Declining soil fertility, increasing weed infestations and a lack of income-generating opportunities are serious constraints to the establishment of sustainable cropping systems and livelihoods in the forest margins of Bolivia. Systems which allow farmers to progress: from unsustainable, migratory (shifting) slash, and burn agriculture to more sustainable and stable farming...

The preservation of fruit and vegetables by simply sun drying is practised widely throughout arid and semi-arid regions, for example in Uganda. The use of low-cost solar drying technologies can significantly improve product quality. This provides practical opportunities for developing small-scale enterprise, particularly in rural areas, and creates employment for...

The Sustainable Development Goals lay out an ambitious path for building a sustainable world and transforming the way we produce, distribute, transport and consume our food, safeguard the environment and promote social protection. Agroecology plays a key role to achieve these goals. Agroecology applies ecological principles and concepts to the...

FAO provided the framework for its civil society partners to gather virtually and discuss striking questions of food and agriculture in Europe and Central Asia. The Civil Society Consultation precedes the European Regional Conference and its main conclusions will enrich the Conference’s sessions. At the consultation, civil society representatives stressed the need to...

Amplifying the voices of women farmers is proving an effective way to help tackle gender inequality and promote agroecology, helping small-scale farmers take back power over their land. In the Adjumani and Amuria districts of Uganda, women are responsible for 75% of agricultural labour. Only 30% have rights over the land...

Maize is the most important staple food in Eastern Africa. But yields on smallholder farms are often very low, typically just one quarter of what could be achieved. In a good year, using improved varieties with good management, recommended amounts of fertilizer and effective control of pests and diseases could...

Hides and skins are of very little economic and commercial value if they are not well preserved. Particularly in Uganda, Lango Farming System, most hides and skins which are produced, go to waste due to poor preservation practices. Improved methods and advice on how to preserve hides and skins of...

Los Ministros y Secretarios de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca, Alimentación y Desarrollo Rural de las Américas reafirmaron que tomarán medidas nacionales, regionales y hemisféricas para garantizar la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional en el hemisferio, la cual está en riesgo por la pandemia de COVID-19 y la crisis económica que la sucederá. Las...

This document is the conference proceedings of the meeting led by the Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO) on 27-29 January. Farmers and peasant organizations from across West Africa joined forces with international development agencies and research centres gathered to give impetus to a growing agroecological movement in the...

ASEAN is one of the most productive agricultural baskets in the world. In 2012, the region produced 129 million tons of rice, 40 million tons of corn, 171 million tons of sugarcane, 1.44 million tons of soybean, and 70.34 million tons of cassava. ASEAN is likely to increase exports to...

he Samoa Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), University of South Pacific (USP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) are partnering to develop weather advisories aimed at helping farmers better plan their crop production. A meeting to discuss moving...

I remember a story from grad school about a people in the Amazon Basin who had no word for “parrot”, because they knew the names of all the individual species of parrots. I was reminded of that this week in Peru, where I was teaching a course on how to write...

SALSA - Small Farms, Small Food Businesses and Sustainable Food Security, is an EU-funded research project of the Horizon2020 program which run from April 2016 to March 2020 with the aim to provide a better understanding of the role of small farms and small food businesses in meeting the sustainable food and nutrition...

The Covid-19 crisis is the biggest test in decades of our preparedness for a planetary disaster. As it turns out, it only took a few weeks to expose the vulnerability and deep-seated fragility of our economic and political systems. One of the areas in which we are least prepared for...

Hand-jab planters are popular amongst small-scale farmers. They are the primary means of sowing seeds under no-tillage for most farmers. The implement is also suitable for filling in gaps after crop germination. There are many different models of jab planters from different companies. The operational principles are however similar. The...

Improved citrus varieties are not resistant to soil borne pests and diseases. However, they can be successfully grown if grafted on resistant rootstocks like rough lemon. Rough lemon is quick-growing, drought-resistant, shortens maturity period and is resistant to pests and diseases.

La Novena Conferencia Online FAO Serie 2030 aborda los desafíos de la inversión pública y privada en el mundo rural. Presentadores Eduardo Ramírez (Consultor en Desarrollo territorial de FAO-RLC), Carlos Pomareda (Consorcio para el Desarrollo Andino - CONDESAN), y Ricardo Fort (Investigador Principal en el Grupo de Análisis para el...

The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) is a unique applied agricultural research center in the world with a focus on marginal areas where an estimated 1.7 billion people live. It identifies, tests and introduces resource‐efficient, climate‐smart crops and technologies that are best suited to different regions affected by salinity,...

As the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011–2020 comes to a close and countries prepare to adopt a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, this edition of The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) examines the contributions of forests, and of the people who use and manage them, to the conservation and...

The holistic gardening project in Emuhaya, Western Kenya, is attracting local and international acclaim. Bio Gardening Innovations (BIOGI) is equipping smallholder farmers to break away from monocultures and create thriving, overflowing “food forests” on their farmland. Maize, the staple crop of Vihaga and Kakamega counties in Kenya, is harvested twice a...