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A timely publication as world leaders deliberate the causes of the latest bouts of food price volatility and search for solutions that address the recent velocity of financial, economic, political, demographic, and climatic change. As a collection compiled from a diverse group of economists, analysts, traders, institutions and policy formulators – comprising multiple methodologies and viewpoints - the book exposes the impact of volatility on global food security, with particular focus on the world’s most vulnerable. A provocative read.

This guide is designed for those involved in developing action plans to address the current issue of high food prices. It is divided into three parts. The first part provides background information on the context, purpose, audience and structure of the guide. The second part provides some essential remarks on processes that lead to decisions on actions to be taken as well as the analytical underpinning required to ensure that instruments used are well adapted to the specific conditions within the country. The third part looks at instruments that could be used to immediately address high food prices. They are classified by the domain of intervention (macro-economy, [...]

Micronutrient deficiencies affect more than two billion people in the world today. With long-ranging effects on health, learning ability and productivity they contribute to the vicious cycle of malnutrition, underdevelopment and poverty. Food-based approaches, which include food production, dietary diversification and food fortification, are sustainable strategies for improving the micronutrient status of populations and raising levels of nutrition. "Combating Micronutrient Deficiencies: Food-based Approaches" focuses on practical, sustainable actions for overcoming micronutrient deficiencies through increased availability, access to and consumption of adequate quantities and appropriate varieties of safe, good quality food. The volume brings together the available knowledge, success stories and lessons [...]

The Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was adopted by the FAO Council at its 143rd Session in 2011. It updates the Global Plan of Action for Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources which was adopted at the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources held in Leipzig in 1996. The Second Global Plan of Action addresses new challenges, such as climate change and food insecurity, as well as novel opportunities, including information, communication and molecular methodologies. It contains 18 priority activities organized in four main groups: In situ conservation and [...]

The FAPDA web-based tool is one of the major components of FAPDA activities. The tool was developed in 2011 with the support of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain so as to provide an electronic repository for food and agriculture policy decisions.
 The aim is to serve all stakeholders such as governments, development partners, regional economic organizations, civil society organizations, researchers, policy makers and the private sector. Between 2008 and 2016, more than 9000 policy decisions have been gathered and then consolidated on this web-based tool which allows for the identification of policy trends and the analysis of policy mixes and [...]

Societies develop ways of making decisions regarding collective problems, thereby creating norms, rules, and institutions; this is what governance is about. In policy research, governance has become an important focus of attention; but debates show a lack of clarity at the conceptual level and a confusion between the use of the concept for prescriptive and analytical purposes. The present article is based on the hypothesis that using a clarified, non-normative governance perspective in policy research can contribute to an improved understanding of political processes, including formal and unrecognised ones, those embedded in larger and smaller social systems, as well as [...]

Published under the The Food and Agriculture Policy Decision Analysis (FAPDA) project, this paper reviews the policy decisions taken from October 2008 to mid 2010. It aims to analyze the policy trends during the period that followed the peak of the 2008 Food Security Crisis. It seeks to identify possible changes in the policy orientation adopted by selected FAO member countries. This paper aspires to answer to the question raised as the result of the 2009 FAO publication on "Country Responses to the Food Security Crisis" which had found quite deep changes in the orientation of policies put in place by [...]

Women make significant contributions to the rural economy in all developing country regions. Their roles differ across regions, yet they consistently have less access than men to the resources and opportunities they need to be more productive. Increasing women’s access to land, livestock, education, financial services, extension, technology and rural employment would boost their productivity and generate gains in terms of agricultural production, food security, economic growth and social welfare. Closing the gender gap in agricultural inputs alone could lift 100–150 million people out of hunger.  No blueprint exists for closing the gender gap, but some basic principles are universal: governments, [...]

This paper reviews rural women’s access to financial services, a key factor of successful rural development strategies. Designing appropriate financial products for women to be able to save, borrow and insure is essential to strengthen women’s role as producers and widen the economic opportunities available to them. For this purpose it is essential to understand how context-specific legal rights, social norms, family responsibilities and women’s access to and control over other resources shape their need for capital and their ability to obtain it. The paper argues that it is important that development strategies that aim to boost rural women’s productive [...]

The report examines: the role of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) in agriculture; the relevance of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) agri-environmental measures for PES; opportunities and gaps in PES implementation and key areas for further investigation; cost-effective targeting of PES; social and cultural drivers behind the success of PES; landscape labelling approaches to PES through bundling services, products and stewards; enabling conditions and complementary legislative tools; and PES within the context of a green economy. The report includes case studies on: PES and eco-certification in Kenya; geographic indication certification in Ukraine; PES in Tanzania; PES and rubber [...]