Drawing on practical examples from eight countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, this Policy Brief focuses on the contributions that the territories and areas governed, managed and conserved by custodian indigenous peoples and local communities — ‘ICCAs – territories of life’ — make to food sovereignty and how,...

Provision of advice and other services related to farming at the village level is critical for enhancing the incomes of small and marginal farmers. Creation of an eco-system that can support the emergence of agri-entrepreneurs through delivery of these services at the village level is the only way forward if...

The selection of varieties is essential for the success of any crop. A variety can be defined as plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank showing characteristics that result from a given genotype, distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of the characteristics,...

Climate change, the intensive use of pesticides, the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the decrease in public policies to reduce extreme poverty in recent years have aggravated the social problems faced by thousands of farming families in Brazil. We need to act! As mudanças climáticas, o uso intensivo...

Vijay Kumar presents the revolutionary CMNF initiative which has already converted 600,000 farmers to agroecology.

The ambitions of the Commission’s Green Deal and especially the Farm to Fork Strategy have caused intense discussions within our member organisations. These have resulted in a collectively written position paper. Agrinatura feels strongly that research, education and innovation are key drivers to bring about a true transformation to resilient...

There are different ways of carrying out agricultural extension. Farmer Field Schools (FFS) represent a participatory approach that directly reaches farmers and addresses their day-to-day problems. The concept of FFS builds on the belief that farmers are the main source of knowledge and experience in carrying out farm operations. This...

The following describes the features of single-axle tractors. Their advantages and disadvantages are also explained.  Description 1. Features Single axle tractors are commonly used in Asia but not in Africa, partly due to harsher conditions and less irrigated land in the latter. They range in power from around 1.5 kW to 15 kW, controlled...

Cereal stovers are widely used for feeding ruminant livestock, and in semi-arid areas sorghum stover may be an important part of livestock diets during the dry season, helping to maintain condition and increase survival. Bird-resistant varieties of sorghum have been bred for use in semi-arid zones to increase yields of...

Rhizobia are naturally occurring soil-borne bacteria, which fix nitrogen in symbiosis with legumes. In beans, an additional inoculation of seeds with such bacteria can increase nitrogen fixation. Rhizobia - based solutions are commercially available and are included in the authorized list of inputs for organic agriculture (https://www.inputs.eu/input-search.html). How to test...

In ‘The Fate of Food’, Amanda Little (professor of journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University) takes us on a strange journey to the cutting edge of agricultural research. Little has an astonishing knack for getting quality face time with some of the most innovative (and busy) people in the...

Kazakhstan, seeking to comply with Eurasian Economic Union standards, is looking to Croatia for inspiration. Croatia successfully upgraded its dairy industry to meet stringent European Union quality and food safety standards – a move resulting in greater industry efficiency, inclusiveness, and dairy exports. FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and...

La tercera conferencia tuvo lugar el Jueves 23 de abril de 2020, 12:00 PM de Chile (GMT-4), contó con: un mensaje de apertura de Julio Berdegué, Sub-Director General y Representante Regional de la FAO para América Latina y el Caribe. Panelistas: Markova Concepción Jaramillo, Ministra de Desarrollo Social de Panamá Stella Guillén, Directora de...

Improved grazing land management is vital to increasing food security and alleviating poverty. It also provides environmental benefits. To address these problems, the national Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) programme in Ethiopia initiated a grazing land management project in 2000. Implementation of the technology includes the initial delineating of the...

The agricultural sector in the Caribbean islands such as Grenada is extremely vulnerable to storms and hurricanes. Establishing grass barriers along the contour can help in reducing water runoff and erosion during heavy rainfall. Grass barriers provide erosion control on croplands and offer a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to...

Insecticide treatment of cattle is an important method of tsetse control. However, insecticides applied to cattle have been shown to contaminate dung. This has a significant impact on insects using the dung as a resource, e.g. dung beetles. This reduces the recycling of dung and has a negative impact on...

Drying meat under natural temperatures, humidity and circulation of the air, including direct influence of sun rays, is the oldest method of meat preservation. However, various methods, typical for different regions, exist to produce dried meat with or without additional treatment. The following examples of dried meat techniques are part...

In March 2020, a regional inception workshop was held in Ghana a project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) entitled Enhancing the contribution of small-scale fisheries to food security and sustainable livelihoods through better policies, strategies and...

Grafting of tomatoes has the potential to increase tomato seed production under organic conditions. Grafting means to combine the positive characteristics of a rootstock (e.g., increased vigour, resistances to soil-borne diseases) with the positive characteristics (e.g., fruit quality, taste) of the upper part of the plant (scion).

The FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean concluded today with the agreement of all member states on three major priorities that will guide the Organization's actions over the next two years.  The three regional initiatives approved by the Conference are: Sustainable food systems to provide healthy diets for...