Cocoa production has been one of the main drivers of forest loss in West Africa. In the resulting post-forest landscapes, agroforestry has often been recognised as a solution to reconcile the preservation of trees and agriculture. Thus, a large number of tree plantation programs have been carried out in cocoa...

Sustainable public procurement has countless benefits that make it a strategic lever to trigger a change in the food system. Indeed, increasing the share of organic food products in public procurement makes it more sustainable and can generate a positive impact on kitchen staff training, waste reduction, health, canteen budgets,...

Can cooperatives and other producer organizations (POs) combine good performance with the inclusion of poor producers?   A research study on nine POs in different regions, carried out by the Department of Economics of Roma Tre University and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), suggests that this is...

Populations in the G5 Sahel countries are growing rapidly. Given these large cohorts of young populations, over the next five years 11.4 million youth will turn 16 years old, and most will then start to seek jobs in the region. Although the countries are urbanizing, meaning that future economic growth...

Women are vital actors in the agricultural sector – making up as much as 80% of the workforce in some parts of the world – yet their work is often not valued or recognised in the way men’s work might be. Agriculture is often still perceived as a man’s business, removing women from...

Formation agricole et rurale : un panorama des enjeux Après une traversée du désert et une dégradation de la formation agricole et rurale, celle-ci connaît un regain d’intérêt auprès des décideurs, bailleurs ou partenaires techniques. Porteuse de solutions pour répondre au défi de l’emploi des jeunes en Afrique sub-saharienne, il faut...

The course introduces the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit, a decision support system for pesticide registrars.

Dans la zone sahélienne au Burkina Faso, les sols sont pauvres, mal protégés par une végétation clairsemée et ont tendance à s’éroder sous l’effet des pluies de mousson. La pression démographique, la diminution du temps de jachère, le surpâturage et les effets des dérèglements climatiques ont conduit, au fil du...

This resource guide aims to support decision-makers, development practitioners, trainers and civil society organizations representing both farmers and rural women in designing and implementing climate investment projects and programmes in the Europe and Central Asia Region. It features a practical conceptual framework to enhance gender mainstreaming in climate investment programming...

The way Yolande Saint Louis describes herself is someone who likes to help others, offering her services to whomever is in need of them. When other women ask how she manages, she says she loves her community of Mapou in southeast Haiti, and she doesn’t want to live elsewhere. That’s...

There is an urgent need for agri-food system transformation to achieve global sustainability goals. Innovations can play a key role in this transformation but often come with both sustainability synergies and trade-offs. One such innovation is agricultural mechanization, which is spreading rapidly in parts of the Global South and is...

By using a multimethod strategy, we seek to generate more rigorous evidence on landscape restoration and its impacts at the household level. Using pre-restoration remote-sensing data, a machine-learning algorithm is used for the identification of similar pieces of land to Action Against Desertification (AAD) restoration sites. Comparison households were then...

Agriculture is a fundamentally important human activity that intrinsically depends on nature and at the same time poses a threat to it. Agriculture depends on healthy ecosystems and ecosystem services, such as fresh water, soil fertility, nutrient cycling, pest regulation and pollination. Biodiversity forms the foundation of food production: without...

Animal agriculture is a leading driver of ecological destruction. But what if it’s not all bad? 

Mary Wairimu Oloo, who lives in Kenya’s Trans Nzoia County, moved back to her family’s coffee farm after retiring from a government role. Since then she has been diligently improving productivity on the farm, diversifying her income and helping others along the way.  Mary Wairimu Oloo is not just a wife...

The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2023 is the result of a collaborative effort among 16 partners to achieve a consensus-based assessment of acute food insecurity in GRFC countries. The report aims to inform humanitarian and development action by providing independent and consensus-based evidence and analysis.

The imperatives to leave no one behind (LNOB) and endeavour to reach the furthest behind first – as pledged by the 193 Member States of the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – are gaining more traction among development practitioners as...

Dairy and meat businesses in Central Asia, especially smaller ones, are being hit by multiple shocks – from the war in Ukraine, to droughts, to the lingering effects of COVID-19. Production costs have skyrocketed, while consumers’ purchasing power has weakened, making it difficult for agribusinesses to stay afloat. One way to help...

In this issue we present our new Board, cover recent political developments (e.g. on the EU Farm to Fork, Organic Regulation, Animal Welfare, GMOs..) and present key upcoming events such as the EU Organic Day, the EU Organic Awards and the European Organic Congress. Read it to discover more!

L'agroécologie, quel drôle de mot! Probablement le genre de terme qui n'enflamme pas les esprits. Qui ne fait pas forcément chauffer les cellules nerveuses, pour que les synapses se mettent à faire feu par milliers, voire par millions, comme si une session de pyrotechnie était en cours, dont la majorité...