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Climate is an essential input to agricultural production. Changes in climate will inevitably have an impact on agricultural productivity, output, farm incomes and prices. Elevated temperatures will also affect human and animal health. To date, most of the studies of climate impacts on agriculture have ignored the impacts on humans and livestock, focusing instead on the consequences for crop production. One of the foremost reasons is that research on crop impacts assessment is the field where the necessary modelling infrastructure was most fully developed.   The present paper provides an overview of the latest modelling research on the impact of climate change [...]

Global and regional agreements set out the rules for countries trade policies .and define the policy space available within agriculture for reaching food security objectives. Therefore, balancing the achievement of national policy objectives with the obligations under trade agreements is critical. This course informs the treatment of agriculture in several World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements and regional trade agreements (RTAs) and aims to support policy makers to develop and implement appropriate agricultural development and food security strategies. By the end of the course, participants will be better able to: •understand and identify the main provisions of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA); •understand and [...]

Migration from rural areas is significant, and policy-makers must seek to maximize its positive impacts on development. The movement of people out of agriculture and into other sectors with higher productivity – manufacturing and services, mostly located in urban areas – contributes to economic growth and higher incomes for migrants from rural areas. However, migration also has profound impacts on rural areas of origin, some positive and some negative. Hence policies should support productive capacity and livelihoods in rural areas as migrant labourers move away. It is also important to enhance the contribution of migrants to the development of rural [...]

The government of Haiti has attempted in recent years to increase the efficiency in agricultural support measures, partly reforming the input subsidy programme, and modernising land registration systems and zoo-phytosanitary measures. Extreme poverty has fallen from 31 to 24 percent over the last decade, especially in urban areas. However, vulnerable sectors of the population continue to have limited access to public support. Main social protection programmes reviewed were cash transfers and school feeding, sustainability, targeting, and coverage remain as challenges See all FAPDA country fact sheets.

This edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets focuses on the complex and underexplored intersection between agricultural trade, climate change and food security. The report makes an important contribution to the policy debates on climate change adaptation and mitigation under the Paris Agreement and the multilateral agricultural trade rules. The report discusses policies – both domestic support and trade measures – that can promote food security, adaptation and mitigation, and improve the livelihoods of family farmers around the world. Given both the slow- and rapid-onset impacts of climate change, policies that can significantly promote climate change adaptation and mitigation [...]

This review is the third in a series of publications devoted to the analysis of agricultural trade and trade policies in the post-Soviet countries. The purpose of the review is to study trends in the agri-food foreign trade and to monitor the latest policy changes in trade policies of these countries that affect its dynamics and structure. This publication also includes a chapter on review of strategies and programs on export promotion of agricultural goods developed by post-Soviet countries. In order to diversify agricultural markets in 2016-2017, many post-Soviet countries have intensified the development of such policy documents, considering the [...]

This paper calls for modernization of the rice production sector in Rwanda and analyses the challenges to expanding production, including protective trade measures and a lack of investment in land, infrastructure, and irrigation. (36 pp.) 

This document summarizes the online discussion Sustaining the impact of capacity development initiatives for African youth in agriculture, which was held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition in Africa (FSN Forum Africa) from 25 October to 17 November 2017. The aim was to solicit opinions on capacity development sustainability initiatives for young agripreneurs in Africa, and to contribute to identifying challenges and opportunities related to sustaining the impact of all interventions (existing and future ones) aimed at developing capacities and engaging youth in agriculture. See all ongoing and past discussion on the Global Forum on Food Security and [...]

This fact sheet describes the course which introduces the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (also known as the CFS-RAI), a set of ten principles that apply to all types and sizes of agricultural investment including fisheries, forests and livestock. The principles address all stakeholders and apply to all stages of the value chain. As a soft law instrument, they are globally applicable and include actions to address a range of environmental, social and economic issues.

Aligned with the GEF cross-cutting corporate strategy on capacity development (CD) FAO believes that robust and systemwide CD approaches are essential to enhance the impact, sustainability and scale of GEF projects through deepening country ownership, commitment and mutual accountability for results. Supporting countries through system-wide CD interdependently empowers people, strengthens organizations and enhances the enabling policy and institutional framework based on assessed needs. For GEF, 15 country projects have benefited from incorporating a step-by-step CD approach with innovative methodologies2 during project formulation and implementation. Findings reveal that the project quality increased substantially through complementing the biophysical with socio-economic and institutional elements, more effective and needs-based CD interventions across [...]