El humo se disipa… Un pequeño grupo regresa a sus casas para almorzar. Unas pocas hectáreas arden sin peligro. Esta zona no volverá a arder en algún tiempo. Junto con otras parcelas quemadas en distintos momentos, toda la zona está a salvo de la amenaza de un incendio forestal. Los...

In the Churia region of Nepal, a watershed area with severe land degradation exacerbated by the effects of climate change, Gita Adikhari and her fellow community members are learning more effective and environmentally friendly agricultural techniques through an FAO Farmer Field School, financed by the Green Climate Fund

Food security and dietary diversity, defined as providing either physical (availability) or economic (accessibility) access to food, are linked with access to and control over productive resources and is a highly-gendered phenomenon. In Nepal, labor out-migration has increased household income and may have increased people’s ability to access diverse food...

With global temperatures already 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, climate change is having major impacts on agriculture that fall disproportionately on the Global South—from crops, to livestock, to aquaculture. Agricultural systems endure frequent heat waves, flooding, and drought—often all in one season. Climate-related extreme weather events such as intense...

Rural out-migration is changing agrarian political economies and natural resource governance worldwide, and gender and social relations play an important mediating role. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of rural out-migration on collective action in farmer-managed irrigation systems, with a particular focus on household structure and...

Agrobiodiversity is the subset of biodiversity found within agricultural ecosystems. It feeds us with nutrients vital to our health. It fuels and furnishes our homes. It underpins cultural traditions. It sustains farm productivity in the face of climate change. But agrobiodiversity is rapidly being lost.  Just three crops account for half...

In 2023, the CGIAR Research Initiative on Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA) addressed the nexus of poverty, social inequities, malnutrition, environmental degradation, and climate change through research and innovation. Collaborating with 10 CGIAR Research Initiatives, engaging with five bilateral projects aligned with Initiative goals, and partnering with two...

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...

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...

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...

This project led by the Himalayan Permaculture Center is implemented in the Karnali Province, where the NGO has been working since 2011. In this Province, which has the lowest population density and is home to the poorest and marginalized population in Nepal, the project works to collaboratively design and create...

The Government of Nepal  launched a series of programmatic frameworks in the food and agriculture sectors that will help the country transform its agrifood systems, making them more resilient and sustainable for the benefit of all people in Nepal, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said...

The agricultural sector, particularly in low-income countries, is facing multiple challenges including climate change, soaring food, fuel and fertilizer prices, biodiversity loss, and lack of adequate investment in agricultural development. With world hunger levels on the rise,1 an urgent move away from industrial agriculture and intensive farming practices is essential...

Humans depend on a thin planetary ‘skin’ made up of life in all its diversity: biodiversity. Agriculture now covers the largest portion (46%) of the global land surface area; its ecological health and resilience in the face of changing climate is therefore critical to human survival. The biodiversity found within...

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,...

In this working paper, we present the findings of a survey of more than 1,800 farmers across 13 different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The survey suggests that smallholder forest and farm producers (those who manage 10 hectares or less of land) are investing on average 20-40% of...

The Government of Nepal today launched a series of programmatic frameworks in the food and agriculture sectors that will help the country transform its agrifood systems, making them more resilient and sustainable for the benefit of all people in Nepal, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)...

CARE’s Farmer Field and Business School (FFBS) model focuses on improving small-scale farmers’ productivity, resilience and access to markets. FFBS is a hands-on, learning-by-doing approach through which groups of farmers meet regularly during the course of their value chain production cycle to learn about new agricultural techniques and to experiment...

The Family Farming Knowledge Platform in collaboration with the Barefoot Guide Connection organized a series of “writeshops”, writing classes to support practitioners to write their own experience, generating knowledge which highlight the practices, changes, innovations and impacts of what they do in support of family farming. These writeshops represented an opportunity...

It was a good day. Sun and cloud were playing hide and seek creating a komorebi (sunbeam) effect in the forest near Syaubaari, Jhumlawang, where my dad and I were looking for edible wild mushrooms. It had rained the night before, so the ground was damp and squishy, giving leeches...