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Crop diversification is an important policy objective to promote climate change adaptation, yet the drivers and impacts of crop diversification vary considerably depending on the specific combinations of crops a farmer grows. This paper examines adoption determinants of seven different cropping systems in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, and the impact of their adoption on maize productivity and income volatility – using a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model. These cropping systems consist in different combinations of four categories of crops: dominate staple (maize), alternative staples, legumes, and cash-crops. The study finds that relative to maize mono-cropping systems, the vast majority of [...]

School feeding programmes are recognized as a key part of food assistance and relief in emergency and development programmes.  They are principally concerned with transfer of food to school to alleviate hunger, meet daily consumption needs and encourage attendance and retention.  Home-Grown School Feeding programmes (HGSF) in particular have received attention in recent years because of the links to agricultural development and have therefore been widely viewed as a means to address food insecurity while promoting rural development goals in Africa. Locally procured school meals, form an important part of HGSF programmes, and when coupled with food and nutrition education (FNE), [...]

Ethiopia is vulnerable to many natural hazards, and years of below-average rainfall, coupled with the 2015 El Niño-induced drought, resulted in deteriorating food security in 2016. In some regions crop losses, mainly cereals, were between 30 and 95 percent. Many households had to eat their seed reserves, leaving them without means of production in future seasons. This project –part of the largest emergency seed response in Ethiopia’s history –focused on providing seed aid to vulnerable smallholders: 13 875 households were helped, over a third more than the 10 223 initially targeted, to resume their agricultural livelihoods. Find more Project Highlights here.

After heavy and above-average rains fell in September 2015 in the Southern Province and Western Area, an estimated 22 000 people were affected and thousands of hectares of land were destroyed. The worst of the damage occurred in Bo, Bontheand Pujehundistricts. Because many households in Sierra Leone depend on agriculture for their food and income, the loss of crops and seeds devastated the food and nutrition security of farmers in these areas, who were already at the peak of the lean season. This project was implemented to immediately improve household food security while allowing farmers to restart agricultural production during [...]

The Boko Haram insurgency in Cameroon’s Far North region has led to a large influx of refugees from neighbouring Nigeria and of internally displaced people. Local communities, already disproportionately affected by years of low socio-economic development, have suffered from the impact upon the environment, food security, nutrition and basic social services. In an attempt to prevent radicalization of youths and women, the project aimed to build the capacity of local, traditional and religious auth orities to better understand the vulnerabilities, plan the response, tackle the crisis, contribute to the dialogue for peace and constitute a solid basis for peaceful coexistence [...]

Nearly 75 percent of Lesotho’s population live in rural areas and depend on farming for their livelihoods. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is increasing, and arable land is extremely limited (9 percent of the total area). When the El Niño-induced drought struck in 2015, the agricultural sector was strongly impacted, and the Government of Lesotho declared a state of drought emergency. Many households did not plant at all, leading to a drastic decline in food availability and harvest. In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) and the Bureau of Statistics, this project provided [...]

Food and nutrition insecurity is a severe and widespread problem in Afghanistan. About 30 percent of the population is food insecure, and 40 percent of Afghan children under five years of age suffer from chronic undernutrition. The majority of vulnerable and food insecure people live in rural areas, and depend on agriculture and livestock as their main sources of livelihood. The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) developed a strategy to address the critical issues of food a nd nutrition security. However, its institutional structures and technical and management capacities need strengthening in order to effectively implement this strategy. Find [...]

The Understanding Codex will be at its 4th Edition and it is a very useful tool to introduce the Codex Alimentarius and its collection of international food standards to the public. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards that have been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Such standards cover all the main foods and also  material used in the further processing of food. Codex provisions concern the hygienic and nutritional; quality of food, including microbiological norms, food additives, pesticides and veterinary drug residues, contaminants, labelling and presentation, and methods of sampling and risk analysis. The Codex Alimentarius [...]

The brochure describes the six pilots of the project "Developing capacity for strengthening food security and nutrition in selected countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia". Following an explanation of making operational the linkages between social protection, nutrition and agricultural interventions across the food systems, the brochure describes in detail the “School food and nutrition programmes linked to the agricultural sector”, “Strengthening food systems for nutrition sensitive social protection” and “Promoting inclusive economic growth through matching grants” pilots in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Also available in Russian. 

This brochure presents the key findings and recommendations of the study entitled “the Regional Outlook on Gender and Agri-food Systems,” which was jointly conducted by the FAO and the African Union Commission. The brochure describes gender gaps in (i) access to and control over productive resources and opportunities, (ii) influence and collective capacity, and (iii) agricultural policies, investment and rural context. Additional analysis on progress and good practices across countries in Africa informed the brochure further to provide recommendations and next steps to move from commitments to collective actions. Also available in French.