Ressources
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).
This publication from the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) addresses the experiences of a training programme for disabled farmers in the poor north eastern region of Thailand.
Published as FAO Research and Technology Paper 8, it presents a report of the first six e-mail conferences hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from March 2000 to May 2001. Each conference was moderated, lasted roughly two months and focused on agricultural biotechnology in developing countries. The first four dealt with the appropriateness of currently available biotechnologies in the crop, fishery, forestry and livestock sectors, while the remaining two dealt with the implications of agricultural biotechnology for hunger and food security and the impact of intellectual property rights.
This platform was launched in 2000 with the goal of providing access to balanced high-quality information and to serve as a neutral platform for interested stakeholders to openly exchange views and experiences on agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries. It has over 3 500 members worldwide and has hosted 19 moderated e-mail conferences on topics related to agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries.
For agricultural extension directors to guide their organizations through this demanding and difficult period, they will need to direct their attention to the main issues and concerns. They must concentrate the work of extension on those activities where it has a comparative advantage. For example, extension should focus its efforts on those knowledge-based technologies that are central to farmers' concerns and that will maintain the natural resource base. In general, these are subject-matter areas that will not be taken up by the private sector. Examples include dissemination of production management technologies that are specific to different crop and livestock systems.
...This study examines the extension and training needs of disabled farmers in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The idea for the study arose when extension workers in the region noted the large number of Iran-Iraq War-disabled veterans returning to their villages to continue their earlier activities in the agricultural sector. In speaking to local extensionists, it became apparent that there was no special training for extension workers to assist these farmers with disabilities with their adjustment back to the agricultural sector.
FAO and AGRINATURA strengthened their collaboration by participating together in the panel discussion of the 39th Session of the European Commission on Agriculture. AGRINATURA was invited at the panel discussion within the framework of the partnership with FAO to promote capacity development for Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) in developing countries.
The panel discussion, held in Budapest (Hungary), on 22 September 2015, focused on various aspects of agricultural innovation for family farming, and was attended by Nevena Alexandrova-Stefanova (Agricultural Innovation Systems and Knowledge Sharing Officer at the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia), Botir Dosov (Technical Advisor for CACAARI) and Michael...
A regional workshop on “Institutionalization of Farmer Field Schools at the Local and National Level” was held on 24-27th May 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand, and was attended by 40 participants from 12 Asian countries. Participants included a farmer, FFS facilitators, researchers, extension service providers, academics, government officials, and field practitioners from public and private sectors, NGOs, FAO, and civil society organizations such as the Thai Education Foundation.
The objectives of the workshop were to share and learn from country experiences on institutionalization of FFS, develop action points for operationalizing FAO’s FFS Guidance Document, and assess needs and interest for establishing regional...