Seed embodies life, power, and culture. From Africa’s deserts and drylands to its mighty river systems and tropical forests, from those growing a multiplicity of grains, legumes, and vegetables, to others struggling to produce enough to feed their families, seed provides the mainstay for the continent’s 500 million small-scale farmers...

Improving the gender-responsiveness of design and delivery of rural finance interventions through innovative approaches and mechanisms is important for promoting rural women’s economic empowerment. This document highlights practical and actionable approaches from the sector in order to guide the work of practitioners engaging at country level to pursue the above...

Research by the Center of International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) shows promising results from taking a jurisdictional approach to increasing the sustainability of palm oil plantations in four districts/regencies in Indonesia: Pulang Pisau (Central Kalimantan Province), Kutai Kartanegara (East Kalimantan Province), Pelalawan (Riau Province), and Sintang (West Kalimantan...

In the rugged terrain of Colombia’s Nariño department, where the Andes Mountains cast their shadows, lies a resilient community. Here, amidst the diverse geography and varied climate, coffee cultivation thrives, nurtured by the altitude, volcanic soils, and abundant precipitation. In the heart of this land, we find the Slow Food...

Providing an adequate, sustainable, and nutritious supply of protein remains an increasing challenge in the light of changing food systems and raised levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. A joint FAO and IAEA technical meeting was held in Vienna, in 2022, to discuss the development of a protein quality database...

Working towards sustainable soil protection and rehabilitation, the Global Programme Soil Protection and Soil Rehabilitation for Food Security (ProSoil) aims to promote sustainable land use in selected partner countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, and Tunisia. The programme comprises several different areas of action, with correlated aims....

Saddle up and prepare for a journey through the picturesque northern mountains of Puebla, Mexico. After ascending 1,000 meters, you arrive at Rancho La Victoria, a historic coffee farm nestled amidst the mountains...

A comprehensive approach is needed Scientific studies and reports (cf. IAASTD+10 – Herren et al. 20201 ; HLPE 20192 ; STALLOR 20203 ; IPCC 20194 ; IPBES 20195 ; WBGU 20216 ) confirm that a holistic transformation of agriculture and food systems is necessary for sustainable development and to overcome...

Bees are known to vital pollinators essential for the growth of many plants, including the fruits and vegetables we rely on for food. According to Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), honeybees play a crucial role in pollinating nearly 95 different kinds of fruits and nuts in North America which...

The Business Agroecology Criteria Tool (B-ACT) is designed to assess the degree to which enterprises are aligned with each of the 13 principles of agroecology, as established by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition. What is the tool for? The Business Agroecology Criteria Tool (B-ACT) assesses...

Bioeconomy is credited as being one of the key pillars for the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–2031 to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. More than 60 countries and regions have a dedicated bioeconomy or bioscience strategy today, and many more are already implementing the bioeconomy with plans and...

The purpose of this manual is to give the reader a foundation of practical knowledge regarding all aspects of Pacific oyster cultivation. It is targeted at new entrants to the market wishing to establish a farm, and existing operators who wish to develop their farms and explore new cultivation techniques....

Funding that works: increasing the focus on non-market, sustained and long-term thinking Resource mobilisation and appropriate funding for biodiversity and climate action are key challenges in meeting the global commitments made to address these issues. While huge attention is paid to the emergence of so-called ‘nature markets’ and financial instruments linked...

Long-term food security and agricultural sustainability depend on protecting the eco-evolutionary processes that select for local adaptation in crops. Since seed systems structure how people acquire seed, institutional and social changes influence evolutionary processes within agroecosystems. Since World War II, the rise of professional breeding has bifurcated seed systems into...

Following up on previous reports prepared for the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and acknowledging FAO’s long tradition of technical work on the management of microorganisms and invertebrates in food and agriculture, the present paper responds to the need for a detailed assessment of the state of...

Motivation Communities across the global south use their rich indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) to predict weather events and climate hazards. ILK may assist efforts to address climate change challenges in Africa and make subsequent decisions regarding climate adaptation. Purpose The article documents evidence of the ILK's potential in reducing vulnerability to climate...

It was among the indigenous cultures of the mountains of Thailand, that the social enterprise idea was born. Hence Akha Ama Coffee, a coffee roastery and shop in Chiang Mai that only sells coffee from indigenous communities, with whom it trades directly. The manager, Lee Ayu, is not just a...

The Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, at its Seventeenth Regular Session, adopted its Work Plan for the Sustainable Use and Conservation of Micro-organism and Invertebrate Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. In response to the workplan a study on the use and conservation of microorganisms relevant to...

This paper builds on prior critical scholarship on Agriculture 4.0—an umbrella term to reference the utilization of robot-ics and automation, AI, remote sensing, big data, and the like in agriculture—especially the literature focusing on issues relating to equity and social sustainability. Critical agrifood scholarship has spent considerable energy interrogating who gets what, how...

Five teams of Entrepreneurs for Rural Access (ERA) in Uganda are all set to hit the road on their new Buffalo Bicycles carrying their smart projectors to promote videos on agroecology and organic farming in remote villages, thanks to an innovative partnership agreement between the World Bicycle Relief and Access...