This study uses social accounting matrix multipliers and structural path analyses to estimate effects of COVID-19 and related fiscal stimuli on five household groups. The COVID-19 lockdown increased poverty in Pakistan by 15%, which was addressed using a $1.5 billion, digitally implemented Ehsaas Emergency Cash (EEC) program that reached 14.8 million poor...

Agriculture is a fundamentally important human activity that intrinsically depends on nature and at the same time poses a threat to it. Agriculture depends on healthy ecosystems and ecosystem services, such as fresh water, soil fertility, nutrient cycling, pest regulation and pollination. Biodiversity forms the foundation of food production: without...

Poverty alleviation products are made by impoverished producers and marketed as such to improve producers’returns. We implement an online discrete choice experiment on rice in China to explore consumer preference forproducts specifically labelled as poverty alleviation products that represent multiple dimensions of poverty. Wealso differentiate the nature of public and...

Agrifood systems in Asia and the Pacific can be strengthened by tapping on agrifood-tourism linkages. When tourism and agrifood systems interact, both synergies and competition appear. Agriculture and tourism compete between themselves and other sectors for land, water, labour, capital, and transport and logistics services. Cross-sectoral synergies arise when agriculture...

CONTEXT Millions of people living in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of India engage in agriculture to support their livelihoods yet are income poor, and food and climate insecure. To address these challenges, policymakers and development programs invest in irrigation-led agricultural intensification. However, the evidence for agricultural intensification to lift farmers' incomes above...

Bangladesh’s small-scale fisheries is going through a phase of multidimensional challenges. There is a lack of grassroot associations and organizations which affiliates fishers and protect their interests. The current study found that one of the root causes of all problems for sustainable and small-scale fisheries in the country stem from...

Audio podcast of Access Agriculture Co-founder Phil Malone in conversation with Neeraj Kumar, Co-founder of Khetee, an NGO in Bihar, India, on his experience as Access Agriculture’s Entrepreneur for Rural Access (ERA). Listen here ...

Fusarium wilt is a fungal disease that lives in the soil and that spreads through infected seeds. The fungus can survive in the soil for about 3 years. Seed treatment improves germination and helps to keep the crop free from diseases that are in the soil or on the seed....

In his 30 years as a farmer, Illeperuma Arachchilage Rathnayake, or Rathnayake as he’s known in his village, struggled to unlock the full potential of his onion seed cultivation. He began cultivating this crop as a 22-year-old with no official training but relied on lessons and cues from other farmers...

Marine fisheries in India is a caste-based occupation, with a social and political hierarchy in place. For those belonging to the subordinate fishing castes, excluded from decision-making processes at home, migration is an important strategy for gaining economic resources, social power and recognition as skilled and successful marine fishermen. In...

Even seemingly simple tasks, like raising the humble earthworm, can be done in more ways than one, however all variations must follow certain basic principles. In a video from Bangladesh, villagers show the audience how to raise earthworms in cement rings, sunk into the soil. The floor is covered with a...

Momentum is growing for increased South-South cooperation to meet and overcome the challenges of poverty and food insecurity in the Asia-Pacific region, experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said here today on the sidelines of a three-day multi partner EXPO on South-South and Triangular...

A voice comes through the radio. It is Ramkali Mahato’s favourite show. She turns up the volume to hear local women talking with elected officials about empowerment issues and traditional social norms. Inspired by the show, Ramkali now strives to do the same in her daily life, speaking up against...

Agroecologie enables the improvement of agricultural production through the enhancement of local natural resources and traditional know-how. It contributes to maintaining biodiversity and restoring land in drylands, which are particularly threatened by global warming and food insecurity, while contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Within the framework of the...

Some 19.7 million people, almost half of Afghanistan’s population, are facing acute hunger according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis conducted in January and February 2022 by Food Security and Agriculture Cluster partners, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World...

Developed in the Hurgaov region of Rajasthan (India), where droughts are frequent, this project allowed the promotion and conservation of rainwater through rejuvenating traditional rainwater harvesting water bodies (Naadi) with the participation of the community. 

The Filipino agricultural sector is exposed to multiple climatic, economic, and social risks that will likely intensify in the near future. Building agroecological resilience has been proposed to protect small-scale farmers’ livelihoods and improve food security in the context of (unexpected) shocks and disruptions, and slow system changes such as...

Countries across Asia and the Pacific are joining an initiative to promote and showcase the ‘best of the best’ of their special agricultural products – a move designed to ensure a high level of participation from smallholders to producers to exporters and others all along the value chain.To help build...

‘The twin shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 5F crisis (food, feed, fuel, fertilizer and finance) have shown up structural weaknesses and the low levels of resilience in our agrifood systems. In conjunction with climate change and conflict, these crises are significantly derailing progress towards the achievement of the...

This paper reflects on the concept of the Plantationocene through an analysis of sugarcane plantations in Guangxi province, China. It argues that although these plantations are owned and operated by local villagers, they are de facto controlled by corporations, and subject to state intervention through a ‘zoning scheme’. They are constructed and...