More than 300 representatives from governments, international organizations, leading research bodies and the private sector are gathering for the Plenary of the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) at FAO headquarters this week to boost global monitoring of forests and further action on climate change. The GFOI is a partnership working to help coordinate...

The outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 was a challenge for any practitioner intent on engaging in authentic dialogue for people-centered, place-based transformative praxis with the most marginalized in society–be they in Europe or the Majority World. The pandemic called on us to explore new and creative methodological approaches, to...

This course has been designed to explain how to use the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) indicator, with a view to contributing to improved diets among nutritionally vulnerable women of reproductive age.

We met Dal Bahadur Kandel, a farmer in Sundwari village, during an ICIMOD/GRAPE team visit to Karnali Province, western Nepal, in November 2022. Kandel gave us a tour of his traditional farm, a 2,500-m2 property around his home. He showed us the different crops he was cultivating – gourds, melons, cauliflower,...

The Kitarasa Banana is an important element of food culture at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. This banana variety is used to make flour for porridge, to produce a traditional local beer and as mixture with traditional dishes. Nevertheless, Kitarasa producers are decreasing, due to changes in culture, lifestyle, poor...

*The Décima is a popular form of improvised poetic expression, which has been used historically by peasant communities across Latin America as a means to express and spread ideological struggles.  We then heard from several influential actors in the Cuban agricultural sector, including Idael Pérez Brito (Minister of Agriculture), Adilén Roque...

The study is a part of a series of original research on social development and sustainable fisheries undertaken by ICSF in eight countries. The study documented the status of social development and decent work programmes, schemes, policies, legislation and institutional support (including community-based initiatives) to demonstrate how they strengthen the...

Reducing food loss increases both food supply and income. This was the case in Thailand, thanks to some simple technical innovations in germinated brown rice processing. A Japanese-funded project brought together FAO, The Thai government and Mahidol University to explore ways in which to reduce food waste in micro-, small...

Welcome to this edition of IIED’s forests newsletter.In this edition we share a policy briefing on agrobiodiversity and update on our work with rural women producers. We are also excited to share in full the recordings from a market analysis and development refresher training delivered online to forest and farm...

This report presents a comprehensive summary of the virtual UNDFF Forum on Inclusive Rural Communication Services for Family Farming, organized by FAO in collaboration with specialized communication entities. The Global Forum on RCS marked the culmination of a series of regional consultations. This report captures key insights, and strategic recommendations...

What do you know about Swedish agriculture? It’s a question Food for Europe is asking in this edition of the programme, following the country’s assumption of the revolving presidency of the Council of the European Union. The picture we paint is one of contrasts, shaped by geology, climate and sustainability. In...

YAHI is a youth-led organization committed to eradicating hunger and achieving food security for all, by promoting sustainable and equitable food systems through education, advocacy, and community engagement.

Sin lugar a duda, la agricultura juega un papel importante en el desarrollo económico y social de los países andinos por su importancia socioeconómica, en la seguridad alimentaria y por su potencial para contribuir a un crecimiento más inclusivo y sostenible. Una actividad milenaria que ha moldeado la forma de...

On April 20, from 10:00 to 13:00, via zoom, the expert in organic citrus Rosa Vercher, from the Polytechnic University of Valencia will give the BIOFRUITNET course on organic citrus in Spanish. The topics to be discussed will be as follows: Phytosanitary risks. Emerging problems for organic citrus Functional Biodiversity Pest management strategies After the...

Conventional gender-sensitive methodologies that tend to focus on treating the symptoms of gender discrimination, such as women’s unequal access to resources and benefits, without addressing the structural determinants of gender inequality, have repeatedly failed to achieve long-standing and transformative impacts. Discriminatory gender norms and roles, unequal power relations and social structures...

Agricultural expansion is responsible for almost 90 percent of deforestation worldwide, making it a leading driver of biodiversity and habitat loss. Cropland expansion is the main driver, causing almost 50 percent of global deforestation, followed by livestock grazing, which accounts for 38.5 percent. This situation of great concern presents a...

“Guía básica de aprendizaje: Establecimiento y manejo de plantaciones forestales polifuncionales en zonas invadidas por el marabú. (MARFOM), es una guía técnica para la implementación de módulos agroforestales que contribuyen a la resiliencia climática de comunidades agrícolas en siete municipios de Cuba que forman parte del proyecto "Resiliencia climática en...

This document builds on efforts by practitioners to improve FFS processes and adopt to new ways of facilitating farmer field school (FFS) processes including during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when governments imposed lockdowns across the globe, which made normal face-to-face facilitation difficult. This document is primarily intended to...

In March 2023 the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) ran refresher training on the market analysis and development (MA&D) approach designed to enable local forest and farm producers to develop sustainable income-generating enterprises. The FFF is committed to increasing entrepreneurship as well as access to markets and finance through business development services within forest and...

Soil may be the basis of farming, and therefore of almost all of our food, but farmers and soil scientists see the soil in completely different, if equally valid ways. In Bolivia, I was recently making a video with Paul and Marcella on soil tests that extension agents can do...