In Kyrgyzstan, where most of the population lives in rural areas, small-scale agriculture and animal husbandry is the main source of food and income. To this end, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Regional Development, and the...

The health conscious urbanites are moving towards growing their own food. Starting as a hobby, urban farming is evolving as a necessary means to address issues of food security, physical and emotional well being. This calls for improved access to information and intensive knowledge exchange through diverse and emerging media. Urbanisation...

Water use efficiency has been highlighted as a key water indicator in the set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The method adopted by the SDG is evaluated and compared with specific sector approaches for evaluating the efficiency of freshwater use. The scale of the challenge for the SDG indicator is...

The paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes witnessed in the forest sector in China during the last three decades and the key drivers that have contributed to the country’s forest transition. Clearly, such a transition is an outcome of the convergence of several factors, including the emergence of...

Over centuries, ethnic minority communities in the north of Vietnam have developed complex farming systems well-adapted to their environments. Much of this is based on indigenous knowledge concerned with adapting to locally-available resources and more recently enhancing resiliency to climatic risk. This article draws from data gathered with mixed qualitative...

When we introduced you to Edwin Adonis Nolasco last year, he was hopeful that his farming skills—built over five years of work with SeedChange and our partner organization, the Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers (FIPAH)—would help him and his family weather the COVID-19 pandemic. Since that time, there have been...

Water use efficiency has been highlighted as a key water indicator in the set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The method adopted by the SDG is evaluated and compared with specific sector approaches for evaluating the efficiency of freshwater use. The scale of the challenge for the SDG indicator is...

Over the past few decades nutrition transition has occurred in Pacific Islands Countries (PICS), influencing the health profile of Pacific Islands populations and resulting in significant rates of diet related noncommunicable diseases (DR-NCD). In most PICS, including Fiji, imported processed foods, in particular refined rice, flour products, sugar, fatty meats,...

The sustainable development of cooperatives is essential to agricultural sustainability and is determined mainly by cooperation longevity. The risk sharing and benefit distribution mechanisms are important governance arrangements that affect cooperation longevity in member-heterogeneous cooperatives. However, the relationship between cooperatives’ risk sharing and benefit distribution arrangements and cooperation longevity is...

The urgent need for a positive impact on the livelihoods of livestock keepers is elaborated in this Regional Strategy for Animal Health and Production for FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU). This strategy aims to present the main aspects of REU’s work on livestock and includes three...

Los productores familiares son importantes elaboradores de alimentos artesanales, pero tienen problemas en su comercialización, por lo que surge la necesidad de mejorar dicho proceso con estrategias apropiadas. Estudios previos del equipo de la Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto en la región, identificaron problemas en aspectos como calidad e inocuidad,...

La FAO ha desarrollado casos de estudio de gobernanza del agua en seis países de Latinoamérica, en apoyo a la institucionalidad competente, mediante la evaluación de la información disponible y el levantamiento de las percepciones de actores, enriquecido con instancias de diálogo y participación a nivel territorial, nacional y subregional. Este...

This publication presents ten scalable intercultural collaboration experiences that demonstrate the importance, efficiency and effectiveness of working hand in hand with men, women and youth of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in the search for practical solutions developed from the synergy between ancestral knowledge and...

La alimentación representa la mayor parte de los costos de producción, por esto, es importante sustituir el uso de granos básicos por alimentos alternativos. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar tres niveles de inclusión de semolina de arroz en la dieta de cerdas lactantes y determinar el costo de...

A complex, FAO-led effort concluded by addressing the challenges posed by climate change to livestock keepers, as well as exploring opportunities of meat, milk, and wool production with lower emissions in the ecological and social structures of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The project, entitled “Identifying low carbon and climate resilient pathways...

We’re back on the Montado do Freixo do Meio in Portugal, where exciting plans are afoot to have the community farm recognised as a Private Protected Area. Farmer and owner Alfredo Cunhal Sendim, a member of the Freixo do Meio Users Cooperative, explains their vision of a strong and organised...

Building resilience in food systems is a priority to meet societal challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. However, there has been little systematic research on the role of seed production in fostering agroecological resilience. The increasing commercialization and privatization in the conventional seed industry result in the development...

Increasing demand for organic food products across Europe has made it clear that the European Union must help more farmers transition to organic farming and strengthen trust in the EU organics system among consumers. New legislation on organics is set to come into force early next year. What kind of...

Drylands are actually a unique type of ecosystem characterised by water scarcity and low precipitation. Plants and animals here survive on little water, adapted to the droughts and heat waves that are common in these areas. However, just because these regions are dry does not mean that they are barren. Drylands...

Urban spaces can be innovatively used for food production. They can help city dwellers rethink their connection with food ecosystems and land in the process. Educational institutions provide a unique opportunity conducive to integrating food security as part of its curriculum as well as outreach activities. The IIT Gandhinagar organic farm...