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Young people are key agents of change, with enormous innovation potential. FAO recognizes that youth are already at the frontline to build more sustainable agrifood systems and are best placed to rejuvenate the sector, acquire the knowledge and skills needed to innovate, uptake new technologies, and spearhead the digital transformation. The Organization provides support to countries to develop more youth-inclusive policies, strategies, investments and programmes, in order to enhance the overall well-being of young women and men. This compendium of good practices brings together snapshots of selected FAO’s youth-specific projects, activities and products in support of the Rural Youth Action [...]

Sustainable agricultural mechanization covers all levels of farming and processing technologies, and takes into consideration technological, economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects when contributing to the sustainable development of agrifood systems. This publication strives to comprehensively and systematically summarize the status and strategies of China's agricultural mechanization development, its impacts, experiences and practices, and business models. Furthermore, the publication investigates the related investment and policy recommendations to reach the goal of agricultural and rural modernization by 2035, to drive smallholder farmers to enter modern agriculture, and to achieve sustainable development. It is estimated that by 2035, agricultural production in China will [...]

Food Outlook is a biannual publication (May/June and November/December) focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. The sub-title "Global Market Analysis" reflects this focus on developments in international markets, with comprehensive assessments and forecasts on a commodity by commodity basis. Food Outlook maintains a close synergy with another major GIEWS publication, Crop Prospects and Food Situation, especially with regard to the coverage of cereals. The full report is available in English and summaries in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian.

Food Outlook is a biannual publication (May/June and November/December) focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. The sub-title "Global Market Analysis" reflects this focus on developments in international markets, with comprehensive assessments and forecasts on a commodity by commodity basis. Food Outlook maintains a close synergy with another major GIEWS publication, Crop Prospects and Food Situation, especially with regard to the coverage of cereals. The full report is available in English and summaries in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian.

This guide presents a step-by-step approach to assist development practitioners, national authorities and the private sector in facilitating the development of export promotion programs through building multi-stakeholder value chain (VC) alliances to compete in international markets. The guide draws from the Alliances for Action (A4A) approach, which was developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC). A4A has been proven to be effective in mobilizing VC and supporting participants in an ecosystem around a shared purpose to transform VC performance in terms of competitiveness, value addition, and export growth, among other targets. This helps practitioners and value chain stakeholders understand the critical [...]

This paper summarizes the current state of concepts and approaches for addressing deforestation in the trade, marketing, and production of agricultural commodities that have a disproportionate impact on forests at international, national, and landscape level. To date, predominant attention has been directed towards the role of the private sector and "consumer countries" that shape market regulation. This publication aims to complement the international discourse by generating a greater focus on the role of "producer country" governments at the national and local level to support efforts to decouple agricultural production from deforestation.

In this paper, we propose a simple methodology to select a limited number of geographical areas to prioritize for commodity-specific investments in Uganda. Similar to other approaches for prioritizing investments geographically, the basic idea behind the proposed method is that districts with high agro-ecological potential, that are also far from their potential and have high levels of poverty, should be prioritized for commodity-specific investments as they are where investments are likely to have the highest impact. The methodology then proposes an iterative elimination algorithm to provide a list of suggested districts that rank high in all dimensions.The results highlight that [...]

Digital and automation solutions for precision agriculture can improve efficiency, productivity, product quality and sustainability. Nevertheless, barriers to adoption of such solutions – including their cost, lack of knowledge and skills, and the absence of an enabling environment and infrastructure – can prevent producers from realizing these benefits.Building on findings from 22 case studies worldwide, this study finds that national data policies and infrastructure are key enablers of adoption, as is investment in connectivity (e.g. internet) and electricity in rural areas. Further research and information on the economic, environmental and social impacts of the solutions are also needed to provide [...]

The purpose of the workshop was to support governance actors and community leads to learn and train local communities in moving from vulnerability assessment to adaptation planning and implementation in fisheries and aquaculture. Twenty-six participants (women and men) attended from Angola, Namibia and South Africa. The workshop was spread across two days. Day 1 provided an overview of some of the key ideas and tools for adaptation planning. Participants were reminded of the need to combine information from bottom-up and top-down assessment processes. A review of the adaptation toolbox developed by FAO helped guide partners in planning their adaptation; the importance [...]

This work provides a preliminary analysis of the key climate risks affecting agrifood value chains and opportunities for climate services that reach stakeholders involved in all stages of the value chain, from agrifood production to harvest, storage and refrigeration, processing and packaging, transportation, markets, trade and consumption. Climate services provide opportunities to effectively and comprehensively mainstream climate risk management across the entire agrifood value chain, in addition to increasing sustainability and efficiency in the face of changing climate conditions. This report provides significant primary information and recommendations on the development of climate services across the agrifood value chain with a view [...]