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Uganda is putting significant efforts toward addressing the constraints responsible for its low agricultural productivity, which affects farmers’ incomes and therefore, their food security. The biggest developments are being seen in improving the added value of its production, as well as in supporting strategic commodities such as livestock and rice. 

The National Inputs Voucher Scheme (NAIVS) will be ending at the close of this cropping year (2013/2014). NAIVS provided access to fertilizer and seeds through subsidized input packages for maize and rice. The Big Results Now (BRN) initiative was launched in 2013, which aims to modernize the agriculture sector by promoting public-private partnership and mainstream market oriented measures.

The government of Burundi has timidly decreased State involvement in strategic value chains, with a view to open the market, enhance effectiveness, and reduce the fiscal deficit. With regards to social protection, no specific national programmes are in place, though the country joined the Scaling Up Nutrition movement in 2013 committing to tackle the alarming levels of malnutrition in the country (the highest in the region). For more country policy briefs by FAPDA please see here.

A technical guide on safeguarding land tenure rights in line with the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, for government authorities involved in the promotion, approval and monitoring of agricultural investments This technical guide elaborates on specific aspects of the VGGT relating to agricultural investments by providing detailed guidance to government authorities and others on actions they can take to help them to create an enabling environment for responsible and sustainable investments. In following this guidance and applying the principles of the VGGT, governments will be more [...]

The notes collected in this publication were initially disseminated at the “Private Sector Forum on Food Security in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region” jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in May 2015. The notes aim to inform EBRD agribusiness investments in the SEMED and disseminate knowledge on current trends in agribusiness and food security. The EBRD called upon FAO’s technical assistance to carry out an analysis of key trends in the agribusiness sector of four specific countries: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. This process resulted in four country [...]

The aim of this paper is to provide policy-makers with a helpful overview of the technical and economic aspects of water use in agriculture, with particular emphasis on crop and livestock production. Through 2050, in many countries, agriculture will remain an important determinant of economic growth, poverty reduction, and food security, even as, over time, the proportion of agricultural revenue in national gross income declines. Water use in agriculture will remain substantial, irrigated areas will expand and competition for water will increase in all sectors. Most likely, overall supplies of land and water will be sufficient to achieve global food [...]

Agriculture is a source of livelihood for over 35 percent of the world’s population. Natural hazards and disasters – such as floods, drought, storms, earthquakes, landsides, tsunamis or wildfire – disproportionately affect the small-scale farmers, herders, fishers and forest dependent communities who generate over half of the world’s agricultural production. Between 2004 and 2013, agriculture absorbed more than 22 percent of total damage and losses caused by natural disasters in developing countries. Vulnerability increases with each event, reversing improvements to food security, poverty reduction and agricultural development. As a result of climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, intense [...]

Inclusive business models promote the integration of smallholders into markets, with the underlying principle that there are mutual benefits for poor farmers and the business community. A business model describes how any given enterprise – large or small, informal or formal – creates and markets its products or services, obtains finance, and sources inputs. Each enterprise has its own unique business model. The range of business models that make up an agricultural value chain include farm enterprises, traders, agroprocessors, wholesalers, transporters, warehouses and retailers, among others. An inclusive business model approach reinforces the value chain by focusing exclusively on strengthening business models that link small farmers to value chains. Smallholder business models [...]

This 35-minute module addresses the basic terms and concepts relating to food and nutrition, malnutrition, food security and livelihoods. By the end of this module, you will be able to define and differentiate these key concepts and understand the different situations that they encompass. Understanding these concepts is indeed very important in order to be able to assess the nutrition situation, to design and implement programmes, investments and policies that address nutrition problems (also called "nutrition-sensitive"), and to evaluate the nutritional outcomes of programmes, investments and policies.    

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted by UN Member States on 18 March 2015 at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The Sendai Framework defines seven targets and four priorities for action on disaster risk reduction. The Framework aims to achieve the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries.