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North Macedonia’s ambition to join the European Union (EU) makes it necessary to reform the agricultural sector, such that it aligns with the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This involves the “decoupling” of farm subsidies, i.e. a shift to payments that are not linked to area and production levels of specific commodities, livestock numbers, and input use. The decoupling of direct payments has significant impacts on production decisions, prices and therefore on farmer’s income. The study underlying this policy brief identifies five possible scenarios for North Macedonia to align their direct payment scheme with EU regulations and analyses the impact [...]

The Agricultural Outlook 2020-2029 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations as well as input from collaborating member countries to provide an annual assessment of the prospects for the coming decade of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets. This year's edition features a short scenario on COVID-19 and its impact on food and agriculture.

This policy brief provides an overview of how digital technologies can help facilitate access to trade finance for market participants, in particular micro, small and medium sized enterprises, by addressing numerous challenges in traditional trade finance. Find more FAO Trade Policy briefs here.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina wheat is a key staple, yet domestic production is small and low quality. Current policy environment tends to disadvantage wheat producers and makes them vulnerable in face of changing climate. Government interventions should focus on improving competitiveness of wheat producers and building resilience to climate change. Key reforms should encompass land consolidation, on-farm investments, access to high quality inputs and equipment, extension services and access to risk management tools. Find more FAO Agricultural Development Economics Policy Briefs here

In recent years, along with the growing recognition of the rural gender gap in financial access as a key constraint to rural development, research has focused increasingly more towards analysing in depth the financial habits and patterns followed by women in rural areas, in order to produce observations and insights that could foster a more gender-sensitive policy approach towards financial inclusion.In line with this trend, this paper sets to explore the financial habits and constraints of rural women in two Sub-Saharan African countries (Mozambique, Tanzania), both at country and village level, with the objective of answering how, and why, they [...]

African migrants stimulate economic growth and development in areas of destination, transit and origin through their labour, skills transfer, consumption and investments. Their remittances also make significant contributions to food security, human capital, rural development and overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in areas of origin.The impact of COVID-19 affects migrant workers disproportionally. Often precarious working conditions and overcrowded living and transport arrangements increase their vulnerability to contagion and loss of employment, threatening their health and livelihoods. Those working under informal arrangements, commonly in the agriculture sector, are largely excluded from accessing real-time reliable information, social protection, healthcare and government response [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major economic shock, throwing into question the resilience of the agrifood sector at this stage, particularly in developing countries where self-employed, wage and informal workers are threatened by food supply chain disruptions, limitations on movement and trade restrictions. Even before the crisis, small and medium agribusinesses were often considered to be credit-constrained and extremely vulnerable to shocks. Reaching out to this underserved segment has been one of the objectives driving the development of blended finance funds and facilities in the agrifood sector. While many operators will be focusing on managing their portfolio through these turbulent [...]

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, young entrepreneurs in agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa were already facing a number of challenges. The main challenges include limited access to natural resources, finance, technology, knowledge and information, and insufficient participation in policy dialogues and other decision-making processes.The COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions to agricultural value chains are presenting additional hurdles for these agripreneurs. Without focused and appropriately designed response interventions addressing their specific constraints and contexts, it is increasingly observed that some of the policy responses and measures put in place by governments to halt the spread of the virus are exacerbating the [...]

This policy brief aims to provide useful information for policymakers and other stakeholders in developing countries who are in the process of designing COVID-19 response programmes addressing the needs of agrifood and rural sectors through dedicated rural finance instruments and broader financial sector involvement. The brief discusses emerging patterns on how countries are currently responding to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. It looks at a number of innovations, good practices and policy options that emerge as most relevant for developing country contexts. See the full list of policy briefs related to COVID-19

This guidance note is designed to assist professionals involve in implementing cash-based interventions (CBIs) that maximize nutrition outcomes, either in humanitarian contexts or embedded within social-protection policies. It can be used by professionals involved in designing and implementing CBIs or related activities to help them integrate nutrition outcomes in their work, and also by those involved in developing nutritional policies and strategies. It presents a brief background to the topic of CBIs, the theoretical framework that supports the linkages between CBIs and nutrition outcomes, a summary of the evidence on the topic, and a practical, step-by-step approach to integrating nutrition [...]