Only a small number of governments have established meaningful and effective farmer-centred measures for the implementation of access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. One reason is the highly complex nature of the international regulatory system. This special issue of Farming Matters magazine presents practical ways in which access and...

Improved standards for food safety and animal health should make Georgia’s agriculture sector more competitive. That is exactly the objective of a new US$5 million project launched recently by FAO and Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture. The four-year project – financed by the Swiss Development Cooperation and the Austria Development Agency –...

The Seminar is part of the ENRD work on ‘Smart and Competitive Rural Areas’ where the main objective is to ‘To maximise the impact that RDPs have on supporting farms and rural firms in accessing emerging markets’. The main focus for the activity has been on cooperation and investments which increase...

V consulta sobre soberanía alimentaria realizada en Panamá los días 19 y 20 de febrero 2016. Organizada por la Alianza por la soberanía Alimentaria para América Latina y El Caribe.

This educational video presents Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) through practical examples and theory. It is illustrated by 4 PGS initiatives: “Nature et Progres” in France, “Rede Ecovida de Agroecologia” in Brazil, “Bryanston Organic and Natural Market” in South Africa and “Sabeto Organic Producers Association” in Fiji. The video is structured...

150 participants and volunteers from 25 countries gathered from Sept 16th -18th in Provoz Hlubina (Ostrava, CZ) for the 3rd European meeting on CSA. Participants unanimously adopted the European Declaration on Community Supported Agriculture which they will all take home to their respective countries.

This month's newsletter focuses on Operational Groups (OGs). Hear about some first experiences from people involved in OGs and discover a range of tools and information which are available for you to use on the EIP-AGRI website.

Public funding of agricultural science brings strong social benefits, experts said at last week’s international conference on the impact of research on agriculture in Europe. Participants in the conference, held at FAO headquarters in Rome, called for increased public spending to enable agriculture to respond to today’s challenges.

All over Europe, people are coming together to take control of our food systems, from production to distribution to consumption. We are building systems centered on our local communities. We are joining forces to achieve food sovereignty, by claiming our right to define our own food and agricultural systems. The time is ripe to address...

Greater efficiency in Moldova’s fruit and vegetable production and trade is the goal of a joint effort by FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in collaboration with the Moldovan National Federation of Agricultural Producers (AGROinform). More than 120 fruit producers, traders, retailers and market experts from all regions...

Este documental (30 min), filmado en el  2015 retrata la vida de cuatro mujeres agricultoras que participan de los movimientos agroecológicos en Brasil. Son mujeres que se organizan tanto en movimientos autónomos (sólo de mujeres) como también de movimientos mixtos (como el sindical, de lucha por la tierra, etc.) y...

A group of coffee farmers in Turrialba, Costa Rica, is successfully exploring diversification options with horticultural food crops. This is being done in collaboration with two vegetable seed banks that allow family farmers to use varieties freely under the multilateral system of FAO´s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for...

The experience of the Shashe community in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, is a microcosm of the broader vision of La Via Campesina (LVC). Shashe is a community of peasant farmers who gained their land first through a land occupation, and were then benefitted by the Fast Track Land Reform Program implemented...

El foro tiene por objetivo formar opinión, generar debate y alertar a diferentes sectores sociales, sobre los impactos producidos por los cultivos transgénicos y las leyes de semillas en Colombia; y  visibilizar acciones sociales y de incidencia para la defensa de las semillas y la soberanía alimentaria. En el sitio del...

The Global Food Forum will gather passionate political and business leaders willing to share insights on their vision, as well as on possible pathways for future developments, aiming to enhance both economic performance and environmental sustainability –around 250 participants representing key influencers of the EU debate will participate, including many MEPs and...

The biggest convergence for cooperation and creating common strategies on food and agriculture for food sovereignty movements across more than 600 participants from 42 countries in Europe and Central Asia. It is the second time such a broad forum for food sovereignty has taken place in Europe, after the first...

En un escenario de cambio climático y con una previsión de crecimiento demográfico mundial de hasta 9 000 millones de personas para 2050, el objetivo de producir alimentos nutritivos de forma sostenible se vuelve más difícil. La agroecología constituye una vía para alcanzar dicho objetivo. En particular, la agricultura familiar...

Conventional soil tilling and other practices have led to loss of soil fertility and lower crop yields in many parts of Central Asia. In a region where agriculture is an important part of the economy and contributes significantly to food security, action to reverse this trend must be a priority. Since...

This contribution discusses access and benefit sharing within the context of participatory plant breeding. It presents how Chinese farmers and breeders interact in relation to crop improvement and on-farm maintenance of plant genetic resources. Based on more than a decade of action research, a number of institutional changes were accomplished...

Esta publicación resume algunas acciones de acompañamiento al Gobierno de Nicaragua, en la tematica de Agroecología. El Gobierno de Nicaragua a través del Sistema Nacional de Producción, Consumo y Comercio (SNPCC) está impulsando el desarrollo de la agroecología como uno de los elementos claves para fortalecer los medios de vida...