The Senate in the Philippines has approved a bill recognizing Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) and amending the current legal framework for organic agriculture in the country. PGS are locally focused quality assurance systems of organic products certification which small farmers can afford, and which provides access to healthy and safe...

The "Manual for Participatory On-Farm Breeding of Cotton" aims to assist trainers in conducting instructional and practical training courses on Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) in their communities and focus areas. It serves as a facilitator handbook to train farmers and help organise their cotton breeding programmes in a participatory manner. The...

In February 2020, during the first plenary session of the recently renewed European Committee of the Regions (CoR) members adopted the opinion “Towards sustainable neighborhoods and small communities – Environment policy below municipal level” by rapporteur Gaetano Armao (IT/EPP). Euromontana is pleased to see that the rapporteur integrated its suggestions...

The Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF) adhered to the youth engagement initiative launched by FAO ICA programme by launching a special Youth Knowledge Exchange session on April 2, 2020 addressing the key consequences and potential implications of COVID-19 for youth-led agribusinesses. The online consultation was conducted both in English and Kinyarwanda using RYAF social media...

Pests and diseases cause substantial economic loss to crop farmers. Other than reducing yield and lowering harvest quality, pest and disease control increases production costs in terms of buying the chemicals to control them. Besides chemicals being expensive and not readily available, they also have adverse effects on the environment,...

Based on hard real-life experience, the women of the Maria village have devised some very effective techniques for seed preservation. The video describes the importance of storing seeds in airtight containers, using insecticidal plants and other clever practices that Bangladeshi women apply to preserve rice seeds. This video presents the...

Although all the colonies of Apis Mellifera in Asia belong to the same racial group, no unified colony-management scheme exists which is suitable for the entire continent. How a beekeeper handles his colonies at a given time of year depends on the bees, their environment and how they react to changes in...

Food security faces many multifaceted challenges, with effects ranging far beyond the sectors of agriculture and food science and involving all the multiscale components of sustainability. This paper puts forward the point of view about more sustainable and responsible approaches to food production research underlying the importance of knowledge and...

The most recent estimates of the prevalence of undernourishment (POU), presented in the joint report by FAO, UNECA and African Union Commission “2019 Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition” shows that the trend of deterioration in 2014-2018 has slowed in 2017–2018. However, there remain 256 million hungry people in Africa today, or...

The Serbian Government has recently approved hygiene bylaws on food products of plant origin, in line with EU legislation, that include flexibility measures and derogations for traditional food products. Under this new legislation, Serbian producers can continue following traditional methods for making and selling food products based on fruits, vegetables and...

Nambiro Fatuma is a single mother of 4 kids that fully depend on her. She, on the other hand, depends on her income that comes from a family farm owned by her father. “I produce bananas, maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, mangoes and avocados…” she says. “I once thought about starting a poultry...

​La culture du sol comprend toutes les mesures mécaniques pour assouplir, retourner ou mélanger le sol, telles que le labour, le creusage, le binage, le hersage, etc. Une culture du sol prudente peut améliorer sa capacité de rétention d'eau, son aération, sa capacité d'infiltration, de réchauffement, d'évaporation, etc. La culture...

The following technology provides features about the use of improved seeds and less labour-intensive crops. It also details the advantages and disadvantages of their use. The advantages include labour-saving, livelihood resilience strengthening, livelihood diversification, inputs, skills, cost and infrastructure. Disadvantages include inputs, costs, infrastructure and risk.  Description Plant seeds are saved from...

Farmers face great difficulties with drying their seeds because seed absorbs moisture from the soil. As a result, seed quality deteriorates, and no-one can expect good yields by using poor quality seed. In this video you can see how farmers of the Maria village in Bangladesh solved this problem by...

Homestead gardening is a well-known practice in the rural areas of Bangladesh, creating opportunities for year-round income, even when other income sources fail particularly due to water scarcity and drought. Homestead gardens use the small raised areas (chalas) around the homesteads. The management of close by homestead gardens benefits from...

 Le Centre de recherche et de formation en agriculture biologique et écologique (SAHEL VERT), propose une formation en ligne innovante sur l'agriculture biologique et écologique.

Interactions with stakeholders on farm typology presented in this deliverable D1.2 are part of Task 1.2 in LIFT workpackage (WP) 1. WP1 aims to provide the framework for farm typologies to be used in the LIFT project and beyond, and to develop a user-friendly typology tool assigning farms to specific...

In Senegal, the COVID-19 youth engagement initiative promoted by FAO was launched through various groups of young agripreneurs across the country and through the national youth council, Conseil National de la Jeunesse du Sénégal (CNJS). The CNJS gathers youth organizations with its regional and departmental chapters, and serves as the interface between young people,...

Propolis or “bee glue” is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds and plant resins. Propolis is used by the bees in the hive for its antimicrobial and anti-viral properties. Humans can also benefit from these properties of propolis. Owing to its healing power, propolis becomes a...

The solar maize dryer is a construction that dries maize through solar energy. It is a construction that resembles a greenhouse. It takes three days to reduce the moisture content of maize from 24 to 14 percent. Drying maize reduces the risk of mould and aflotoxins and helps farmers to...