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This document summarizes the online discussion Near-real-time monitoring of food crisis risk factors for improved early warning early action, held at the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) from 16 September to 18 October 2020. The discussion was facilitated by Betina Dimaranan of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).This online discussion followed up on a recent Food Security Portal webinar that took stock of the advances in tools and approaches for real-time monitoring of food crisis risk factors in early warning early action systems. The discussion was one [...]

AGRIS is one of the most comprehensive databases for food and agricultural scientific literature worldwide. Accessible through a web portal, millions of bibliographic records in 90 different languages are available for free to global users. An international network of data providers, including publishers, governments and organizations, volunteer information (metadata) about science publications. These records are provided in multilingual formats and frequently include full text links to connect users to scientific literature worldwide.Over recent years, AGRIS has evolved to become an acknowledged information resource worldwide by moving from paper to digital, and from a centralized model to a distributed network. This [...]

This publication discusses the role information and communications technology (ICT) plays in agricultural mechanization, which has the potential to transform and improve smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Although mechanization levels tend to be low in African countries, there is still evidence of demand for mechanization services from smallholder farmers, especially tractor hire services. Where such demand exists, tractor owners have formed private hiring markets to provide the required services. The main challenge is related to high transaction costs – incurred by farmers due to information distortion concerning the availability of tractor hire services and how to access them, and by [...]

This report presents and reflects on the opportunities that new technological developments related to automation and precision agriculture (e.g. robotics) can offer to agriculture in developing countries. These technologies are mainly targeted to support farmers that struggle with the cost of labour when harvesting crops and to tackle the declining availability of manpower for general cropping operations. This report also explores the possible applications of agricultural technology, presents the current trends and discusses some of the principle challenges to successful adoption for sustainable agricultural mechanization in developing countries.

This action sheet is part of a series of action sheets developed under the seven key priority areas of the FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery programme, the FAO umbrella programme designed to proactively and sustainably address the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. Each action sheet includes a project proposal in support of countries most in need for which FAO is leveraging high-level political, financial and technical expertise. All action sheets are gathered on the Food Coalition web hub, where members of the Coalition - a multi-stakeholder global alliance for a unified global action in response to COVID-19 - can access the [...]

This study, the third of its type published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), adds further evidence that in mountain regions of developing countries, food insecurity, social isolation, environmental degradation, exposure to the risk of disasters and to the impacts of climate change, and limited access to basic services, especially in rural areas, are still prevalent and, under some circumstances, increasing. It also shows the technical challenges for producing more comprehensive and representative assessments based on scientific data, and providing a deeper understanding of the underlying factors of vulnerability of mountain people. Mountains cover 39 million [...]

Despite relatively high economic growth rates in many developing countries in the last two decades, income inequality has remained high and even increased. This has important policy implications as high-income inequality undercuts the benefits of economic growth in reducing food insecurity. This paper uses the 2014 Gallup World Poll (GWP) dataset of individual food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and employs a three-level linear probability model to assess the macro-economic effects of economic growth and income inequality on individual food insecurity. Results show that increases in the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita are concurrent with declines [...]

Intensifying water constraints threaten food security and nutrition. Thus, urgent action is needed to make water use in agriculture more sustainable and equitable. Irrigated agriculture remains by far the largest user of freshwater, but scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem owing to increasing demand and competition for freshwater resources. At the same time, rainfed agriculture is facing increasing precipitation variability driven by climate change. These trends will exacerbate disputes among water users and inequality in access to water, especially for small-scale farmers, the rural poor and other vulnerable populations.The State of Food and Agriculture 2020 presents new estimates on [...]

This document intends to provide an analysis of the outcomes of the application of the TAP Common Framework in the eight countries of the Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS) project. The TAP Common Framework (TAP CF) was developed at the global level as an initial activity of the CDAIS project in order to guide capacity development (CD) and strengthening of Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS). The project then tested this framework in eight pilot countries (Guatemala, Honduras, Burkina Faso, Angola, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Lao PDR, Bangladesh). The purpose of the transversal analysis was to understand how the CDAIS approach contributed [...]

The continuing COVID-19 pandemic—and related lockdowns—triggered a massive cash crisis around the world for families who depend on informal earnings, including daily wage workers. In Pakistan, a nationwide lockdown was imposed on 21 March 2020. This had major reverberations on the food supply chain and agriculture sector, where restrictive measures threatened the livelihoods of workers and smallholder farmers. In total, as of 12 July 2020, there were 248 872 confirmed cases throughout Pakistan.Lockdown-related challenges have created new threats to public health, with communities struggling to adhere to restrictions while still securing food for their families. Overall, society’s most vulnerable and [...]