Young people are regarded as the drivers of a better future for societies. And rural youth represent the future of agriculture and sustainable farming systems now increasingly being acknowledged as key to solving some of the leading world challenges like food insecurity, livelihood dislocation, environmental destruction and widespread poverty. But...

The Philippines is among the most disaster prone countries in the world. More than 200 climate-related natural disasters were recorded in the last two decades in this country. In 2011 it was hit by 33 disasters, claiming 1 430 lives. These typhoons trigger landslides, flashfloods, mudslides, widespread flooding and cause...

Potato is the second most important staple food in Nepal after rice and it is a source for higher income and a better diet for small-scale rural farmers. Increasing consumption of potato demonstrates its importance for food security; however, seed storage is not easy, especially because temperature fluctuations and excessive...

Soil conservation is crucial to sustainable agriculture. This technology involves growing row crops, forages, small grains, or fallow in a systematic arrangement of equal width strips across a field. This arrangement of strips reduces water and wind-induced soil erosion. It also reduces the transport of sediment and other water-borne contaminants...

This practical guide was adapted by the Fundación Hondureña de Investigación Agrícola (FHIA) and is applicable where banana trees are grown. Traditionally, the banana producer plants new areas with shoots (sprouts from the base of the mother plant) obtained from plantations intended for the production of fruit. This practice weakens...

Farming is the bedrock of India’s economy—43 per cent of its population are employed in agriculture. Yet, paradoxically, around 60 per cent of India’s people is likely to experience severe food shortages by 2050. Climate change impacts—including crop losses due to global heating—unregulated use of fertilizers and pesticides leading that degrade the soils,...

The aim of FAO project TCP/RER/3604 was to elaborate breeding goals and plans for breeding and breed development of Caucasian Brown Cattle in Armenia and Georgia and Carpathian Brown Cattle in Ukraine. As a first step, information was collected about the breeds themselves and the environments in which they are...

The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators...

¿Qué manejos realizas en invierno para cuidar tus colmenas? Sigue las tres recomendaciones de Francisco Carvallo, investigador del programa Manejo Territorial de Insectos, y descubre alternativas sustentables para la apicultura. Más info en: https://bit.ly/3iDOmsl

Soybeans are an excellent source of protein for both humans and livestock. But they contain also anti-nutritive substances. These are deactivated using heat treatment. There are different procedures for this heat treatment. One of these procedures is toasting. Usually, this process is carried out externally, not on the farm itself....

Every sheep grazing on pasture is infested with one type of worm or the other. Failure to control clinical worm infestation in sheep can result in blood loss, underweight animals, and death. In the case of hydatid disease, which is a disease related to infestation with tapeworm, failure to control...

Contour ploughing mitigates the impacts of floods, storms, and landslides on the crops by reducing soil erosion up to 50 percent, controlling runoff water, increasing moisture infiltration and retention and thus enhancing soil quality and composition. This practice describes contour ploughing and contour beds which can be constructed manually using...

The centralized plant breeding techniques of the green revolution have yielded good results in more favourable agricultural environments. However, most low-resource farmers in marginal areas have not benefited from these varieties. As an alternative to centralized breeding, farmer participatory approaches using Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS) and Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB)...

The IFOAM International Animal Husbandry Alliance (IAHA) is an informal network of individuals and organizations interested in supporting and strengthening the development of organic animal husbandry. 

The Okavango Delta, in northwest Botswana, is one of the very few major interior delta systems that do not flow into a sea or ocean, with a wetland system that is almost intact. Land rights issues came out strongly during the inscription process of the Okavango Delta as World Heritage...

A prominent leader of India’s fishworkers succumbed to COVID-19 on 8 October. T Peter was a committed organizer and a practical leader with exemplary political acumen. T Peter, the General Secretary of the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), India, passed away on 8 October, 2020. About a week earlier, on 2 October,...

Carl Sheard is an organic pig farmer (45 sows) in the Pays de La Loire region of France who is experimenting a system of outdoor fattening using diverse combinations of forage crops. Trials began this autumn 2019 which consist of providing a diverse range of mixed forage crops throughout the...

The 1960 UN Conference on the Law of the Sea failed to reach agreement on the breadth of the territorial sea and fishing limits, with India, Chile and Ecuador playing decisive roles. The road to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was littered with failed...

In a world where most of us buy our food from big food retailers with global supply chains, and governments set the policy framework, it might not seem that local authorities have much of a role to play in our food system. However, they still have control of the ‘old...

No dig beds not only save from back-breaking work of digging but also create favourable conditions for microbial life in the soil. In this video, Nasira Habib shares how she prepares no-dig beds to grow vegetables and flowers in her organic home garden.