En Afrique la disponibilité de semences de qualité demeure faible. Comment la filière et les acteurs privés des semences du continent entendent changer cela ? FARM a interrogé Justin Rakotoarisaona, secrétaire général de l’Association africaine du commerce des semences (AFSTA).

Agroecology Europe (AEEU), the European association promoting agroecology as a set of practices, a science and a movement across Europe welcomes the Commission’s COM(2023) 416 Proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience published on the 5th of July 2023.  The Soil Monitoring Law (SML) marks a positive starting point for...

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems are presented as a feasible alternative to increase water resources for agricultural use. However, the installation of these systems in farmers’ holdings is very limited. It is necessary to know the opinions and attitudes of farmers towards these systems to develop specific measures that respond to...

Between 2017 and 2022, LandCam explored creative strategies to enable Indigenous communities in rural areas of Cameroon to exercise their rights to their historical and legitimate territories. Cameroon’s land laws do not recognise collective and customary land rights, making Indigenous Peoples particularly vulnerable to expropriation, displacement and human rights violations. A...

Many bio-resources, such as digestates and composts, contain P from various organic wastes. Wastewater treatment plants are a major sink for P as well. There are many options under development to recycle P from these waste streams. Some are already permitted in organic agriculture.

The economic contribution of women to agricultural and irrigation activities and to the livelihoods, well-being and food security of families and communities is often unrecognized, invisible and mostly undervalued. Moreover, the role of women in fetching, preserving and managing productive and non-productive water often goes unrecognized and understudied. This assessment...

This report highlightes outcomes and recommendations provided during the FAO regional expert workshop “Enhancing national climate actions to reduce methane emissions in livestock systems in Asia and the Pacific”. The regional workshop was designed to help countries in Asia and the Pacific identify new opportunities to reduce methane emissions from...

In a significant move to enhance agricultural diversity and support local farmers, Zambian Breweries Plc has kicked off the 2023 cassava harvest season in Luapula Province. Cultivating cassava in Zambia faces several challenges, including limited knowledge of best agronomic practices, inadequate processing and market infrastructure, limited access to credit and financial...

FAO's latest forecasts point to favourable production outlooks across most basic foodstuffs. However, global food production systems remain vulnerable to shocks, stemming from extreme weather events, and rising geopolitical tensions and policies, potentially tipping the delicate demand-supply balances, dampening prospects for international trade in food commodities and with implications for...

Assessing benefits and limits of agroecological transitions in different contexts is of foremost importance to steer and manage agroecological transitions and to feed evidence-based advocacy. However, assessing agroecological transitions remains a methodological challenge. The objective of this research was to investigate to what extent existing multiscale and multidimensional assessment methods...

Under the framework of the project “Scaling up agroecology to strengthen food security and improving food diversity in the Congo Basin”, the first task is to map agroecology actors and to identified agroecology practices in the Congo Basin. This work covered the mapping of the actors, their respective practices and some...

An increasing body of literature suggests that agriculture is ‘feminizing’ in many low- and middle-income countries. Definitions of the feminization of agriculture vary, as do interpretations of what drives the expansion of women’s roles in agriculture over time. Understanding whether, how, and why the feminization of agriculture is occurring requires...

In organic fertilisers, the total nitrogen content is not always the best indicator of the amount of nitrogen that is available to the plants. Indicators that estimate how much of the total nitrogen will be available for plants can help plan the nitrogen supply to crops more accurately.

La lutte pour les semences en Afrique : Un film novateur qui expose la menace qui pèse sur la souveraineté alimentaire En collaboration avec l'Alliance pour la souveraineté alimentaire en Afrique, Biowatch Afrique du Sud et PELUM Tanzanie, la fondation Rosa Luxemburg a lancé publiquement un nouveau film documentaire révolutionnaire...

We need to ferment the mixture to convert the ingredients into nutrients and hormones that can be readily absorbed by plants. The biofertilizer will be ready in 2 to 3  months, depending on the weather and the ingredients you use

The Family Farming Knowledge Platform (FFKP) Monthly Digest showcases the latest contents uploaded in the FFKP to provide its readers with relevant and up to date information on family farming main themes such as agroecology, smallscale fisheries, pastoralism, indigenous people, and more. For more documents, feel free to search in the...

Though it’s native to the Americas, the fall armyworm – a voracious caterpillar that attacks maize and other cereals, damaging the leaves – has begun wreaking havoc in Africa and Asia. In response, many farmers turn to chemical pesticides, but these can be toxic to humans and the environment. And...

Vibrational plates (Vibro -plates) were built to transmit specific disruptive vibrations to the whiteflies via potted tomato and zucchini plants. The combined use of vibrations and essential oils resulted in a reduction of the whitefly populations. The prototype is versatile and can be custom- ised for different crop systems.

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) are agroecosystems inhabited by communities that live in an intricate relationship with their territory. These evolving sites are resilient systems characterized by remarkable agrobiodiversity, traditional knowledge, invaluable cultures and landscapes, sustainably managed by farmers, herders, fisherfolk, and forest people in ways that contribute to...

New research released today by McKinsey & Company indicates that about 50 percent of the reduction in on-farm agricultural emissions required for a 1.5°C pathway are cost neutral or ROI-positive today. However, major barriers, namely transition financing, investment to reduce costs, behavior change, and additional incentives such as increased carbon prices are...