In a chronically dry region of Kenya, outside Nairobi, women are becoming farmer scientists, working with CIFOR-ICRAF researchers to find ways to make the often-parched soil produce food for their families and the market. The women are testing different types of mulch to see which works best in their difficult conditions. Their next...

The Access Agriculture Panorama features information on new videos, audio podcasts, blog posts, articles contributed by experts, partner highlights, voices from the field and upcoming events.

Rapid demographic ageing substantially affects socioeconomic development1,2,3,4 and presents considerable challenges for food security and agricultural sustainability5,6,7,8, which have so far not been well understood. Here, by using data from more than 15,000 rural households with crops but no livestock across China, we show that rural population ageing reduced farm...

The conversion of agricultural waste into organic fertilizer through vermicomposting is a sustainable waste management solution and an income source for organic fertilizer producers. Most of the agricultural waste in Iran is burned, triggering an array of negative consequences. Vermicompost production at the farm level is rarely practiced in Iran,...

It was a good day. Sun and cloud were playing hide and seek creating a komorebi (sunbeam) effect in the forest near Syaubaari, Jhumlawang, where my dad and I were looking for edible wild mushrooms. It had rained the night before, so the ground was damp and squishy, giving leeches...

These guidelines cover the transportation process for cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and poultry, with an emphasis on land transportation, following two guidelines on Climate-smart livestock and Backyard farming and slaughtering (FAO, 2021a; 2021b). It also examines how pre-slaughter treatment, stunning and slaughter can compromise animal welfare by exposing livestock to...

It was the harvest festival in January called Sankranti on the land of the Deccan Plateau in the State of Telangana in South India. We were in the office of the Deccan Development Society in Zaheerabad Block in Medak district. And since I am from the capital city of Hyderabad,...

It had been a year since I completed my bachelor’s degree in agriculture, but the dilemma of what to do next still continued. “Should I find a job or get a master’s degree? If I am going for master’s degree, which subject should I choose, what is my field of...

Hybrid land governance, mosaics, polycentrism have become ways to describe contemporary rangeland settings - ways of responding to uncertainties through flexible institutions, overlapping boundaries and an assembled, plural bricolage of practices. However, this is frequently thought to be recent, often arising from more formal, regulated systems, whether state, private or...

It was early February 2020. I was headed off with my camera crew, our field officer – Kumar and our NGO partner from Bagalkot to visit and film some Fiar Price shops. There were muttered rumours of a virus called COVID. WhatsApp messages, sounding the alarm of a pandemic, were...

Collectively carps represent the largest global aquaculture sector, contributing over 20 percent of global aquaculture production. The Indian major carps including catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirhinnus mrigala) are cultured widely across the Indian sub-continent with the main culture system being a multi-species polyculture in ponds, often...

Access Agriculture participated in the 6th Organic Asia Congress, which was held in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte, Philippines, 6-9 June 2023, under the theme ‘Building World Peace through Organic Agriculture: Food Security Vital to Peace Building.’   The Organic Asia Congress (OAC) is one of the biggest organic events in the world,...

Following a series of training workshops, Access Agriculture has been able to add three new Filipino languages to its award-winning website.  After holding the Tagalog training at the campus of South East Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in Los Banos near Manila, three new...

Insect pests are a serious problem for rice farmers in Cambodia, threatening livelihoods and food security. To protect their yields, farmers are dependent on broad-spectrum pesticides, which has led to a pesticide ‘lock-in’ scenario. Our study aimed to better understand farmers’ current pest management practices and the underlying knowledge and...

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...

While crop diversification has many benefits and is a stated government objective across the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of South Asia, the complexity of assessment has led to a rather limited understanding on the progress towards, and status of, smallholder crop diversification. Most studies focus on specific commodities or report...

Spring water plays a crucial role in sustaining life in the Himalayas. Yet these vital water sources are drying as a result of natural and anthropogenic factors. In July and August 2020, we conducted phone interviews with leaders from 300 local government units across Nepal to identify the status of...

  Topic outline   In the context of the global water shortages and challenges for water savings in agricultural systems, this course introduces interventions and tools, and more specifically the real water savings in agricultural systems (REWAS) project, that aims to provide practical guidance on the implementation of real water savings.    

Millets are one of the Future Smart Foods (FSFs), indigenous to Nepal. Millets are rich in micronutrients, more resilient to water and heat stresses and can be cultivated in marginal lands and at different altitudes ranging from plain terai to high hills. They can contribute to the overall sustainability of...

Life has always been hard for the nomadic pastoralists in the Himalayas. But with climate change, ever smaller patches of pastureland and armed conflicts, it is now almost impossible for them to survive, which is why more and more pastoralists want to give up. The government has now introduced countermeasures...