FAO.org

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a comprehensive system that requires thorough consideration of local climate, natural environment, market demand, economic and cultural environment. FAO introduced CSA at the Hague Conference on Agricultural, Food Security and Climate Change in 2010 and has been strongly supporting it since then. The development of CSA in China contributes to reaching its carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality in China by 2060.This publication introduces China's CSA development and provides policy proposals. It contains four sections: the background and development status of China's CSA; practices and achievements of China's CSA, including analysing case studies such as [...]

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and government policies to limit its spread are multi-faceted and complex. Market linkages transmit these impacts through economies, from directly affected actors to others in both the urban and rural spheres. Economic contexts, including the structure of local economies, shape the transmission of impacts on rural men and women. Because of this, the pandemic, lockdowns, and mitigation policies influence outcomes in complex ways. In most cases, the magnitudes and even the signs of impacts cannot be determined ex ante. In this study, we use multiple local economy-wide impact evaluation (LEWIE) models to estimate the [...]

The Climate Risk Toolbox (CRTB) was developed to support climate-resilient project design. The tool is an open-access resource, hosted on the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial platform, allowing users to obtain a climate risk screening and report containing climate resilient measures, crucial to strengthen project formulation at early stages. The CRTB complies with requirements of international financial institutions and can be used by development practitioners for high-level screening at an early stage of planning processes or project design.This manual is a comprehensive guidance material to support users in navigating the online tool, including all the technical specifications behind the tool. This guidance document [...]

If the world is to transition towards agrifood systems that are more sustainable and equitable, small-scale production systems will be key to progress. Large parts of the world depend on small-scale systems for maintaining food security and nutrition (Lowder, Sánchez and Bertini, 2021; Herrero et al., 2017). Despite this centrality, neither small-scale production systems nor small-scale producers have received due recognition under predominant agrifood systems paradigms.This paper analyzes the diversity of small-scale producers and demonstrates how understanding small-scale production can have consequences for how policies and investments are directed and how they impact small-scale producer livelihoods. The diverse roles and [...]

Regional Overview present the regional food security and nutrition situation, including trends of undernourishment, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, together with other indicators that could help the understanding of the causes of hunger and malnutrition. This edition offers a regional overview of the socioeconomic state of the region; national and regional data and trends regarding the costs and affordability of healthy diets; the possible drivers behind the high cost of healthy diets and their unaffordability; and introduces policies and investments around the region that aim to reduce the cost of nutritious foods and improve the affordability of healthy [...]

Legislating for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is complex, due to the holistic nature of EAF involving multiple factors that underpin the social, economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of fisheries sustainability. These factors include ecosystems integration, risks, inter-sectoral collaboration, research, participatory processes, monitoring, control, surveillance, and enforcement, among others. To assess how the EAF is being implemented through national policy and legal frameworks, FAO developed A diagnostic tool for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries through national policy and legal frameworks. The present legal report on the EAF used the diagnostic tool to assess the alignment of selected policy and [...]

Food Outlook is a biannual publication (May/June and November/December) focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. The sub-title "Global Market Analysis" reflects this focus on developments in international markets, with comprehensive assessments and forecasts on a commodity by commodity basis. Food Outlook maintains a close synergy with another major GIEWS publication, Crop Prospects and Food Situation, especially with regard to the coverage of cereals. The full report is available in English and summaries in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian.

An integral part of food systems, trade can contribute to economic growth and to a more efficient allocation of natural resources. By moving food from surplus to deficit regions and countries, trade can address production shortfalls, stabilize markets, reduce prices for consumers, and increase the diversity of available foods.

Food Outlook is a biannual publication (May/June and November/December) focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. The sub-title "Global Market Analysis" reflects this focus on developments in international markets, with comprehensive assessments and forecasts on a commodity by commodity basis. Food Outlook maintains a close synergy with another major GIEWS publication, Crop Prospects and Food Situation, especially with regard to the coverage of cereals. The full report is available in English and summaries in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian.

This guide presents a step-by-step approach to assist development practitioners, national authorities and the private sector in facilitating the development of export promotion programs through building multi-stakeholder value chain (VC) alliances to compete in international markets. The guide draws from the Alliances for Action (A4A) approach, which was developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC). A4A has been proven to be effective in mobilizing VC and supporting participants in an ecosystem around a shared purpose to transform VC performance in terms of competitiveness, value addition, and export growth, among other targets. This helps practitioners and value chain stakeholders understand the critical [...]