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Natural disasters have cost billions of dollars in lost agricultural production. The human food chain is under continuous threat from an alarming increase in the number of outbreaks of transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases. Conflict and protracted crises are putting more and more people in conditions of poverty, food insecurity and displacement. This has become the "new normal" and the impact of climate change will further exacerbate these threats and challenges.  Agriculture often bears a disproportionate share of disaster impacts, many of which are borne directly by smallholders. As resources become increasingly scarce, objective evidence is needed to effectively [...]

After decades of progress, hunger is on the rise again. The figures from The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017 report show an increase in the absolute number of people affected by chronic hunger and a rise in the global prevalence of undernourishment. Globally, the number of chronically malnourished people is estimated to have increased to 815 million from 777 million in 2015. In 2017, four countries faced a very real threat of famine and many more saw increasing numbers of people facing severe hunger. Protecting livelihoods by providing emergency agricultural assistance from the onset of a [...]

Social protection is the set of policies and programmes aimed at preventing or protecting all people against poverty, vulnerability, and social exclusion throughout their lifecycles, particularly the most vulnerable groups. This poster will serve to demonstrate the efforts - and advancements made - in reducing rural poverty and increasing resilience through FAO strategic programmes, such as SP3 and SP5 in recent years. It aims to provide to donors, partners, and policy-makers with the information they need to gain awareness of the impacts of social protection initiatives, and to invest in social protection as a valid pathway out of poverty and [...]

Social protection is the set of policies and programmes aimed at preventing or protecting all people against poverty, vulnerability, and social exclusion throughout their lifecycles, particularly the most vulnerable groups. This poster will serve to demonstrate the efforts - and advancements made - in reducing rural poverty and increasing resilience through FAO strategic programmes, such as SP3 and SP5 in recent years. It aims to provide to donors, partners, and policy-makers with the information they need to gain awareness of the impacts of social protection initiatives, and to invest in social protection as a valid pathway out of poverty and [...]

This paper summarizes evidence on six perceptions associated with cash transfer programming, using eight rigorous evaluations conducted on large-scale government unconditional cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa under the Transfer Project. Specifically, it investigates if transfers: 1) induce higher spending on alcohol or tobacco; 2) are fully consumed (rather than invested); 3) create dependency (reduce participation in productive activities); 4) increase fertility; 5) lead to negative community-level economic impacts (including price distortion and inflation); and 6) are fiscally unsustainable. The paper presents evidence refuting each claim, leading to the conclusion that these perceptions—insofar as they are utilized in policy debates—undercut potential [...]

Sustainable Development Goal 1, ending poverty in all its forms, everywhere, is the most ambitious goal set by the 2030 Agenda. This Goal includes eradicating extreme poverty in the next 12 years, which will require more focused actions in addition to broad-based interventions. The question is: How can we achieve target 1.1 and overcome the many challenges that lie ahead? By gaining a deeper understanding of poverty, and the characteristics of the extreme rural poor in particular, the right policies can be put in place to reach those most in need. This report presents the contribution that agriculture, food systems [...]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) make a significant contribution to growth and socio-economic development in countries and regions around the globe. The widespread adoption and integration of ICTs has reduced information and transaction costs, improved service delivery, created new jobs, generated new revenue streams, and helped conserve resources. ICTs have also transformed the way businesses, people and governments work, interact, and communicate.  ICT innovation is also revolutionizing the agriculture and food sectors. In developed economies, innovations such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, data analytics and block-chain are changing the way agriculture does business. Remote sensors collect data on soil [...]

This publication explores agricultural investment funds as a vehicle for financing agricultural businesses and projects. It looks at the capital needs of the different agricultural actors along the agricultural value chain and taking into consideration investment funds involving all kinds of investors (private, public as well as joint initiatives) and investment objectives. The publication draws heavily from the FAO 2010 publication “Agricultural Investment Funds for Developing Countries”, which was developed from an FAO-ConCAP research study that identified a broad range of investment funds that target agriculture in developing and transitioning countries. The identified funds were classified according to various criteria such [...]

The new FAO project Rural youth migration, social protection and sustainable value chains in Kenya, funded by the Italian Development Cooperation, aims to boost employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Kenyan rural youth along selected value chains. The final objective is to provide alternatives to migration, while also strengthening links with existing social protection programmes.

This publication provides an overview of the methodology and best practices developed during the implementation of the Rural Youth Mobility Project (RYM) in Tunisia and Ethiopia, while decsribing the results acheived at country level. The Project was launched in 2015 to address the drivers of rural out-migration of youth - such as poverty, food insecurity and unemployment - while at the same time harnessing the development potential of migratory movements. With funding from the Italian Development Cooperation, RYM strives to shed lights on the drivers and patterns of rural migration and enhance governments’ capacity to better address migration issues in the context [...]