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...

Eyes on Their Finger Tips deals with the traditional marine wisdom of a set of people and the rarest of rare experiences they have had at sea. Through these numerous chapters he takes us into the seas of the fishers. It is a voyage which we cannot make in reality....

This report is the outcome of a series of six fishworkers’ consultations, organised to discuss the relevance and implementation of FAO’s Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines (SSF Guidelines), and my sincere thanks are due to the fishers and fishworkers - both men and women - who attended the consultations in Kakinada (Andhra...

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...

In the wake of the food crises of the early 1970s and the resulting World Food Conference of 1974, a group of innovators realized that food security depends not only on crop production, but also on the policies that affect food systems, from farm to table. The International Food Policy...

A través del programa de CSS entre Nigeria y China, que facilita la FAO, se han destinado a Nigeria a casi 700 expertos chinos desde 2003, en misiones de al menos dos años. Estos expertos han introducido nuevas tecnologías, intercambiado mejores prácticas y compartido conocimientos y experiencias con sus homólogos...

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...

The Kerala State provides a different picture of the success of women in farming. Collective power of women groups, integration of local self governments and proactive credit schemes have enabled landless women to emerge as commercial organic farmers in Kerala. Women are now visible as major farmers in the State,...

People who rely on natural resources for their livelihoods are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and are often limited in their capacity to adapt to the changes. Vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated when individuals’ asset base is limited or insecure. Because control over assets is highly...

Organised into a collective, 30-odd women farmers in a remote tribal hamlet in West Bengal have not only gained necessary skills on agriculture, but have also learned leadership qualities. Gradually, these women are discovering themselves as decision makers not only in their respective families, but also in their villages.

AVSF is an officially recognized non-profit association that works for international solidarity and that has been engaged in supporting smallholder farming since 1977. AVSF reaches out to smallholder communities threatened by exclusion and poverty, offering them professional skills in agriculture, livestock farming, and animal health. In this way, AVSF supports these...

The UN General Assembly at its 68th session declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (IYP). To assist member countries roll out appropriate programmes and action plans on pulses R&D in tune with the goals of IYP, the FAO-RAP organized a Regional Consultation on pulses during 29–30 June 2015...

Most of the poor in the developing countries are smallholder farmers. Improving their productivity is essential for reducing poverty. Despite small landholdings, a high degree of land fragmentation, and rising labor costs, agricultural production in China has steadily increased. If one treats the farm household as the unit of analysis,...

This paper seeks to build on and provide empirical evidence concerning a: over the long term, in most of tropical Asia and Southeast Asia, it is not large farms that replace small ones, since, on the contrary, what is clearly occurring is a transition from plantation to smallholders for an...

Since 1945, FAO and the Government of the Philippines have demonstrated a strong commitment to working together towards the eradication of hunger and poverty. FAO established a representation in the country in 1978 and continues to support the Government’s priorities for agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development, including nutrition. Recent...

The diversity of agriculture in the world reflects the immense variety of societies and natural environments on the planet. Indeed, agricultural systems range from various types of shifting slash-and-burn practices – sometimes very similar to those of the first sedentary human groups – to quasi-automated agricultures in some regions of...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

More and more people are moving towards urban areas for various reasons. This has also increased the demand for food while putting pressure on scarce resources. Urban life styles and food preferences also influence the type of food grown and the way it is grown to meet the growing urban...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

The objective of this project is to improve livelihoods and income-generating opportunities for poor and vulnerable groups through an integrated approach to development. The project is in line with the government's Five-Year Plan for 2011-2015, which calls for harmonized growth enabling poor populations to benefit from China's overall economic and...