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Trade agreements are at the heart of the trade and food security debate as they set out the rules for national trade and agricultural policies, which play a key role in determining food security outcomes. The relationship between trade rules and food security has become an increasingly central element in this round of negotiations. The contribution that trade can make to a country’s food security is partly determined by the disciplines that apply to other countries’ policies, but also by the “policy space” that the country itself is granted under WTO rules.   This brief looks at the role of the multilateral trading system in [...]

Worldwide small-scale fishers, boat crew members, fish-processors, fish traders and fish processing workers face serious labour related challenges specifically linked to the nature of the sector, including prevailing informality, seasonality, remoteness and hazardous nature of work. Inadequate knowledge and skills make many fishers dependent on unpaid family labour including those of women and children. Where labour regulation exist are of difficult application. The study explores wide-ranging decent work concerns in fisheries and aquaculture sector with the objective to inform and guide FAO programming and partnering with governments, civil society organizations, private sector and other UN organizations in promoting decent working conditions along [...]

Drought is one of the main causes of food insecurity. In 2011, the horn of Africa has faced the worst drought in 60 years. An estimated 12.4 million people suffered from a massive food shortage. To mitigate the impact of agricultural drought, it is of high importance to dispose of timely and reliable information of the condition of food crops and grassland areas in all regions and countries in the world. The case study would characterize the agricultural drought prone areas of Horn of Africa overlapping socioeconomic variables such smaller or large farmers, irrigation, population, production, etc. The final results [...]

These Proceedings provide accounts of the expert presentations made by each Roundtable speaker and panellist, synopses of plenary discussion, and summaries from each Roundtable Chair. Taken together, the report comprises a compendium of analyses and illustrations of some of the most pressing challenges facing today’s nutrition advocates. These Proceedings are an important complement to the official ICN2 outcome documents; they provide background information, country examples, and rationale for many of the Rome Declaration and Framework for Action recommendations.

This Toolkit showcases examples of robust policies to promote stronger economic linkages between the agriculture and tourism sectors, thus increasing the value of tourism to PICs. Specifically, it provides case study examples of the tools available to policy-makers to improve market opportunities by incorporating local food into the cuisine offerings provided by PIC tourism. This will not only create employment and business opportunities for rural communities; it will also enhance the marketability of the Pacific as a tourist destination. Furthermore, the Toolkit provides advice on various implementation methodologies to ensure their adoption by national and regional authorities. This resource, therefore, is [...]

Women play key roles in rural economies. However, compared to men, rural women often experience greater constraints in accessing resources, services and opportunities. Brave Ndisale, Director Ad Interim of the FAO Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division together with Illaria Sisto, Gender and Development Officer explain the importance of empowering women and achieving gender equality to ensure food security and reduce rural poverty. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages, to achieve this. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP

The Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS) continuously monitors food supply and demand and other key indicators for assessing the overall food security situation in all countries of the world. It issues regular analytical and objective reports on prevailing conditions and provides early warnings of impending food crises at country or regional level. At the request of national authorities, GIEWS supports countries in gathering evidence for policy decisions, or planning by development partners, through its Crop and Food Security Assessment Missions (CFSAMs), fielded jointly with WFP. In country-level application of tools for earth observation and [...]

Food Outlook is published by the Trade and Markets Division of FAO under Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS). It is a biannual publication focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. Each report provides comprehensive assessments and short term forecasts for production, utilization, trade, stocks and prices on a commodity by commodity basis and includes feature articles on topical issues. Food Outlook maintains a close synergy with another major GIEWS publication, Crop Prospects and Food Situation, especially with regard to the coverage of cereals. Food Outlook is available in English. The summary section is also available in [...]

Since 2009, FAO’s MAFAP programme has been working in several developing countries to create sustainable policy monitoring systems and carry out a consistent set of policy and public expenditure analyses across a wide range of agricultural value chains. MAFAP works with government institutions, research organizations and other partners to establish a community of practice on policy measurement, monitoring and analysis by developing institutional capacities to systematically analyse government policies and their effects. MAFAP analyses are used to inform targeted food and agricultural policy reforms that will result in a more conducive environment for agricultural investment and productivity growth, especially for smallholder farmers. MAFAP’s [...]

Small-scale producers provide over 70% of the world’s food needs, while agribusinesses are one of the main generators of employment and income worldwide. Improving the sustainability of food value chains can massively benefit the rural poor. Florence Tartanac, Senior Officer of the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems Division together with Eva Gálvez Nogales, Agribusiness Economist of the FAO Agricultural Development Economics Division explain the importance of Integrating smallholders into food value chains to reduce poverty and improve food security for millions of poor households in developing countries. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages.  See all videos in [...]