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Women play key roles in rural economies, where the fight against hunger and poverty is most pressing. They are also central to family food security and nutrition. However, compared to their male counterparts, rural women typically face multiple gender-based constraints – particularly in their access to productive resources (e.g. land, technologies, training and services) and economic opportunities (e.g. access to markets and decent employment) – which prevent them from becoming equally competitive economic players. Gender equality can be foster through practical policy measures. The Gender in Agricultural Policies Assessment Tool (GAPo) is a toolkit that FAO developed to support national [...]

The demand for food is expected to increase by 60 percent in the next 37 years as the world’s population is estimated to reach 9.2 billion by 2050. Mobile technology would effectively improve the transmission of agricultural research results forapplication in farmer’s fields.

Rwanda has made remarkable progress since the 1994 genocide, which severely impoverished the population, particularly in delivering education and health services to the poor. The proportion of people suffering from hunger has been halved and the progress toward reducing under-nourishment has been commendable. However, 44 percent of Rwandans still live under the national poverty line.

The importance of agriculture to Mongolia’s economy, and to its rural economy in particular, makes sustainable agricultural development a national priority. The transition from collective socialism to a market economy in the 1990s nearly caused the collapse of the entire agriculture sector. Since privatization, the number of livestock animals, mainly sheep and goats, has increased dramatically, reaching 45.1 million in 2012. This growth in both livestock and crop production was enabled by several factors. Yet investment in research and extension remains very low. Without sufficient government backing for research and development, extension services and veterinarians, information about weather and prices [...]

This document containing the FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on agro-environmental policies is mainly directed at people in charge of making and implementing policies on agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture in Latin America and the Caribbean. The guidelines are the result of an extensive consultation process and debates carried out through the project “Strengthening Agroenvironmental policies in Latin America and the Caribbean Through Dialogue and Exchange of National Experiences,” implemented by Brazil between 2012 and 2015 in the framework of South-South Cooperation, with the collaboration of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua in the fi rst stage, and Costa Rica, Cuba, Panama and Paraguay in the second [...]

The main objective of the study is to produce critical projections of domestic wheat production to 2024 for Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This will allow to answer the key question as to the limits of wheat production increases in the three countries. The main methodology of the study lies in a critical appraisal of the drivers of demand and supply for wheat in Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The first step in understanding the drivers of wheat demand and supply in these countries is to comprehend the farming system that produces wheat in these three countries. These countries are often cited as [...]

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on reducing poverty have been met by many countries, yet many others lag behind and the post-2015 challenge will be the full eradication of poverty and hunger. Many developing countries increasingly recognize that social protection measures are needed to relieve the immediate deprivation of people living in poverty and to prevent others from falling into poverty when a crisis strikes. This edition of The State of Food and Agriculture 2015 makes the case that social protection measures will help break the cycle of rural poverty and vulnerability, when combined with broader agricultural and rural development measures.  [...]

This 2-pager identifies challenges and opportunities of migration for rural areas. It also describes FAO’s work to enhance benefits for migration, while addressing the root causes of distress migration from rural areas.

This 2 pager highlights the positive impact of social protection on employment outcomes. It also describes FAO’s work to promote access to social protection in rural areas while seeking to strengthen synergies with the creation of decent rural employment.

In order to acquire an in - depth understanding of potential benefits, constraints and costs of foreign investment in agriculture and of the business models that are more conducive to development, FAO has undertaken research in developing countries.  The research aims to provide better knowledge on the trends and impacts of foreign direct investment on host communities and countries, to gather evidence on inclusive business models, to identify good practices and to develop guidance for host gov ernments.  This publication summarizes the results of this research, in particular through the presentation of the main findings of case studies in nine [...]