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Cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa impact the productive activities of both beneficiary and non-beneficiary households in the communities where they are implemented. These programmes have led to an increase in agricultural activities in beneficiary households, including greater use of agricultural inputs, more land area in crop production and higher crop output. Beneficiary households have increased ownership of livestock and agricultural tools, as well as a greater tendency to participate in non-farm family enterprises. Moreover, households that receive transfers tend to reallocate their labour away from casual agricultural wage labour to household-managed economic activities. In almost all countries, cash transfers have allowed beneficiary households to avoid negative [...]

The objective of the Principles is to promote responsible investment in agriculture and food systems that contribute to food security and nutrition, thus supporting the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. This document seeks to address the core elements of what makes investment in agriculture and food systems responsible; identify who the key stakeholders are, and their respective roles and responsibilities with respect to responsible investment in agriculture and food systems; and to serve as a framework to guide the actions of all stakeholders engaged in agriculture and food systems by defining Principles which can [...]

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.

If a decision is made at the national level to increase the share of bioenergy, what implications does this have for water, land and energy? How do electricity subsidies contribute to groundwater depletion and what can be done about it? How can we ensure that sectoral policies and strategies consider the potential trade-offs for other sectors? Finding answers to these questions is the main challenge of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. By describing the complex and interrelated nature of our global resource systems, the Nexus approach helps us to better understand and systematically analyze how we can use and manage our resources in light of different, often competing [...]

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 [...]

The 2014 edition of the State of the World’s Forests report (also known as SOFO) has been released by FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This coincides with the opening of the 22nd Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) and the World Forest Week. SOFO 2014 deals with the existing knowledge gaps on the socioeconomic benefits provided by forests. It gathers and analyses data already available on the topic. It also makes recommendations to improve this information. The lack of information about the socioeconomic dimension of forests and the need to fill this gap was also one of [...]

The poor are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of high and volatile food prices. Available evidence, while not conclusive, indicates that both urban and rural poor, including poor farmers, are particularly exposed because they are typically net buyers of food (Ivanic and Martin, 2008). Food accounts for as much as three-quarters of the expenditures of poor households in some countries.

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 [...]