This report assesses trends in investments, human resource capacity, and outputs in agricultural research in SSA, excluding the private (for-profit) sector. The analysis uses information collected by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI)—led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) within the portfolio of the CGIAR Research Program on...

AGORA is one of the four programmes making up Research4Life coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on behalf of its many public and private partners. Since its launch in 2003, AGORA's goal has been that to provide free (complementary to open access) or low cost access to peer-reviewed journals and e- books in agriculture and related biological, environmental and...

Global change presents risks and opportunities for social-ecological systems worldwide. Key challenges for sustainability science are to identify plausible future changes in social-ecological systems and find ways to reach socially and environmentally desirable conditions. In this context, regional-scale studies are important, but to date, many such studies have focused on...

Located about 70 km north east from Hanoi, Vietnam, the villages of Xuan An and Ngoc Son (Bac Giang province) include 285 households. Rice is the main staple crop. Local rice and vegetable production strongly relies on synthetic inputs specifically Nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides which increase production costs and raise...

Silk manufacturing is as an ancient tradition in Azerbaijan, and spring is silkworm season. The Otharashvili family in Gakh region have a long, enclosed porch that they dedicate to the care and feeding of these distinctive white larvae. Care means maintaining the right temperature and humidity in the room. Feeding...

“Invest more in smallholder agriculture”. That's the message a group of farmers and villagers from Kasama, Zambia – a landlocked country in Southern Africa – set out to tell the world when they created an investment report like no other. Carved into the very land that farmers use to feed...

The profile features farmers in New Zealand who came to the idea of regenerative agriculture due to an awareness of the ecological limits being breached by New Zealand agriculture. They believe that while farming is responsible for many of the environmental problems faced by their country, they also believe that better...

Aujourd’hui, le changement climatique est une menace qui vient exacerber la vulnérabilité des ménages déjà mis à l’épreuve par une conjoncture économique difficile. Les bouleversements environnementaux n’arrêtent donc pas d’être des facteurs décisifs dans l’émigration des Sénégalais car continuant de représenter des déclencheurs et/ou des accélérateurs des migrations. Cependant, par leurs...

El Plan Estratégico Institucional 2015-2030 del Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (PEI 2015-2030), establece los lineamientos que regirán las actividades de nuestra Institución en los próximos quince años en el marco de las políticas públicas del Gobierno Nacional. La expansión y los cambios en la demanda mundial de alimentos, el cambio...

Gender equality is a key to eliminating poverty and hunger, as it has been demonstrated by the FAO throughout its research worldwide. As part of the FAO efforts on generating evidence and knowledge, and in compliance with the FAO Policy on Gender Equality, the purpose of the Country Gender Assessment...

“NATURAL WATER RETENTION MEASURES (NWRMs) are multi-functional measures that aim to protect water resources and address water-related challenges by restoring or maintaining ecosystems as well as natural features and characteristics of water bodies using natural means and processes. The main focus of applying NWRM is to enhance the retention capacity...

Despite the central position occupied by smallholder agriculture in the current development debate, a general and operational definition of smallholders still does not exist. The question “what is a small farm?” keeps receiving different answers depending on the context in which is posed. Alternative ways of defining smallholders reflect heterogeneous...

A sigla PANC significa Plantas Alimentícias Não Convencionais. Em outras palavras, quer dizer “todas as plantas que poderíamos consumir, mas não consumimos”. Imagine todas as plantas comestíveis que existem. Uma pequena parcela delas nós conhecemos, produzimos e comemos no dia a dia, sendo chamadas de plantas alimentícias convencionais. As que...

This report provides a brief summary of the proceedings and recommendations of the "Use of Treated Wastewater in Agricultural Production in the Arab World: Current Status and Future Prospective" conference , held in Dubai during January 2014 under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy...

A garantia da procedência atestada pelo Selo Quilombos do Brasil vai agregar valor e aumentar a competitividade dos produtos da agricultura familiar. A expectativa é que sejam geradas novas oportunidades de negócios e renda, fortalecendo assim a cultura e as tradições das comunidades tradicionais quilombolas do Norte do estado do...

La Asociación Nacional de Empresas Comercializadoras de Productores del Campo (ANEC) was founded in 1995 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). ANEC  offers member farmers, a diverse array of small and medium commercial grain farmers from 17 different Mexican states. Initially, ANEC assisted in the...

The objective of ‘Guidelines on Gender Mainstreaming and a Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA)’ is to provide a concise and compact guide for FAO REU / SEC staff to use at different stages of the project cycle. By bringing together the key elements of gender mainstreaming and HRBA found within the...

Small towns are an essential but often-neglected element of rural landscapes and food systems. They perform a number of essential functions, from market nodes to providers of services and goods and non-farm employment to their own population as well as that of the wider surrounding region.  In demographic terms, they...

What is the optimal size and composition of rural financial cooperatives (RFCs)? With this broad question in mind, we characterize alternative formations of RFCs and the implications of each in improving the access of rural households to financial services, including savings, credit, and insurance services. We find that some features...

Soils are a non-renewable resource on which 95% of our food supply depends. Short-sighted chemical fertilizer applications in conventional farming are depleting soils at an alarming rate. Instead of using potent chemicals that degrade soil, organic farmers continuously give back to the soil, maintaining soil health and fertility for future...