FAO.org

The smallholder farmers' dataportrait is a comprehensive, systematic and standardized data set on the profile of smallholder farmers across the world.  It generates an image on how small family farmers in developing and emerging countries live their lives. It is about putting in numbers, the constraints they face, and the choices they make so that policies can be informed by evidence to meet the challenge of agricultural development. Currently, the data portrait provides information for fourteen countries. 

The Guidance document aims to assist FAO Members in incorporating decent rural employment interventions across different agricultural sub-sectors. It is organized into three main sections that answer respectively to the questions: "Why", "When" and "How" to integrate DRE. In particular, the section on “How to incorporate DRE considerations” outlines and analyzes the following 4 strategic planning phases: Phase 1: Conducting the problem and stakeholder analysis – Applying a DRE lens; Phase 2: Defining desired impacts and beneficiaries – Prioritizing DRE; Phase 3: Developing the result chain and the strategies and programmes to achieve the results - Developing a DRE-inclusive results [...]

FAO’s best-selling 2011 publication, Save and Grow, proposed a new paradigm of agriculture, one that is both highly productive and environmentally sustainable. This new book looks at the application of “Save and Grow” practices and technologies to production of the world’s key food security crops – maize, rice and wheat. With examples drawn from developing countries worldwide, it shows how eco-friendly farming systems are helping smallholder producers to boost cereal yields, improve their  incomes and livelihoods, conserve natural resources, reduce negative impacts on the environment, and build resilience to climate change. The book will be a valuable reference for policymakers [...]

Children are exposed to pesticides through their work or involvement in agricultural activities, which can harm their health and development. This course explains how children are exposed, why children are more vulnerable than adults to exposure and the negative impacts. Moreover, it identifies specific actions related to pesticide management that can take child labour into account and reduce children's exposure to pesticides. It aims to build specific skills, depending on work-related responsibilities and tasks, by providing concrete ideas and guidance that can be applied in real life situations.

Child labour can be found at all stages of agricultural supply chains, affecting children, enterprise reputation, as well as rural and agricultural development. This course presents a number of business-oriented strategies to reduce child labour in agricultural supply chains, including in crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. It aims to build specific skills, depending on work-related responsibilities and tasks, by providing concrete ideas and guidance that can be applied in real life situations.

FAO factsheet on FAO's role and response to the youth employment challenge in rural areas. The factsheet includes examples of FAO’s activities and tools to promote decent youth employment in agriculture and indicates countries where FAO is active.  

The report supports the quantitative foresight analyses of food and agricultural systems. It also catalyzes several years worth of FAO experience in this domain. 

Mobile phones have been shown (though not uniformly) to positively contribute in various ways to rural development, from reducing information asymmetry, improving functional networks, to increasing access to services and finance. Yet a digital gender divide exists. When contrasted with the fact that women compromise 43% of the worlds’ agricultural labor force, this digital gender divide can inhibit rural development. There is substantial exploration of the digital gender divide in the literature. Yet the answers to questions regarding differential access and use of information and communication technologies are mostly inconclusive. This study tries identify the information needs of the rural [...]

FAO promotes the transition to sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural policies and governance mechanisms, working with countries on reviewing their policies and investment strategies and helping them align their policies and programmes in support of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as the Paris Agreement on climate change.

This is a training course on nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems. Using two realistic scenarios, this course illustrates the linkages between agriculture, food systems and nutrition, and describes existing opportunities for integrating nutrition into food system policies, investments and programmes. The course offers a series of examples of nutrition-sensitive policies and interventions, as well as an overview of the main initiatives and commitment on nutrition. The course is designed to assist professionals from any fields related to agriculture and food systems (inputs and production, processing, storage, transport and retailing, consumption) that are involved in shaping and implementing nutrition-sensitive programmes, investments and [...]