The newsletter opens with several articles that address issues that are key to improving nutrition. In Chad, FAO is working with administrative and traditional authorities to implement an innovative approach aimed at increasing women’s access to fertile land, a winning formula for improving the livelihoods of rural households. Another initiative...

Hassan Adile connaît bien la sécheresse. À l’instar des 12 millions de pasteurs que compte l’Éthiopie, il parcourt de grandes distances pour trouver des pâturages et de l’eau pour son bétail. Aujourd’hui, il a une nouvelle responsabilité. Il a suivi récemment une formation pour apprendre à déceler les signes avant-coureurs...

 Women in Asia are, in most cases, the farmers. But more than that, they are concerned about the nutrition of their families. There are actually more women interested in the models of agriculture that support diversity and nutrition. There are many cases of women who are fighting for land, particularly...

Women from small and marginal farming families doing SRI have been making the news in India for their adoption of a new approach that challenges the age-old beliefs and practices of rice farming. However, rarely one comes across mention of the impact of SRI on their wellbeing and their bodies.  ...

We study the dynamics of the supply response of smallholder grain producers to changes in crop prices and costs of production in Ethiopia. We develop an intertemporal acreage demand allocation model of a representative household under a rational expectations hypothesis. An estimable acreage demand equation is derived and estimated for...

The European Union (EU), FAO and the Government of Zimbabwe launched a major programme to assist smallholder farmers boost productivity and engage in commercial agriculture through integrated farming approaches. The 4-year US$19 million programme is managed by FAO and focuses on smallholder irrigation and livestock production support activities. As part...

Conceptually, the benefits of irrigation are realized through improvements in agricultural productivity. At household level, the agricultural production increases could be followed by improvements in income generation and food consumption patterns. The goal of this research was to examine the relationship between irrigation, income generation and household consumption patterns for...

Au Bénin, le stock de poissons des lacs et des zones humides s’est épuisé du fait de la surpêche et de la destruction des mangroves et des habitats naturels. Aujourd’hui, ces lacs ont été revalorisés et les pêcheurs et vendeurs de poissons trouvent d’autres moyens de gagner leur vie.

Northern Uganda is home to 20 per cent of Uganda's entire population, but it accounts for 38 per cent of Uganda's poorest. The Acholi sub-region and Adjumani district have suffered more from recent internal conflicts than other areas in the north. Living in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps has...

Ownership of assets is important for poverty alleviation, and women’s control of assets is associated with positive development outcomes at the household and individual levels. This research was undertaken to provide guidance for agricultural development programs on how to incorporate gender and assets in the design, implementation, and evaluation of...

As the World Forestry Congress convenes in Durban, South Africa, forest producers should be embraced and inserted at the center of strategies to protect forests, and to ensure that the strategies benefit both local people and the global environment.

Intense watershed management and water harvesting in the state of Tigray, northern Ethiopia, have transformed the area beyond recognition and increased food security and enhanced resilience to floods and droughts. A new way of thinking about watershed management and the efforts of local farmers have contributed to the success of...

This edition of The State of Food and Agriculture 2015 makes the case that social protection measures will help break the cycle of rural poverty and vulnerability, when combined with broader agricultural and rural development measures. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on reducing poverty have been met by many countries, yet...

Success stories from the FAO Food Security through Commercialization of Agriculture (FSCA) Programme funded by the Italian Development Cooperation in Eastern Africa. Supporting market oriented production and value addition. Facilitating business linkages and access to fair markets. Promoting efficiency and professionalization of value chain actors.

In Bubi District, Hauke irrigation scheme was completed in 2012. The community engaged WV to build on the work originally initiated by the European Commission and the Government of Zimbabwe, to complete the irrigation of the land and the building of canals. In the most recent cycle (July-December, 2012),150 workers...

Due to this underlying need, FAO, in collaboration with ICRISAT, ICARDA, and CIAT, organized an expert consultation workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in December 2013 on Community Seed Production. The workshop’s objective was to create a roadmap and develop strategies for enhancing effective uptake and implementation of CSP in developing...

Smallholder farmers have been affected by drought impacts for several years. Sekhukhune district is characterized by poor and unreliable rainfall, frequent droughts and periodic flooding most of the time. Due to low and unreliable rainfall the smallholder farmers in the Sekhukhune district are finding it difficult to obtain high crop...

The Oakland Institute today released 33 case studies that shed light on the tremendous success of agroecological agriculture across the African continent in the face of climate change, hunger, and poverty.

Waarabe Dareeray village has been known for the good crop production due to its good soil type and availability of water. However, the farmers’ fortunes changed when the area was hit by prolonged drought which led to poor crop yields. Many farmers migrated to other villages in search of other...

6 September 2015, Bo District (Sierra Leone) - Over one thousand people that have been displaced by flooding in six villages of Bo District, South of Sierra Leone, are in urgent need of food, clothes, medicines and shelter to cope with the traumatized situation that has befell them. The flood...