The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented emergency and grave societal threat. It is affecting key sectors that contribute to global food security, nutrition and livelihoods, including the livestock sector. This policy brief describes the observed and potential impacts of COVID-19 on the livestock sector, based on evidence from the ongoing...

Tomatoes rotting on vines because there is no one to pick them. Milk curdling in jars because there are no markets to bring it to. Fruits decaying on shelves because customers don’t have access to produce like before. Lost resources, wasted food. The restrictions in movement and quarantine measures caused...

Un sistema acuapónico es la integración de un sistema de recirculación en acuicultura con hidroponía en un sólo sistema de producción. En un sistema acuapónico, los efluentes de la acuicultura no se liberan en el medio ambiente, sino que se redirigen a las raíces de las plantas, al mismo tiempo...

Water shortage is one of the most limiting factors for sustainable agriculture in large parts of South East Spain. Part of the solution of this problem may come from the restoration of traditional water harvesting structures. This technology describes small earthen or stone-built bund that diverts flood water, during runoff...

El régimen alimentario corporativo permitió el crecimiento de las escalas de producción-distribución-consumo, así como la transformación de las calidades de los alimentos por parte de las agroindustrias, pero generó una crisis civilizadora ante las externalidades negativas no contabilizadas. Como contramovimientos desde la perspectiva Polanyiana, las agriculturas familiares y campesinas buscan...

Agroecology Newsletter of June 2020

This course presents the basic principles and concepts related to resilient watershed management, and, through the description of a case study, practically illustrates the process for formulating a resilient watershed management plan, from the analysis of the enabling environment to the definition of the risk management measures to implement. 

Interview of Mme Diaba Diop, general secretary of Pencum Sénégal (GÉF/ Women’s Economic Group). I became a fish processor when I left school. I had sat twice for the Bac (‘A’ Levels). My grandmother, who worked in that trade, was growing old. So I decided to join forces with her. By...

Artisanal fishers’ experiential knowledge contains qualities that can help the world face some of its most difficult problems including climate change. We need to value their wisdom. Most maritime countries have neglected and shunned their small-scale fisheries since the mid-1950s. This was done in the name of fisheries development, to make...

#Agroecology is a way of farming with nature, not against it. It builds resilience to climate change and disease outbreaks by combining different plants and animals, based on farmers' knowledge of their local environments. Agroecology doesn't rely on chemicals to fertilize crops and fight pests. It relies on #diversity. And...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast in January that the global economy would grow by 3.3 percent in 2020, however its latest outlook, in April, now forecasts a contraction of 3.0 percent, with no upside scenarios and numerous risks.     The scenario presented in this brief predicts that if the anticipated global...

Este cuarto documental Hacemos agua, Agua Nuestra, aborda el acceso al agua potable es un derecho de todo ser humano consagrado por Naciones Unidas en 2010. Rosario cuenta con la ordenanza “Derecho de jarra”, que establece que bares y restaurantes deben ofrecer agua gratuita, potable y segura a quien la solicite. Te...

Using the hay-box chick brooder is a simple technique which conserves the metabolic heat produced by the chicks, and thus keeping them warm. Unlike other brooders, this device does not require coal, oil, or electricity for heating. The following description gives detailed information on how to build and manage the...

Shade-grown coffee is an agroforestry system which combines coffee with shade trees, including fruit, timber and leguminous species, in a systematic fashion. Shade-grown coffee is a traditional and complex agroforestry system where coffee is associated with various other species in different storeys (or ‘levels’). This provides ecologically and economically sustainable...

The main objective of this exercise has been to collect and analyze the experiences of Farmer field schools (FFS)/Agro-pastoralist field school (APFS) members, graduates, and practitioners in relation to gender equality, social inclusion, and individual and community empowerment, as well as changes to these as a result of participation in...

In 2013, the government of Nicaragua requested technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to formulate a strategy that improves the occupational safety of lobster fishermen, while also increasing the sustainability of fishing for this crustacean on the country’s North Caribbean Coast. Since then,...

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has organized in collaboration with CIHEAM-Bari a pre-conference meeting in Bari, Italy to promote the plan to establish a regional trust fund that will support strategic programme to face transboundary plant pests and diseases. Plant protection officials from Near East and...

The Darawa community in the Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, manages their octopus fishery by working tirelessly with community-based organizations. It was a beautiful and sunny Sunday. The Darawa village community in the Wakatobi National Park, in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi, was preparing to celebrate. The occasion was the first opening...

The practice described here can be introduced to smallholder goat farmers to reduce their vulnerability to risks and disasters, such as disease outbreaks, drought, floods, etc. The practice consists of raising goats in controlled areas instead of letting them roam freely. It allows for better livestock management and reduces the...

Women and children are usually the main household collectors and users of water. Long walking distances from households to improved water sources make it difficult for them to access safe water. As a result, they resort to using inadequate and unsafe water sources, such as unprotected self-dug wells and water...