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Eradicating hunger will require a significant increase in agricultural investment and, more importantly, it will require improving the quality of investment so that it benefits those that need it most.  The CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems – known as RAI – acknowledge that the starting point for defining how responsible investment in agriculture and food systems can contribute to food security and nutrition is the recognition and respect for human rights. They are a set of ten principles that apply to all types and sizes of agricultural investment including fisheries, forests and livestock. They address all [...]

More than 500 million family farms manage the majority of the world’s agricultural land and produce most of the world’s food. We need family farms to ensure global food security, to care for and protect the natural environment and to end poverty, undernourishment and malnutrition. But these goals can be thoroughly achieved if public policies support family farms to become more productive and sustainable; in other words policies must support family farms to innovate within a system that recognizes their diversity and the complexity of the challenges faced.  The State of Food and Agriculture 2014: Innovation in family farming analyses family [...]

CFS Recommended the following actions by stakeholders to address the development, policy, management and enforcement challenges in order to maintain and enhance the contribution of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture to nutrition and food security: Give to fish the position it deserves in food security and nutrition strategies, policies and programmes Promote sustainable fisheries and aquaculture policies and management and design climate change adaptation strategies for food security and nutrition Seize the opportunities and address the challenges of aquaculture development Recognize the contribution of small-scale fisheries Enhance fish market’s and trade’s contribution to food security and nutrition Improve social protection and labour rights Fully address the gender dimension of the fisheries and aquaculture [...]

The nature of this Framework for Action is voluntary. Its purpose is to guide the implementation of the commitments of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition adopted by the Second International Conference on Nutrition held in Rome, Italy, on 19-21 November 2014. Building on existing commitments, goals and targets, this Framework for Action provides a set of policy options and strategies which governments1, acting in cooperation with other stakeholders, may incorporate, as appropriate, into their national nutrition, health, agriculture2, development and investment plans, and consider in negotiating international agreements to achieve better nutrition for all. As governments have primary responsibility for taking [...]

This framework outlines the potential of agriculture to improve nutrition, sets out the guiding principles and provides a joint strategic response for shaping policy dialogue and ensuring alignment in the design of policies and operational programmes in agriculture and nutrition.

This volume outlines a simple and practical way to analyse the design and implementation of food and nutrition security (FNS) policies and programmes from a right to food perspective. The right to food approach, as an instrument to help formulate FNS policies and programmes, is emphasized. The primary focus is on national overarching FNS policies. The question of how to assess sector policies that may have direct or indirect impacts on food security and nutrition security is also addressed. Good policies need an enabling implementation environment, which includes evidence-based decisions, adequate financial and human resources and sound governance. These aspects [...]

This publication presents evidence with regard to the effectiveness of policies and programmes introduced in response to rising food prices in eight selected Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru. The case studies provide insights into the economic and policy environment at the time of the first price spike of 2007–08, analyse the measures that were introduced in response and discuss the evidence on the effects on the food security situation. As such they provide lessons learned in terms of the effectiveness of the different measures in achieving the intended food security goals, including [...]

In a world where more than 800 million continue to suffer from chronic malnourishment and where the global population is expected to grow by another 2 billion to reach 9.6 billion people by 2050 – with a concentration in coastal urban areas – we must meet the huge challenge of feeding our planet while safeguarding its natural resources for future generations. This new edition of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) highlights the significant role that fisheries and aquaculture plays in eliminating hunger, promoting health and reducing poverty. Never before have people consumed so much fish or depended [...]

During the XXXII Regional FAO Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Buenos Aires in March 2012, one of the issues proposed for the agenda and agreed upon by the participants was that “FAO will organize a broad and dynamic debate with the participation of the civil society and academia to discuss the concept of food sovereignty, the meaning of which has been not been agreed upon by FAO Member States and the United Nations System.” (FAO, 2012, paragraph 25) To this end, this ad h oc document, prepared by the consultant Gustavo Gordillo, contains information and analysis [...]

This course explains the importance of food composition tables and databases, food description (selection and nomenclature), food components (analysis, calculation, conversion and units), covers the aspects of quality and food biodiversity, as well as compilation principles. The course is designed to be used in universities to help future professionals appreciate food composition data and use them adequately to improve data quality, availability and usage worldwide.