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This policy brief is based on the proceedings of the Regional workshop on the use of the cold chain in the development of agriculture and agroindustries in sub-Saharan Africa, organized in Yaoundé (Cameroon) in June 2012. The workshop brought together speakers from diverse backgrounds to analyse findings from case studies conducted in food supply chains that included meat, fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood, milk and dairy products.

Increasing global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major threat to human and animal health. It endangers modern human and veterinary medicine and undermines the safety of our food and environment.  The commitment of FAO Members to work on AMR was confirmed by the adoption of Resolution 4/2015 at the Thirty-ninth Session of the FAO Conference in June 2015. This resolution is a call to action to both FAO Members and the Organization itself to address the multifaceted aspects of mitigating both the impact on, and the contribution of, the food and agriculture sectors to the threat posed by Antimicrobial Resistance. This document outlines the FAO Action Plan [...]

More and more people are becoming overweight and obese, with increasing diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Behind the global shifts in malnutrition and NCDs are unhealthy diets and a sedentary lifestyle. Our food systems and the food environments are not delivering on the diets needed to promote and sustain optimum health. This publication focuses on influencing food environments for healthy diets and offers suggestions on suitable interventions to address that environment. Countries will find the information useful as they develop policies and programmes to make healthy diets an easier choice for their citizens.

Approximately 30% of food produced for human consumption around the world is either lost or wasted each year. This is equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes of food. Robert VanOtterdijk, Agro-Food Industries Officer and Camelia Bucatariu, Technical Officer of the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems Division explain the importance of actively preventing and reducing food loss and waste and its direct contribution to food and nutrition security for all. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP

The 21st century faces multiple and complex challenges. The new 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda galvanizes and commits the International community to act together to surmount them and trasform our world for today's and future generations. 

This paper uses scenario analyses to investigate how reductions in food loss and waste (FLW) in the European Union (EU) could influence prices in sub-Saharan Africa – as a source and destination of traded agricultural and food products. In addition to a baseline “business as usual” (BaU) scenario, four scenarios with 50-percent reductions are enacted using the Modular Applied GeNeral Equilibrium Tool (MAGNET). The analysis provides insights on potential impacts in terms of medium- to long-term global and local price changes in sub- Saharan Africa and the mechanisms behind them – changes in production, consumption and trade patterns. It also provides [...]

This publication “School feeding and possibilities for direct purchases from family farming in Latin American countries” contributes to the articulation of the sectors involved with school feeding, in the search for alternatives for the institutionalization and strengthening of school feeding policies in the countries; it is also hoped that in the medium and long term SFPs can contribute to the human right to food (HRF) and to sustainable human development.

Ending Malnutrition offers key insights from the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) to catalyze follow-up actions across the world. It reviews current evidence on the prevalence of malnutrition and analyzes several salient policy issues crucial for a concerted global effort to end malnutrition – improving food systems at the core of a sustainable nutrition strategy, promoting social protection to improve welfare, including health and nutrition, using fortification and supplementation to address micronutrient deficiencies, and improving access to water and sanitation. The concluding chapter focuses on the key role that multilateral institutions must play in accelerating and sustaining global progress [...]

This manual is designed guide programme planners in the design of nutrition-sensitive programmes. It is based on a thorough review of experience on nutrition-sensitive Agriculture, was developed through extensive consultation within FAO and with its development partners, and has been field-tested in several countries. It is structured around the first phases of the programming cycle (situation appraisal, programme design and programme review) and includes key questions, accompanied by tips and references. 

The "International Symposium on Food and Nutrition Security: Food-based Approaches for Improving Diets and Raising Levels of Nutrition" was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to better document the contribution that food and agriculture can make to improving nutrition. These proceedings are a useful resource for decision and policy makers, programme planners and implementers, and health workers, all of which work to combat hunger and malnutrition. The proceedings of the Symposium aim at collecting and better documenting evidence that demonstrates the impact, effectiveness and sustainability of food-based approaches for improving diets and raising levels of nutrition. [...]