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This document presents a set of guiding principles that are conducive to responsible contract farming operations. It is intended to serve as guidance for farmers and buyers engaged in contractual relationships, in order to promote good business practices and maintain an atmosphere of trust and respect that is essential if contract farming is to prove effective. This brief is a complement to other publications available on FAO’s Contract Farming Resource Centre (www.fao.org/ag/ags/contract-farming).

Secure tenure is an important prerequisite for sustainable forest management. More diversified tenure systems  could provide a basis for improving forest management  and local livelihoods, particularly where the State has  insufficient capacity to manage forests. In the past decade  many countries have initiated efforts to reform their tenure arrangements for forests and forest land,  devolving some degree of access and management from the State to others, mainly households, private c ompanies  and communities. This publication provides practical guidance for policy-makers and others concerned with addressing forest tenure reform. Drawing from many  sources, including forest tenure assessments carried out by FAO [...]

Les femmes participent de manière considérable à l’économie rurale dans toutes les régions en développement. Si les rôles qu’elles assument sont différents selon les régions, on observe toutefois partout qu’elles ont un accès plus restreint que les hommes aux ressources et aux débouchés qui leur permettraient d’être plus productives. Un meilleur accès des femmes à la terre, aux animaux d’élevage, à l’instruction, aux services financiers et de vulgarisation, aux technologies et au marché de l’emploi rural se traduirait par une nette augmentation de leur productivité et par une amélioration de la production agricole, de la sécurité alimentaire, de la croissance économique et du bien-être [...]

This paper reviews rural women’s access to financial services, a key factor of successful rural development strategies. Designing appropriate financial products for women to be able to save, borrow and insure is essential to strengthen women’s role as producers and widen the economic opportunities available to them. For this purpose it is essential to understand how context-specific legal rights, social norms, family responsibilities and women’s access to and control over other resources shape their need for capital and their ability to obtain it. The paper argues that it is important that development strategies that aim to boost rural women’s productive [...]

FAO - in partnership with the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Youth Development Association and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) - has recently published a case study report on “Promoting Employment and Entrepreneurship for Vulnerable Youths in West Bank and Gaza Strip” Youth in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) face enormous challenges related to occupation, conflict, deep rural poverty, food insecurity and lack of extracurricular activities. Israeli closure policies, the construction of the Separation Wall, land confiscation, limited access to [...]

This guidance document will:  Introduce the concepts of rural employment and decent work (RE&DW). Acknowledge the centrality of RE&DW for the achievement of the Millennium  Development Goals (MDGs) • Affirm FAO’s comparative advantages in dealing with RE&DW and identify the main areas  of intervention • Provide a summary of the results of FAO’s “Self-Assessment on Employment and Decent Work • Suggest examples of concrete actions that FAO country offices could consider to promote  RE&DW w ithin their existing work programmes  • Encourage the creation of links with International Labour Organization (ILO) field offices  and facilitate partnerships and the identification of synergies.  

Le nombre de personnes sous-alimentées dans le monde, qui avoisine le milliard en 2010, se maintient à un niveau inacceptable malgré une baisse attendue – la première en 15 ans. Cette baisse s'explique dans une large mesure par un environnement économique plus favorable en 2010 – notamment dans les pays en développement – et par la diminution des prix des denrées alimentaires sur les marchés intérieurs et internationaux depuis 2008. Selon les estimations de la FAO, le nombre de personnes sous-alimentées s’élève à 925 millions en 2010, contre 1,023 milliard en 2009. C’est l’Asie qui a contribué le plus fortement à [...]

It is a simple methodology for teaching vulnerable children and young people  about farming and how to take care of themselves. It uses a “living classroom" approach in which the students observe the crops throughout the growing season  with the help of a facilitator. Agricultural topics are linked to life skills so that when  children talk about how to protect their plants from diseases they also learn how to  protect themselves from diseases and other adverse conditions. The school bui lds  the students’ self-confidence and problem solving skills by having them decide  for themselves what steps are required, for example, [...]

Livestock contribute 40 percent of the global value of agricultural output and support the livelihoods and food security of almost a billion people. Rapidly rising incomes and urbanization, combined with underlying population growth, are driving demand for meat and other animal products in many developing countries. These changes and the speed with which they are occurring have created systemic risks for livelihoods, human and animal health and the environment. To meet the challenges and constraints of the twenty-first century, the livestock sector requires appropriate institutions, research, development interventions and governance that reflect the diversity within the sector and the multiple demands [...]