الموارد
The FAO concept of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) was one of a number of concepts that crystallized during the 1980s. The importance of the SARD concept1 was recognized and confirmed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, with Chapter 14 of Agenda 21 setting out the programmes and specific actions needed to promote sustainable agriculture and rural development. In the years since the UNCED Conference, the concept of SARD has evolved to include social, institutional and economic sustainability, as well as environmental sustainability.
The Research and Technology group is pleased to announce publication of the summary document of the FAO e-mail conference "Molecular marker assisted selection as a potential tool for genetic improvement of crops, forest trees, livestock and fish in developing countries". This 10-page document aims to provide an easy-readable synopsis of the main issues and concerns discussed by participants during this moderated e-mail conference, hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from 17 November to 14 December 2003. During the 4-week conference, 85 messages were posted, about 60% coming from people living in developing countries.
The mandate of extension services, whether public or private, has always been rural human resources development with an aim to increase food production through the introduction of improved agricultural technology. The very survival of these human resources, both within the extension organization and among the clientele, however, is currently at stake due to the HIV/AIDS menace. Urgent and major efforts are needed by the extension services to prepare themselves for battle against the epidemic, to educate the farming population about the disease, and to develop new strategies to serve the extension needs of thousands of new entrants in farming.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir is located in the north of Pakistan. Male migration in the region has resulted in crop farming and livestock raising and management becoming increasingly women's domain. According to a senior administrator at Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Department of Agriculture, livestock care and management is entirely in the hands of women in almost 90 percent of households. Similarly, women's participation is significant in farming-related operations such as harvesting and the cleaning and storing of major crops (wheat, maize, fodder, etc.).
This publication addresses the challenges faced by agricultural extension services in their provision of support to food security initiatives. The content of this booklet has been drawn from a major paper, “Agricultural Extension, Rural Development and Food Security Challenge”, written by William M. Rivera, Visiting Scholar, University of Maryland, College Park, USA and M. Kalim Qamar, Senior Officer (Agricultural Training and Extension), FAO Extension, Education and Communication Service. The authors address the dynamic role of agricultural extension services today
The World Food Summit held in Rome in 1996, followed by the World Food Summit: five years later, in 2002, and the Millennium Development Goals, all underline the importance of food security. The obligation to eradicate food insecurity requires several actions, involving various public and non-public institutions. The purpose of this publication is to highlight the important role of agricultural and rural extension in the fight against hunger.
This comprehensive report includes an overview and analysis of all public and private extension service providers, a targeted strategy to enhance co-ordination and collaboration between both public and private extension providers.
The FAO Research and Technology Paper 9, entitled "Glossary of Biotechnology for Food and Agriculture”, is a revised, augmented version of the "Glossary of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering", published by FAO in 1999 and co-authored by A. Zaid, H.G. Hughes, E. Porceddu and F. Nicholas. In 2001, the process of revising the Glossary was undertaken to update the definitions of this rapidly evolving field and to enrich the number of terms defined. It now includes about 450 new terms, about 100 old terms have been deleted and it contains a total of 3,196 terms and related definitions.
The mandate to develop these guidelines resulted from the World Food Summit Plan of Action. Objective 3.4 of Commitment Three in the Summit's Plan of Action stated that "governments, in collaboration with the international and scientific community, in both private and public sectors, as appropriate, will strengthen national research systems in order to develop coordinated programmes in support of research to promote food security".
The initiatives in this publication draw on recent agricultural extension reform measures introduced in several high-income, middle-income and low-income countries. The focus, however, is on reform measures that promote food security and poverty alleviation among small-holders in low-income countries. The initiatives are broadly envisaged as applications in the principals set out in the FAO/World Bank document on Strategic Vision and Guiding Principles (2000) for promoting Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems for Rural Development (AKIS/RD), and other frameworks emphasizing the changing extension environment (Neuchâtel 1999).