Agrifood systems in Europe and Central Asia are strongly affected by multiple crises. To take stock of the current situation and discuss a way forward, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened its Member Nations of the Eurasia region in Budapest, hosted by the Government of...

The Country Gender Assessment (CGA) was undertaken to analyse the agricultural and rural sector of Bhutan from a gender mainstreaming perspective in areas where the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) assists in realizing rural women’s rights and potential. The agricultural sector is the major source of...

Water makes up over 50 percent of our bodies. Water covers the majority of our Earth’s surface. Water is life, and water is food. It is everything and everywhere, but it is not infinite. Nearly three-quarters of all freshwater is used for agriculture, which is why transforming the way we grow our food...

Four young Entrepreneurs for Rural Access (ERA) – comprising two ERA teams and two individual ERAs – who were selected through the Young Entrepreneur Challenge Fund from Limpopo and Eastern Cape, received a 3-day training in digital tools and technology, 3 to 5 October 2023 in Polokwane, South Africa.

Legume-supported cropping systems affect environmental, production, and economic impacts. In Europe, legume production is still marginal with grain legumes covering less than 3% of arable land. A transition towards legume-supported systems could contribute to a higher level of protein self-sufficiency and lower environmental impacts of agriculture. Suitable approaches for designing...

This report highlights three main pathways for changing the food system based on consultations and analysis. The pathways include strengthening and connecting rural food systems, enhancing the national policy environment, and advocating for healthy food environments that are accessible, affordable, and convenient. These pathways operate on different scales, ranging from...

In order to bridge the knowledge-gap between sustainability awareness and the old world winegrowing culture, this research explores and analyses perceptions of key individuals in Portuguese wine industry regarding sustainability issues, uncovering intercultural trends, expectations and tensions. A grounded theory approach was used on collected nationwide data from semi-structured interviews...

Grafting of tomatoes has the potential to increase tomato seed production under organic conditions. Grafting means to combine the positive characteristics of a rootstock (e.g., increased vigour, resistances to soil-borne diseases) with the positive characteristics (e.g., fruit quality, taste) of the upper part of the plant (scion). We compared the...

World leaders adopted the SDGs in 2015, promising to leave no one behind. The goals include ending extreme poverty and hunger, ensuring access to clean water and sanitation, as well as green energy, and providing quality universal education and lifelong learning opportunities. UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis noted that despite commitments, 1.2 billion people were...

Two in three children between the ages of 6 months and 2 years are not getting the nutrients and food they need for healthy growth and development (UNICEF, 2023). Our food systems are major drivers of this problem. Current food systems processes, such as production, farming, processing and global supply...

Better governance in offshore tuna fisheries can achieve fair dealing for fishery crew. In this article I paint a rough picture of what it is like to be a fisher on some—not all—longline fishing vessels for weeks or months at a time. I also explore the measures in place to...

The Access Agriculture Panorama features information on new videos, audio podcasts, blog posts, articles contributed by experts, partner highlights, voices from the field and upcoming events.

This is the fifth edition of the Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition annual report. This publication is led by FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) and jointly contributed to by United Nations' partner agencies (UNICEF, WFP, WHO), on the region’s progress...

Morning breaks in the village Durmon, a quiet hamlet in the Bukhara region of southern Uzbekistan. There is no bustle of a big city. The only sounds are of chirping of birds and the humming of peaceful nature. This is the setting for an ordinary day in the life of Gulhayo...

Some international organizations and civil society activists are blaming exporting countries of frozen chicken products for the underdevelopment of the domestic poultry sectors in developing nations. However, concrete evidence that supports or rejects these criticisms is missing. Against this background, this study was conducted to examine the performance of Ghana’s...

The industrialized food system is one of the biggest stressors on planetary health, contributing to almost a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions and causing immense biodiversity loss. This model is no longer fit for purpose; it is failing people and the planet. The pioneering new study, Natural Farming Through a...

In this video, Gilles Libourel from GRAB describes the challenges with rootstocks. Julia Frézel explains the criteria for choosing fruit varieties at Ferme de la Durette.

“La primera manera de nombrar a estos productos comestibles altamente industrializados, que no deberíamos llamar alimentos, porque no lo son, surgió de una asociación conceptual, al nombrarlos Comida Chatarra”. La principal causa de muerte en el mundo es la mala alimentación, impulsada, principalmente, por un cambio en la dieta de la...

For Ung Bun, a 39-year-old fisherman from Cambodia’s southern Kep province, the days when he would come home with plentiful catches of flower crabs appear to be long gone. Pulling in his net one recent morning, he found just one crustacean. Ung Bun dropped the crab – a male that was...

In many parts of southern Africa, soil quality is poor due to weathering and low nutrient content. Inorganic fertilizers are often necessary, but their effectiveness can be limited. Malawi’s fertilizer subsidy program isn’t achieving food security goals due to declining soil health. Solutions like crop diversification, organic matter addition, and fertilizers...