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These guidelines are intended to assist competent authorities in their consideration of voluntary third-party assurance (vTPA) programmes. They provide a framework and criteria for assessing the integrity and credibility of the governance structures of vTPA programmes and the reliability of information/data generated by such programmes to support national food control system objectives. The term "Codex Alimentarius" is Latin and means "food code”. Codex standards are international food texts, i.e. standards, codes of practice, codes of hygienic practice, guidelines and other recommendations, established to protect the health of the consumers and to ensure fair practices in the food trade. The collection of [...]

This document summarizes the online Consultation for the development of the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment in the context of Food Security and Nutrition held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) from 16 September to 30 November 2021. The consultation was facilitated by Françoise Trine, Marina Calvino and Alyson Brody from the Secretariat of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). This online consultation was part of a broader consultative process on the Zero Draft of the Voluntary Guidelines, which also included six regional consultations. Online consultation participants [...]

This study looks at the business models of small and medium sized rice processors in Kenya in order to better understand the policy and technical support they need to grow and fulfil their role in agrifood systems transformation. More specifically, by employing semi-structured interviews with Kenyan rice millers, the technical study identifies challenges in their day-to-day business activities, including procurement, inbound and outbound logistics, in-house operations, financing, and human resources management. Additionally, the publication looks at opportunities for improving the business enabling environment in which these enterprises operate, providing a set of policy options to foster their role. The methodology cross [...]

Food security means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. Food safety is interlinked with and essential to achieving food security.In times of food insecurity, humanitarian relief in the form of food aid is often distributed by specialized organizations, such as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Under conditions of food assistance there are food safety considerations that must be taken in account so as to carefully evaluate the impact on food availability while [...]

Sub-Saharan Africa is uniquely positioned significantly increase its current agricultural productivity to lift the region’s more than 400 million people out of extreme poverty and improve the livelihood of approximately 250 million smallholder farmers and pastoralists in the region. To achieve that, substantive digital transformation of the agriculture sector is required through improved infrastructure and increased access to and use of digital technologies for agriculture. To improve the current understanding of sub-Saharan Africa’s digital agriculture landscape, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) undertook this study in 47 countries. The report is [...]

En este reporte FAO ilustra los avances realizados durante el año 2021, en el cumplimiento del mandato que nos dieron los Países Miembros. Durante 2021, los países de América Latina y el Caribe demostraron que incluso durante uno de los periodos más demandantes de la historia reciente, es posible impulsar una mejor producción, una mejor nutrición, un mejor medio ambiente y una vida mejor, sin dejar a nadie atrásLos resultados incluidos en este documento son ejemplos importantes, pero parciales, de nuestro quehacer.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of agri-food systems to shocks and stresses and led to increased global food insecurity and malnutrition. Action is needed to make agri-food systems more resilient, efficient, sustainable and inclusive.The State of Food and Agriculture 2021 presents country-level indicators of the resilience of agri-food systems. The indicators measure the robustness of primary production and food availability, as well as physical and economic access to food. They can thus help assess the capacity of national agri-food systems to absorb shocks and stresses, a key aspect of resilience.The report analyses the vulnerabilities of food supply chains and [...]

The Food Loss and Waste database is the largest online collection of data on both food loss and food waste and causes reported throughout the literature. The database contains data and information from openly accessible reports and studies measuring food loss and waste across food products, stages of the value chain, and geographical areas. In October 2019, more than 480 publications and reports from various sources (e.g., subnational reports, academic studies, and reports from national and international organizations such as the World Bank, GIZ, FAO, IFPRI, and other sources), which have produced more than 20 thousand data points, were included. Data [...]

La publicación busca resaltar la importancia de la transformación de los sistemas alimentarios en América Latina y el Caribe, en el marco de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) y en un contexto de pandemia.Los sistemas alimentarios tienen el potencial de nutrir a la población y apoyar la sostenibilidad ambiental; sin embargo, la pandemia pone en riesgo ambos logros. Proporcionar dietas saludables a una población en crecimiento, a partir de sistemas alimentarios sostenibles en América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) es un desafío inmediato.El libro presenta una introducción sobre la Transformación de los Sistemas Alimentarios como un desafío planetario de [...]

A primer to the right to adequate foodThis course is part of the e-learning curriculum "Right to Food in Practice" and it introduces the principles and concept of the human right to adequate food and its practical application.The course also provides an overview of the historical development of this human right, the human rights based approach to development, recourse mechanisms, the Right to Food Guidelines and describes the rights, obligations and responsibilities of rights-holders and duty-bearers of the right to food.The course is available in English, French and Spanish. Methodologies for implementing the right to foodThis course is part of the [...]