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Poor rural people are often excluded from markets and do not benefit from tailored technologies and rural advisory services. These constraints lower their agricultural productivity, perpetuating poverty and hunger. To achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agriculture needs to become more inclusive, sustainable and productive. FAO helps countries meet the goals of eradicating poverty and hunger by helping poor rural households to better benefit from agricultural advances, increasing their yields and income generating opportunities.To do so, FAO promotes investments in agriculture, including livestock, fisheries and forestry, and supports the design of rural development strategies and programmes that address the [...]

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 [...]

This sourcebook provides an overview of the second, digital edition of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook. The new edition includes new findings, case studies and lessons learned. It also takes into account the changes in the landscape of international climate action since the original edition was published in 2013. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – which encompasses the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – provides an international framework for strong national actions and collective efforts to achieve sustainable development. Climate-smart agriculture, as an approach to achieve sustainable food and agriculture, [...]

The purpose of this publication is to showcase the importance of Geographical Indications (GIs) and their positive impact on food quality and safety, as well as the economy. Reaffirming the right of every person to have access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right to be free from hunger, the Second International Conference on Nutrition (19–21 November 2014) adopted a Framework for Action that provides a set of recommendations for governments. In particular, recommended actions for sustainable food systems promoting healthy diets include: strengthening local food production and processing, especially [...]

Agrifood systems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are still adjusting to the political and economic effects of globalization and deepening trade integration, both within the region and worldwide. The region is more engaged in global agri-food trade and increasingly supplies agricultural commodities and food products to international markets. However, most countries are yet to reach their full trade potential. To benefit from trade, the countries are stepping up their efforts to implement trade agreements, align their regulation with international standards and diversify exports.  The project benefits stakeholders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with specific activities in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and [...]

Climate is an essential input to agricultural production. Changes in climate will inevitably have an impact on agricultural productivity, output, farm incomes and prices. Elevated temperatures will also affect human and animal health. To date, most of the studies of climate impacts on agriculture have ignored the impacts on humans and livestock, focusing instead on the consequences for crop production. One of the foremost reasons is that research on crop impacts assessment is the field where the necessary modelling infrastructure was most fully developed.   The present paper provides an overview of the latest modelling research on the impact of climate change [...]

Global and regional agreements set out the rules for countries trade policies .and define the policy space available within agriculture for reaching food security objectives. Therefore, balancing the achievement of national policy objectives with the obligations under trade agreements is critical. This course informs the treatment of agriculture in several World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements and regional trade agreements (RTAs) and aims to support policy makers to develop and implement appropriate agricultural development and food security strategies. By the end of the course, participants will be better able to: •understand and identify the main provisions of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA); •understand and [...]

Migration from rural areas is significant, and policy-makers must seek to maximize its positive impacts on development. The movement of people out of agriculture and into other sectors with higher productivity – manufacturing and services, mostly located in urban areas – contributes to economic growth and higher incomes for migrants from rural areas. However, migration also has profound impacts on rural areas of origin, some positive and some negative. Hence policies should support productive capacity and livelihoods in rural areas as migrant labourers move away. It is also important to enhance the contribution of migrants to the development of rural [...]

The government of Haiti has attempted in recent years to increase the efficiency in agricultural support measures, partly reforming the input subsidy programme, and modernising land registration systems and zoo-phytosanitary measures. Extreme poverty has fallen from 31 to 24 percent over the last decade, especially in urban areas. However, vulnerable sectors of the population continue to have limited access to public support. Main social protection programmes reviewed were cash transfers and school feeding, sustainability, targeting, and coverage remain as challenges See all FAPDA country fact sheets.

This edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets focuses on the complex and underexplored intersection between agricultural trade, climate change and food security. The report makes an important contribution to the policy debates on climate change adaptation and mitigation under the Paris Agreement and the multilateral agricultural trade rules. The report discusses policies – both domestic support and trade measures – that can promote food security, adaptation and mitigation, and improve the livelihoods of family farmers around the world. Given both the slow- and rapid-onset impacts of climate change, policies that can significantly promote climate change adaptation and mitigation [...]