This publication provides an overview of recent literature on the potential of the informal food sector (IFS) to facilitate an affordable supply of food to urban areas and generate income for low-income households. The goal is to identify global patterns, topics for further research, and policy suggestions. It also draws...

ICARDA’s mission is to alleviate poverty by improving the livelihoods of farming communities. Often, the key is to add value to primary crop and livestock outputs. This issue of Caravan provides glimpses of the Center’s work to help farmers and pastoralists add value to their products, and thereby improve their...

AGRIDAPE (Revue sur l'agriculture durable à faibles apports externes), is a Magazine about Sustainable Agriculture with Low External Inputs. This notion refers to all those technological and social choices available to farmers that are willing to improve their production with an eye for a better environmental management. The French language magazine's focus is on the optimal use...

Smallholder irrigated horticulture has proven to be a viable and attractive option for poor farmers in developing countries. This paper relates two important lessons learned: low-cost productive technologies must be available to smallholders in terms of both location and price and must correspond to their needs, and the importance of...

This study deals with the tuna industry in the Philippines, which is among the world's largest producers of tuna and tuna-like species. Centred around General Santos City, the "tuna capital of the Philippines", the tuna boom was spurred by the arrival, in the mid-1970s, of Japanese traders looking for new...

During 2004 and 2005, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), assisted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), carried out case studies in Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands on the consideration of socio-economic and demographic concerns in...

The main objective of this study is to support the efforts put forth by small-scale producers in Central America (CA) to penetrate the Japanese market for products that are produced in socially and/or environmentally responsible manners. This report therefore analyzes the current trends and future prospects of the Japanese market...

This publication reflects the outcome of an ambitious initiative to identify instances of exemplary forest management in the region and examine the core components of high quality forest management in an effort to illustrate good forest management to a wide audience and encourage others to take up some of the...

All over the world, the pressure to conserve ecosystems and their resources has been steadily rising. This has, in turn, led to conflicts between conservation imperatives and the livelihoods’ needs of the communities that interact with these ecosystems. An example of the impasse that such a state of opposition can...

Since Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948, social welfare for the country’s fishing populations has been the responsibility of successive governments. During the latter half of the last millennium, the State has been channelling huge amounts of public funds into a number of social welfare and social security measures. However, the...

The Livelihood Support Programme (LSP) evolved from the belief that FAO could have a greater impact on reducing poverty and food insecurity, if its wealth of talent and experience were integrated into a more flexible and demandresponsive team approach. The LSP works through teams of FAO staff members, who are...

For nearly three decades the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has focused its mission on helping developing countries turn agriculture into an engine of propoor, sustainable economic growth. Conflicts and natural disasters have often interfered with this mission, and disrupted the long-term work in strengthening human and institutional...

Developing nations such as Fiji are grappling with how they can utilise their environmental resources to improve local living conditions while protecting the integrity of ecological systems. Different development approaches are adopted but in these areas, the environment is altered and polluted as a result of sustained human activities. The...

APAARI is a unique voluntary, membership-based, self-mandated, apolitical and multistakeholder partnership organization in the Asia-Pacific region. Since its establishment in 1990, it has significantly contributed towards addressing regional agricultural research needs. The close links, networks, partnerships and collaboration with stakeholders that APAARI has established over the years, as well as its goodwill, authority...

The purpose of this report is to contribute to a greater understanding of the roles women and men play in the different stages of agriculture as well as other production and income-generating activities. Little research exists on gender roles within Afghanistan and the focus of much research and most programming...

In our 30-year story, we share the reasons why we exist and the inspirations that keep us growing and flowing as a community of individuals and living structures dedicatet to the development of humanity among people in Asia, especially the poor. We thank all the people and partners who shared...

Jambudwip is a 20-sq km island in the district of South 24-Parganas, in the Indian State of West Bengal, in the Sunderbans delta. Since at least 1955, Jambudwip has been used as a base for fishery operations and as a fish drying site, mostly by small-scale, artisanal fishworkers. Behundi jal...

This is the proceedings of the Indian Ocean Conference "Forging Unity: Coastal Communities and the Indian Ocean's Future". The conference as an important opportunity to explore the idea of an ‘Indian Ocean community’ by bringing together representatives from all frontiers of the Indian Ocean (with the exception of the Middle...

The People, Land Management and Environmental Change (PLEC) project is a largely farmer-driven demonstration project consisting of five ecosystem clusters and spread over eight countries: Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, China, Papua New Guinea and Brazil. PLEC was initiated in 1992 by the United Nations University (UNU) as an international...

The Trans-Himalayan region encompasses a number of countries situated in the midland and highland areas of the Himalayas, Karakoram, and in a broad sense also in Hindu Kush and Pamir. The mountains are characterized by a very low level of human development, with full exploitation or overexploitation of the natural...