FAO.org

This progress report details the work carried out by FAO across the Southwest Asia to combat the unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods posed by the ongoing desert locust invasion. The report outlines the control measures taken so far as well as the longer-term reposnse planned for safeguarding the means of survival of millions of vulnerable people who could be affected by the pest, particularly with the compounding impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions this will likely incur for the Organization's humanitarian assistance.

At its 74th session, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2021 the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV). The primary role of the food and the agriculture sector is to adequately feed people by increasing the availability, affordability and consumption of varied, safe and nutritious foods that are in line with dietary recommendations and environmental sustainability. In this way, the IYFV is a unique opportunity to raise awareness on the important role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, food security and health and as well in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also available in French [...]

Accurate information is critical for natural resources to be managed sustainably. Developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing, and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL) helps countries monitor and report on forests and land use. SEPAL offers users unparalleled access to satellite data, an easy-to-use interface, and powered by cloud-based supercomputers, paving the way for improved climate change mitigation plans and data-driven land-use policies.

This Country Programming Framework (CPF) sets out five government priority areas to guide the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' (FAO) partnership and support to the Government of Nigeria (GoN) – bringing together innovative international best practices and global standards with national and regional expertise during a five-year period from 2018 to 2022.The priority areas are:1. Strengthen national food security and nutrition through enhanced nutrition-sensitive and climate smart food systems.2. Support for appropriate and operationally effective agricultural policy and regulatory frameworks.3. Support to Nigeria's economic diversification agenda and the promotion of decent employment for youth and women in [...]

This brief reviews some of the main land use contraints to reducing agriculture-led forest loss in Viet Nam. We find that agricultural land use constraints increase agriculture-driven pressure on forests. Farmers producing high-value crops have more incentives to deforest, and this increase when operating in areas with land use constrains. Removing land use constraints, repurposing agricultural support and reinforcing environmental regulations would improve agricultural productivity, sustainability and climate resilience, while reducing pressure on forests. The findings in this brief have been adapted from the FAO Agrifood Economics project “Guiding policies and investments to reduce agriculture-led deforestation in Viet Nam”.

Climate change is leading to a rise in global temperatures, which poses a major threat to agriculture production, and to the welfare of smallholder farmers. Identifying sustainable farming practices to reduce the sensitivity of Ugandan agriculture to rising temperatures is critical for safeguarding the livelihoods of farmers. This brief provides evidence on the positive impacts of organic fertilizer application, coffee-banana intercropping and cereal-legume intercropping on crop production value under conditions of high temperatures, and considers policy options to support their sustained adoption in Uganda and elsewhere. 

In many developing countries the adoption of climate sustainable practices is hindered by resource and risk barriers. This paper assesses the interactions between participation in Malawi’s largest public works programme, the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF), and three widely promoted climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices. The underlying hypotheses to be tested are: (a) that participation in the MASAF programme reduce both the budget and the risk constraints to the adoption of sustainable management practices; and (b) the joint treatment effect of MASAF and CSA increases household farms’ productivity and welfare. Drawing on three waves of national panel household survey data, we [...]

This technical brief discusses the process of development of the Uganda national strategy on post-harvest loss reduction in grain supply chains which was developed in the framework of the project using the FAO food loss analysis methodology. The brief shares recommendations and lessons learned from the development of the strategy, which can be used or adapted by governments developing a postharvest loss reduction strategy to coordinate interventions, engage with key stakeholders, and invest and allocate resources to achieve post-harvest loss reduction goals.

Cette étude est une évaluation multi-impact de la filière riz au Mali sur la période 2020-2030. Les résultats indiquent que le Mali peut être auto-suffisant et exportateur net de riz à l’horizon 2030 si la production croît à un rythme d’au moins 6,6 pour cent par an pendant 10 ans passant de 2,8 à 5,5 millions de tonnes. De façon spécifique, cette croissance entrainera la hausse des revenus des riziculteurs de 494 à 885 USD en moyenne. Le revenu par producteur dans la riziculture en maîtrise totale connaitra une amélioration de 1 485 à 2 994 USD soit une croissance [...]

Based on past experience of partnership on support to National Rice Development Strategies (NRDS) within Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD), AfricaRice and FAO decided to conduct a series of rice policy reviews for Ghana, Ivory Coast and Mali in 2019. The following study uses the Ex-ante Carbon-balance Value Chain tool (EX-ACT VC), developed in 2016 by FAO, to assess the Ghanaian rice value chain’s environmental (in terms of climate mitigation and climate resilience) and socio-economic impact for a business as usual scenario in 2020 compared to a growth scenario for 2030.Promotion of good agricultural practices (GAP), the reduction of [...]