The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the structural weaknesses of the global food system and has been an aggravating factor in existing food and nutritional crises. Roughly 690 million people were already suffering from hunger in 2019, and current projections indicate that the pandemic will push as many as 132 million...

Hundreds of smallholder farmers gathered in the city of Morogoro on November 17 and 18 for the 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania or the National Network of Small-Scale Farmers Groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA).  The organization was founded in 1993 by self-organized farmers in the...

Millions of people rely on nature-rich farming systems for their subsistence and income. The contributions of nature to these systems are varied and key to their sustainability in the long term. Yet, agricultural stakeholders are often unaware or undervalue the relevance of those contributions, which can affect decisions concerning land...

This paper reviews the progress in climate change adaptation and mitigation actions in sub-Saharan Africa farming systems. Farmers, organizations and Governments in the region have developed policies and innovations to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. It appears that the developed and implemented innovative adaptive farming systems...

Partnerships between producer organizations (POs) and enterprises are promoted as a model for structuring value chains to integrate small producers more equitably and sustainably. They offer attractive opportunities, especially for smallholder producers and their organizations. However, they also pose risks, and failures still occur frequently. The lessons learned from capitalizing on four recent experiences...

Special reporter Patrick Worms writes passionately of what he witnessed among agroecological farmers in Zambia and the potential for expanding their practices much more widely. Despite the challenges, the world is sprinkled with extraordinary farmers achieving amazing results by applying agroecological principles to restore degraded ecosystems. They combine the growing...

In this edition, we are sharing updates on our work for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life in Africa. Find out about the One Country, One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative in Africa, the latest news on the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, an innovative rice and fish project...

The FAO partnered with the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production (ESAP) to understand and document the various business models along the cattle dairy value chain nodes in Ada’a and Sululta districts. Dairy businesses are highly heterogeneous in Ethiopia and, even though most are profitable, milk production, marketing, service, input and...

Le combat du siècle de l’Afrique, c’est mettre fin à ce triste tableau : être un continent importateur de produits et détenir 65% des terres arables du monde non exploitées, disposer d’une grande diversité agro-écologique, avoir une population jeune et des technologies insuffisamment utilisées.Ici, il nous faut miser davantage sur...

This report presents the business canvas, the business process modelling and the enterprise bugdet of entrpreneurs operating at the different nodes of the poultry value chain in urban and peri-urban Uganda

L’Association Tunisienne de Permaculture (ATP) soumettra, prochainement, au ministère de l’Agriculture, un projet de loi visant la promotion des systèmes semenciers paysans et la protection des petits agriculteurs qui utilisent ces systèmes. S’inspirant du cadre juridique proposé par l’Alliance pour la Souveraineté alimentaire en Afrique (AFSA), ce projet a pour...

Ce manuel technique se base sur les résultats et expériences de l’initiative CasaMiel, mise en œuvre par la Société de coopération pour le développement international (SOCODEVI). Cette initiative se déroule dans le cadre du projet «Sécurité alimentaire: une agriculture adaptée» (SAGA) mis en œuvre par l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour...

A travers les textes (positions/actes politiques), le Sénégal est cité en exemple pour son engagement dans la transition agroécologique. Mais depuis le vote de la loi N°2022-20 du 14 juin 2022autorisant les organismes génétiquement modifiés (OGM) par son assemblée nationale, sa démarche parait très ambivalente aux yeux de la société...

The problem of water scarcity has cast a shadow over the wellbeing of humans. According to estimates, in 2016, nearly 4 billion people – equivalent to two-thirds of the global population – experience severe water scarcity for a prolonged period of time. If the situation doesn’t improve, 700 million people...

It is only recently, at age 36, that Saoudé Garba has felt in charge of her own life. Born in the village of Danje in southern Niger, she was married early to one of the three chiefs of the village. She had her first child at the age of 15,...

Sub-Saharan Africa is uniquely positioned significantly increase its current agricultural productivity to lift the region’s more than 400 million people out of extreme poverty and improve the livelihood of approximately 250 million smallholder farmers and pastoralists in the region. To achieve that, substantive digital transformation of the agriculture sector is...

We are excited to announce that Access Agriculture podcasts are now available in English (https://accessagriculture.podbean.com/category/english/) and French (https://accessagriculture.podbean.com/category/french/). It is a great way to listen to farmers and experts from around the world talk about the topics you care about, as we have repurposed summaries of our popular videos as...

Blaise-Pascal Ntirumenyerwa Mihigo, Professor of Law at the University of Kinshasha explores the progress on Congo’s forest protection and what it takes to unlock the $500 million funding signed at COP 26.

While agroforestry is a well-established approach for agroecological intensification, rice is less often integrated with trees than other annual staple crops. The benefits and risks from rice agroforestry practices have not been systematically explored. Considering the need for strategies that may address low fertility and high degradation of arable soils...

The Investment guidelines for youth in agrifood systems in Africa, developed jointly by FAO and the African Union Commission (AUC) through a multi-stakeholder and participatory process, highlight the importance of youth as change agents and key stakeholders contributing to sustainable agrifood systems. The guidelines aim to accelerate investments in and...