"The practices illustrated through these case studies are being extensively shared among farmers from across the country. These local practices are not just ways of thinking or alternatives; they are based on the specialized knowledge and practices of people and communities.They contain insights that when appropriately applied, can help farmers...

"This first booklet in the series – 'Where Have all the Small Farmers gone?' – traces the broad path that agriculture took in India, to see where and how the small farmers are placed in it. It notes the major milestones en route, and underlines the major ups and downs,...

This publication provides guidance on the natural history of wild bees and their potential exposure to pesticides, as part of the GEF supported Project “Conservation and Management of Pollinators for Sustainable Agriculture, through an Ecosystem Approach” implemented in seven countries – Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and South Africa....

在印度奥里萨邦部落地区，林农轮作被 称为Pudu chaso，这样的农作方法对于维持农 作物的多样性是十分重要，并且产生各种栽 培方式。作物轮作，间作，和其他可持续农 业实践是Pudu农民传承传统知识的一部分， 这有助于创造他们所居住的景观。 然而，这一切都在受到不断的威胁。商 业伐木摧毁了部落的大片森林，在那里曾经 是部落的妇女用来采集食物和燃料的地方， 现在几乎完全消失。该地区还将继续遭受各 种破坏，人们通过修建道路、铁路和建水坝 来吸引企业的投资；但同时，部落土地和人 民生活也受到了破坏。在科拉普特区域，超 过一半的人（约一百万）已经由于新水库建 设而流离失所，超过一万公顷的森林土地被 破坏。

The proposed GIAHS project, Sikkim Himalaya-Agriculture is a part of globally significant biodiversity hot spots of the world within the greater quadri-national junction of Khanchendzonga landscape in the Eastern Himalayas. The region is an assemblage of sacred landscapes called Demazong (the valley of rice) or the Shangrila (the hidden paradise...

In the Deccan region of India, over 60,000 women peasants are feeding their families, their culture and their pride with biodiverse farming practices. Their knowledge and successes have reached across national and institutional borders, and they have received recognition from around the world.

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...

Implementation Guidance for Policymakers and Investors

This publication is a report of the proceedings of the ICSF ‘s Puducherry  Workshop, which focused on the FAO's Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale fisheries in the context of food security and poverty eradication (SSG Guidelines). The workshop brought together 71 participants from 20 countries representing civil society organizations,...

The fishing community of the Sundarbans are the human group most at home in the mud-slush-water-forest environment of this famous mangrove estuary. Their skills, knowledge, and technique have developed in response to a challenging environment. Yet, of the countless studies on the various aspects of this eco-region, there are exceedingly...

A Participatory Study of the Traditional Knowledge of Fishing Communities in the Gulf of Mannar, India' is the first in a series of case studies undertaken by the ICSF to document the traditional knowledge of fishing communities dependent on marine and coastal resources in protected and conserved areas in different...

Traditional fishworkers have long been forced to adapt to the forces of nature, and they are now confronted with the  new threats of climate change, global warming, sea-level rise and ocean acidification. What will be the potential impacts of climate change on the already vulnerable and marginalized small-scale fishing communities...

The International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) has uncovered well-grounded resolve to place family farmers as protagonists in addressing a number of challenges we face, from eradicating hunger and poverty to conserving natural resources. Nothing comes closer to the sustainable food production paradigm than family farming. The diverse set of...

The United Nations declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming. Although many forms of production were once family-based, agriculture is now one of the few that are still dominated by families. Because family farms are so prevalent, making them more productive could help combat poverty and hunger in many...

Globally, agriculture is facing enormous pressure to produce more food for growing population while it is increasingly getting affected by shrinking cultivable land area, water availability and climate change. With impressive economic growth, homogeneity of diets across countries has increased in the last 50 years and is pushing more and...

As part of our larger strategy to adapt smallholders in drylands to climate change, ICARDA’s science has sharpened its focus on producing more with less in irrigated and agropastoral systems, and sustainably intensifying cereal-based rain-fed production systems through research platforms in Egypt, Ethiopia and Morocco.

In the literature on sustainability of agriculture, both labourers and workers are conspicuously absent. Here, the sustainability of agriculture has been defined in terms of whether the farm household in question is able to yield an energy surplus when its members and the animals in its possession are obtaining an...

Indian agriculture was transforming from a cereal-based production system toward high-value crops (HVC) during the 1990s. However, food security concerns resurfaced during the first decade of the 21st century, and the policy environment tilted in favor of cereal-based production systems, especially rice and wheat. This paper revisits an earlier study...

Recent efforts to develop rice cultivars with drought-tolerance (DT) traits have resulted in the release of several varieties that demonstrate significant resilience to drought stresses. This paper addresses the previously unanswered question of whether the private sector might play a future role in developing similar strains through applications of advanced...

This book documents a unique series of 19 case studies where agricultural biotechnologies were used to serve the needs of smallholders in developing countries. They cover different regions, production systems, species and underlying socio-economic conditions in the crop (seven case studies), livestock (seven) and aquaculture/fisheries (five) sectors. Most of the...