Asia-Pacific’s smallholder family farmers produce most of the world’s food, yet they are facing a disproportionate impact on their livelihoods and food security due to the present coronavirus pandemic, a collaboration of FAO and advocacy groups warned today. The COVID-19 impact on the region’s rural communities, and particularly those in developing...

Root starch production is a long-established industry that has seen little development in recent years. In developing countries it has been estimated that five million tonnes of starch are produced annually in developing countries, half of which is produced from cassava representing a major market for small-scale root crop growers....

Highest grades of cassava starch are processed from freshly extracted starch. In many cassava processing factories, extracted starch is stored in tanks under wet conditions during the peak harvesting period (two to five months). Long-term storage of cassava starch under wet conditions results in adverse quality changes which reduce the...

YANGON, MYANMAR – “Hitting two birds with one stone” is how we can describe this initiative of the AFFM, the AFOSP-APFP partner farmers’ organization in Myanmar, to help their members during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. AFFM, one of the sectorial affiliates of CTUM, has more than 528 Basic Level Unions...

Aquatic animals that can be harvested sustainably from a farmer managed system without regular stocking, are referred to as Self Recruiting Species (SRS). A range of indigenous and introduced fish species, as well as molluscs, crustacea, and amphibians are inevitably present in many rural aquaculture systems, even where attempts have...

The Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) in 2016 as an alternative to chemical-based and capital intensive agriculture through its implementing agency Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS). The main objective of the ZBNF is to make agriculture economically viable, agrarian livelihoods profitable, thereby reducing agrarian distress through cost reduction and...

In Bangladesh, rice, and variations in its yield, is the key staple crop. It is critical to the livelihoods of that part of the population depending on agriculture. Transplanted aman (t. aman) is the second rice crop grown in the wet kharif II season, between July and November. However it...

This method produces small, whole planting setts, each weighing 200 g to 800 g, from minisetts as small as 25 g. The small, whole tuber setts produced by minisett rapid multiplication are excellent planting material for farmers and researchers. Each sett has a head, which means that sprouting is early,...

Properly spaced trees help provide many of the same benefits of a complete perennial cover. Fine soil particles contain most of the humus and nutrients in the soil, and if lost, soil fertility is reduced, while windbreaks help protect cropland by reducing wind velocities for a distance approximately 15 times...

Why does mountain agriculture deserve special attention in a Zero Hunger context? Firstly, because hunger remains common in many mountainous areas. While on a global scale, food insecurity has tended to go down, mountain dwellers have fared worse than people living in plains. Secondly, because mountains cover a large part...

This manual is for those farmers and individual who wish to start farming as a business. It will also serve as a useful document for Extension Agents wanting to support farmers making a transition from subsistence to commercial or semi-commercial farming. The decision to become a business farmer is not...

The history of Lanka Farmers’ Forum (LFF) draws back to the project implemented through the Medium Term Cooperation Programme (MTCP) which is supported by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). MTCP started as a pilot project in 2009 with farmers organizations in Asia and the Pacific. The main objective...

The workshop was organised by the ASEAN Foundation, in coordination with the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN Centre for the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives (ACEDAC) Secretariat, and with support from the AFOSP-MTCP2 Programme.

These Guidelines for increasing access of small-scale fisheries to insurance services, have been developed as a complement of the 2014 Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). They were developed to provide implementation guidance for increasing access to financial...

•The tick genera Ixodes, Haemaphysalis, Dermacentor, Hyalomma, and Rhipicephalus are present in Mongolia. •Ixodes persulcatus and Dermacentor nuttalli are the most medically and veterinary important tick species. •Tick-borne encephalitis virus, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus, Borrelia, Anaplasma, and Rickettsia bacteria, and Piroplasmorida apicomplexans occur in Mongolia. •Prevalence of human infection with TBPs is lower than in neighboring countries, suggesting that these diseases may frequently be undiagnosed or misdiagnosed....

This Regional Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Monitoring and Surveillance Guidelines Volume 1 provides guidance in the development of AMR surveillance plan for food-borne bacteria, underscoring the key elements for harmonized AMR data generation, data collation and reporting of findings, while taking into consideration the standing context of the region. It aims...

Mongolia, a vast country of 1.56 million square kilometers, is home to 15 timesmore livestock than people. It has over 2.7 million human population and 43 millionlivestock as of 2010.The transformation of Mongolia after the collapse of the Soviet Union from collectivesocialism to a market economy disrupted urban and rural livelihoods, ultimatelyleading to increased urban...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are one of the leading initiatives for addressing the critical, complex and often inter-related issues of our world. SDG 14 — Life below water — focuses on our oceans, estuaries, rivers and watersheds, and the human systems that intersect with them. Unfortunately, it has struggled...

Natural calamities and disasters of various of varying magnitudes impact our lives. From April 26 to May 5, the cyclone Fani hit eastern Indian states, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, with winds as high as 215 km/h (three minutes sustained) and 250 km/h (one minute sustained). This caused severe distress to farmers in affected areas of...

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has urged countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) to be vigilant in their inspection and monitoring of cross border trade of animal products as transboundary animal diseases (TADs) continue to pose health risks. Representatives from China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam, as well as delegates from FAO, the World Organisation for...