVS provided access to fertilizer and seeds through subsidized input packages for maize and rice. The Big Results Now (BRN) initiative was launched in 2013, which aims to modernize the agriculture sector by promoting public-private partnership and mainstream market oriented measures.