This paper provides a brief overview of agroforestry systems in Vanuatu through case studies on two villages on Efate Island, Etas and Epau. Epau village is longer settled and is characterised by secure property rights, while Etas is a newly settled village with less secure property rights. Common problems facing...

Farming has long been seen as an overworked and underpaid job. Many people, especially the youth in the countryside, choose to leave the fields. Now, the stereotype is changing. A pilot family farm scheme in Shanghai's Songjiang District has made farming a career with a decent income. In 2015, the average...

Tea began its journey towards becoming the most widely consumed beverage in the world, after water, some 5 000 years ago. According to folklore, a few tea leaves accidentally wafted into a pot of water that a Chinese emperor was boiling, giving off a rich aroma and enticing the emperor...

Beginning this year, the Indian government is trying to create a unique brand which will be called “Make in India” which can be applied to 25 sectors such as space, tourism and hospitality, wellness, and many more. Food processing is also one the area of focus. Advantages of development in the food processing...

Integrantes del Comité Técnico de Trabajo (Comité Nacional) de Filipinas, junto con decenas de aliados y colaboradores asistieron a la conferencia de KLM-PE (Knowledge and Learning Market-Policy Engagement) bajo el título AIAF+1, celebrado en Noviembre de 2015 en Quezon City, Filipinas.

The TheruBeedi Seed Bank and Producer Group facilitate informal benefit sharing mechanisms that can be very effective in protecting biodiversity and encouraging farmers to contribute to the genetic pool. The approaches include offering family farmers incentives to cultivate traditional or rare varieties, providing assistance in the marketing of their products,...

Food crops such as rice, maize and cabbage are grown over two-thirds of Korea’s total arable land. Damage inflicted by soil-borne insects threatens yields, with losses of up to 30%. The proliferation of these pests is the result of a lack of safe, feasible control methods. This project aims to...

The Soil Health Card scheme is an initiative launched by the Government of India in February 2015. A soil health card is intended to provide each farmer with information regarding the status of his/her soil as well as providing advice on fertilizer usage and other nutrient recommendations that maintain soil health in the long...

The agriculture sector is the largest employer in developing countries of Asia and in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Smallholders, landless and marginal farmers and their families, who comprise the main category of the rural self-employed in the sector, face a large number of economic, demographic, social and technical constraints. Strengthening...

To commemorate the International Year of Family Farming, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nation (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, organised an Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation at Chennai in August 2014. Several background papers were prepared for...

Las Kuatras Marias farm is located in San Narcisso village, near Victoria City in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, where rice monoculture is the main source of income for family farmers in the area. Applying an extensive knowledge of indigenous and organic practices, the farm is strategically structured in distinct components that...

Despite many agricultural and socio-economic studies conducted in other parts of Indonesia, there is a scientific gap among researches focused on small scale farmers in North Sumatra. The article presented is based on the Sustainable livelihoods framework established in the 1990’s by the Department for International Development (DFID) with special...

The E-agriculture strategy guide is an attempt to provide countries with a framework to develop their national e-agriculture strategies. E-agriculture strategies will help to rationalize both financial and human resources, and address ICT opportunities for the agricultural sector in a more holistic and efficient manner. This will help improve the...

Released exclusively in Bangkok, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will launch its 2016 Asia-Pacific regional report on food insecurity entitled “Investing in a Zero Hunger Generation.” This substantive report, the first of its kind since the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), examines the present state of...

A farmers' community in India learned, through the FAO Community Animal Health Workers training programme, how to rear poultry and face the poultry diseases problems.

Rice and ducks have been ‘good friends’ of farmers in the Mekong Delta for a long time. Traditionally, farmers in the Mekong Delta planted rice paddies and raised ducks by releasing them into the paddy fields after the harvest to eat residues. A Japanese farmer, Mr. Takao Furuno, took this traditional...

This practice describes golden roles for dairy production, including; feeding milk cows, calf rearing, breeding adult cows, heat stress management, animal health, producing quality milk, and housing dairy stock.

A new agreement, signed by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Mongolia's agriculture minister Purev Sergelen today, will strengthen the partnership between FAO and Mongolia on South-South and Triangular Cooperation -- a form of development partnership that boosts countries' agricultural capacity by linking their policy makers and producers with...

Life of Nomadic pastoralists from Mongolia

An Indonesian smallholder farmer started his own rice-fish business after an FAO training programme on rice-fish farming.