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These guidelines are intended to assist competent authorities in their consideration of voluntary third-party assurance (vTPA) programmes. They provide a framework and criteria for assessing the integrity and credibility of the governance structures of vTPA programmes and the reliability of information/data generated by such programmes to support national food control system objectives. The term "Codex Alimentarius" is Latin and means "food code”. Codex standards are international food texts, i.e. standards, codes of practice, codes of hygienic practice, guidelines and other recommendations, established to protect the health of the consumers and to ensure fair practices in the food trade. The collection of [...]

Food loss and waste (FLW) is a global burden with a negative impact on the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The loss and waste of food suitable for human consumption hampers food security and nutrition and hinders the realization of the human right to adequate food.Regulatory measures to tackle FLW include establishing institutional mechanisms for coordination of action, allocating clear roles and responsibilities among all stakeholders involved and setting binding targets for the reduction of FLW. These can enhance the transparency and accountability of all actors relevant for the prevention and reduction of FLW throughout the food [...]

At its 26th Session in October 2018, the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) requested FAO to take the lead to develop voluntary codes of conduct for the reduction of food loss and food waste. In response to the COAG request, FAO developed the Voluntary Code of Conduct for Food Loss and Waste Reduction, which was endorsed by the 42nd Session of the FAO Conference in June 2021. The Voluntary Code of Conduct for Food Loss and Waste Reduction sets out a generic framework of actions and guiding principles that should be followed to reduce food loss and waste (FLW) and support [...]

In today’s world, the risk of spread of animal health diseases, within a country or across borders, is on the rise. Contributing factors include growing animal populations, increased movement of humans and animals, market intensification and global trade. Animal health services around the world play an essential role in curbing animal disease spread. They do so by increasing their capacity to manage animal health emergencies, preparing for such events during “peacetime” and reflecting on lessons learned during the “reconstruction phase”. These actions look to enhance a country’s state of operational readiness ahead of future events.Carrying out an After Action Review [...]

Launched at the World Food Systems Summit, the Food is Never Waste is a multi-stakeholder partnership committed to decreasing food loss and food waste with a wide range of actors all along the agri-food system. The partnership will promote best practices, science, data and innovation that will help decrease food loss and food waste globally.

Ce rapport s'inscrit dans le cadre du soutien de la FAO aux cinq pays du Maghreb, dont la Tunisie, pour la mise en œuvre d'un dialogue politique sur les situations de développement socio-économique dans les régions saharienne et oasienne. La FAO soutient le Gouvernement tunisien dans plusieurs initiatives de développement agricole et rural en s'efforçant de rendre l'agriculture, la pêche et la sylviculture plus durables et productives en adoptant des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires inclusifs et efficaces et en augmentant la résilience des moyens de subsistance face aux menaces et aux crises climatiques.Le contenu de ce rapport est une synthèse [...]

South-South Cooperation (SSC) is increasingly recognized as an effective instrument for catalyzing economic development by fostering the exchange of innovation and good practices, and expanding market opportunities across countries with a similar level of development and shared development objectives, such as those reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Key to this economic cooperation are trade and investment relationships among South countries. The importance of South countries in global agrifood markets and trade has been increasing over the last two decades, with growth in their participation, as both exporters and importers, having outpaced that of North countries. Agricultural productivity growth has [...]

The Progress towards Sustainable Agriculture initiative (PROSA) is a framework that seeks to complement ongoing efforts on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and particularly indicator 2.4.1, to support country-level assessments using data already available at the national level. Making agriculture more sustainable – productive, environmentally friendly, resilient and profitable is fundamental, as agriculture remains the main source of livelihood for the majority of the world’s poor and hungry. The pathway towards sustainable agriculture must ensure increasing output, but also make more efficient use of increasingly scarce global resources, be resilient to and help mitigate climate change, and improve human well-being. This [...]

In its 2020 communiqué, the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy has urged to strengthen good practices and policies to advance the global bioeconomy.The transition from a fossil-based economy to a bioeconomy happens at three levels: technological, organizational and social. In particular, agri-food systems are key to achieve a shift to sustainable and circular production and consumption patterns, since they occupy the biggest share of the bioeconomy from an economic, value-added perspective as well as having potential for discovery and innovation.This Compendium outlines 250 sources of good practices and policies. It covers the entire continuum of economic sectors that have [...]

Sub-Saharan Africa is uniquely positioned significantly increase its current agricultural productivity to lift the region’s more than 400 million people out of extreme poverty and improve the livelihood of approximately 250 million smallholder farmers and pastoralists in the region. To achieve that, substantive digital transformation of the agriculture sector is required through improved infrastructure and increased access to and use of digital technologies for agriculture. To improve the current understanding of sub-Saharan Africa’s digital agriculture landscape, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) undertook this study in 47 countries. The report is [...]