Last March in New York the sixty-second Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) took place with a priority focus on ‘Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls’. The Commission recognized in its conclusions «the crucial contributions of rural women to local and...

ICARDA has been expanding conservation agriculture in Ninawa province in northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Conservation agriculture is an approach to managing agro-ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity, while simultaneously preserving and enhancing the environment. Through a combination of reduced tillage, crop rotations, and stubble retention, conservation agriculture allows farmers...

Soil and water conservation technologies (SWCT) are important to farmers, to the research community, as well as to the policy makers, given that declining soil health, and increasing erosion and moisture stress have implications for agricultural livelihoods, national food security, and more generally for well-being within rural communities. Yet, despite...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR), has launched the project “Support sustainable water management and irrigation modernization for newly reclaimed areas”. This project will set up and...

Dans cet article, la pluriactivité décrit une situation dans laquelle un agriculteur n’est pas entièrement investi (en termes de force de travail et/ou de capital) dans les activités agricoles. La pluriactivité est parfois appelée agriculture à temps partiel, ou travail hors ferme (Mishra et Goodwin, 1997). L’article est divisé en...

Gaps in crop water-productivity and yield of small irrigated fields are estimated to be around 40 percent. To realize higher productivity gains, a package of interventions is required, not just a single one. The synergic combination of advances in affordable technology and optimal management of production factors has proven successful...

Sahelian pastoralists use mobility, diversification, and even pluriactivity as main adaptation strategies to the asymmetrical distribution of multifaceted resources. Complex relations vis-à-vis this risky environment hide slowing transitions from a traditional inward-looking to an outward-looking economy, which is characterised by increasing use of a remunerated workforce. The growing commodification of...

The agreement between the Blue Craft Club and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) targets the promotion of the initiative of women and youth to invest in the artisanal fishing sector in the Haouaria region. This agreement was signed as part of FAO's Blue Port project,...

The purpose of this project is to empower decision-makers to plan for and manage the impacts of droughts on food and water security under current and future climate conditions.

Morocco and Tunisia are considered among the countries where the scarcity of water resources may cause a serious constraint to the development of their economies. During the past, huge efforts have been made by both governments in order to satisfy an escalating water demand expressed by all users. The main...

As climate change-induced droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, especially in regions like the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the workshop looked at how various initiatives such as the ICBA-led project “Regional Drought Management System for Middle East & North Africa (MENA-RDMS)” can help to better respond to...

Natural and human factors exert a profound impact on the degradation of rangelands, human effects being the most significant factor in increasing the severity of deterioration. This occurs through agricultural expansion at the expense of rangelands, and with the number of domestic and wildlife animals exceeding the natural carrying capacity....

The persistent policy of successive Sudanese governments in favouring large-scale agricultural investments at the expense of traditional land use is creating material differences among significant groups of the population. A significant share of this type of investment falls within the territories of the communal rangelands of the country. The aim...

This study aims to check for the contribution of knowledge and information to innovation activity in family olive farms in Bejaia province (Algeria), and looks for the most efficient sources and channels of knowledge and information flows. To do this, we have first computed an innovation index for a sample...

Matching FAO’s expertise to Iran’s development priorities FAO assistance in Iran is currently shaped by the 2017-2021 Country Programming Framework (CPF), which is centered on four strategic priority areas:  Environmentally sustainable and climate-smart agriculture  Food security and food safety  Inclusive and resilient rural development  Knowledge-based economy...

The impacts of climate change will be channeled primarily through the water cycle. Climate simulation models are converging in terms of forecasts for the MENA region, that already suffers scare water quantities and poor quality, with expected higher temperature and decreasing rain fall. While conventional water supply alternatives are getting...

Nearly 80 percent of seasonal crop areas in the Near East and North Africa Region are rainfed, a system whose water source is highly variable, insufficient to satisfy the crop water demand, and often exposed to drought. These conditions make farming in rainfed areas highly risky and unpredictable, with negative...

Au bout de plus de sept ans de conflit, la production de céréales, qui était déjà en baisse de 40% par rapport à son niveau d'avant la guerre, aux alentours de 2,5 à 2,7 millions de tonnes par an contre 4 millions de tonnes auparavant, "va subir une nouvelle réduction"...

Even though drought is a familiar phenomenon in the region, over the past four decades, droughts have become more widespread, prolonged and frequent - likely due to climate change. The region is not only highly prone to drought, but also one of the world's most water-scarce areas, with desert making...

Experience suggests that smallholder farmers are unlikely to adopt new innovations without improved models of technology transfer. However, the question of how to design innovative and cost-effective technology transfer strategies has not yet been sufficiently addressed. There is a risk that if we do not critically analyze and carefully manage...