To complement the skills development process, a tailor–made guide material on how best to facilitate learning was developed. The said guide material is actually this manual which is a product of an initially tested training design (run in May 2013) and enriched with feedback from the training management team and...

More than a thousand smallholder farmers from predominantly tribal Sundargarh district have been supported to adopt or extend locally appropriate, low-cost, sustainable farming practices to improve food and nutritional security and increase income.  The Centre for Integrated Rural and Tribal Development (CIRTD), a long term partner of ActionAid India in Sundargarh...

For farmers’ organization (FOs) in India, one of the key areas of emphasis in the recent years has been the use of technology by grassroots women to increase efficiency and cost effectiveness of last mile operations and to improve delivery.

Over the last few years, Dr. K.M. Sreekumar has been trying to expose the myth and realities in organic farming. Dr. Rasheed Sulaiman V. recently interviewed Dr. K.M. Sreekumar to know his perspectives on this topic and to get his advice on what position extension workers should take while interacting...

This training manual was developed as a guide in facilitating the training course on Constructive Engagement and Policy Advocacy under the project entitled: “Building capacity of VNFU leaders and staff on policy advocacy” funded by AsiaDHRRA, a member of Agricord. The training manual is intended to guide and assist trainers...

PIFON recently released its Annual Report 2016 documenting its activities implemented in 7 of its member countries of Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, PNG, Samoa and newly joined TimorLeste, it also reports on the finances for 2016. The report covers the progress of all the activities associated with its two...

Khordha is one of the 33 districts of Odisha (India) which has a favourable climate for cultivating cereals, pulses, oilseeds and different vegetable crops. Many varieties of vegetables are grown during the winter (Rabi) season. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)-Khordha, under the administrative control of ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, is...

The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) Trust organised a national workshop on ‘Enhancing capacities of women fishworkers in India for the implementation of the SSF Guidelines’ in Chennai, India, on November 21-23, 2016. There were 63 participants from nine coastal states of India—participants from Gujarat could not attend....

Fishing communities, in particular women, in Sri Lanka’s war and disaster ravaged regions require support. Sri Lanka receives many tourists from all over the world, attracted by its beautiful coasts and other natural and cultural treasures. But few people know that small-scale fishing communities in Sri Lanka face difficult challenges and...

Women in the Fishery Sector are afflicted by a lot many bottlenecks like unhygienic market conditions, apathy towards the sector in general and women in particular, cut-throat competition, and inability to keep their produce dry and fresh, etc. SEWA-Kerala has been lobbying on their behalf with government authorities and thanks to...

The guide results from the accumulated lessons of many resource persons in many countries on supporting farmer field schools (FFS) in learning and adaptive management for sustainable land and water management. FAO supported the capacity development process through field projects and the field work that underlies the guide was conducted...

Fisheries, an important sub-sector of Indian agriculture, and is dependent on the country’s rich marine and inland water resources. Forty-seven percent of fish production is from along India’s 8,118kmlong coastline. The rest (53 percent) is from inland water resource that “comprises 45,000km of rivers and streams and 1.6 million hectares...

The contribution of women fishworkers in India has been at least equal to that of men. However, despite being a colossal human resource that plays a significant role in food security, income and employment generation, women have been systematically discriminated against, both socially and economically.

A trilogy of books has been designed as a sequel to the highly-acclaimed publication "Voices from the Forest: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Sustainable Upland Farming" (RFF Press, 2007) that brought scientific attention to indigenous innovations in improved fallow management. A third and final volume, edited by Malcolm F. Cairns and with the continued assistance...

Past agricultural mechanization efforts in Ghana and Nigeria have focused more on the styles of machinery used in western countries or Latin America, where average farm sizes are much larger. While West African countries, particularly Ghana, are still relatively land abundant compared to Bangladesh, seeking the right balance across various...

This is an evaluation of the Draft Revised Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture No. 82/2013 on Guidelines for Facilitation for Farmers and the Association of Farmers for Farmers Organization guidelines. One of the mandate of the Law on Protection and Empowerment of Farmers is the strengthening of farmer organizations. The...

The Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) undertook a project performance assessment (PPA) of the Environment Conservation and Poverty Reduction Programme in Ningxia and Shanxi (ECPRPNS) in the People’s Republic of China with the objectives of: (a) assessing the results of the programme; and (b) generating findings and recommendations...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in conjunction with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Lao PDR, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Embassy in Vientiane has launched a regional symposium promoting the Geographical Indications (GI) initiative which aims to help smallholder farmers...

Civil society has urged governments and public institutions to support the declaration on the Decade of Family Farming and to put in place the appropriate tools required to promote Family Farming in their countries.

n September 2015, members of the UN adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030. These goals are a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals, which ended on 2015.Sustainable development is defined as meeting the needs of the present generation without harming the capacity of future generation to meet their needs. It focuses...