Mongolia is located in Central Asia in between Russia and China. Only 1% of the arable land in Mongolia is cultivated with crops. The agriculture sector therefore remains heavily focused on nomadic animal husbandry with 75% of the land allocated to pasture, and cropping only employing 3% of the population. Dundgobi...

The building of a zinc shelter in the market at Morahang, Nepal, has helped hundreds of women farmers to trade their produce. The initiative came as a result of reform of the market management committee to be led by local women.

Eight small-scale Timorese farmers (four men and four women) from four municipalities explain their experiences in testing and adopting conservation agriculture in Timor-Leste. 

Farmers face great difficulties with drying their seeds because seed absorbs moisture from the soil. As a result, seed quality deteriorates, and no-one can expect good yields by using poor quality seed. In this video you can see how farmers of Maria village solved this problem. Now they are no...

This paper describes the recent emergence of alternative food networks in China in the context of widespread food quality concerns. Drawing on interviews and public blog posts, we illustrate how participants in these networks are moving beyond instrumental market relations and developing the collective agency necessary to participate in shaping...

The significance and value of local and traditional farmers’ knowledge on improving agricultural practices is gaining more and more recognition. Participatory Guarantee Systems have been shown to hold great potential, to encourage knowledge sharing between farmers, and thus contribute to nurturing farmers’ knowledge.

The world’s marine and freshwater ecosystems – the Blue World – provide essential ecosystem services, biodiversity, food and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people. The concept of a "blue economy" came out of the 2012 Rio+20 Conference. It is based on the premise that healthy and sustainable ocean ecosystems are more productive...

This publication is the outcome of regional activity and the regional initiative on sustainable intensification of aquaculture for blue growth in Asia-Pacific so it contributes to the strategic objective 2. It will be important regional strategy document to support the concerted effort of member country governments and the regional /international...

Representatives from countries in Asia and the Pacific have pledged to take immediate action to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The pledge was made with the support and collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the...

Livestock rearing practices have changed enormously in the last 25 years. ANTHRA in Andhra Pradesh has taken initiatives to preserve the local knowledge on livestock rearing by documenting the practices and wisdom of the tribal, pastoralists and the women in the communities, with the hope that they could be used...

The 2nd Agribusiness Forum seeks to deepen partnerships to promote specific public–private partnerships to boost local production and value addition," said Michael Hailu, the Director of CTA. "The active engagement of the private sector is critical for the transformation of the agrifood sector in the Pacific to address major challenges...

A staggering 70% of the food we consume worldwide is produced by smallholders. Peasant and indigenous communities, who produce a great deal of this food, have been developing and saving seed for millennia—from Guatemala through Senegal to Nepal. However, today seeds are under threat everywhere. Laws are increasingly limiting what...

The article describes a community based seed enterprise for rice seeds, set up as part of a project in the Kurigram region of Bangladesh. The enterprise generates income for the seed growers, processors and traders, but the seed is also cheaper than other seed on the market because of the...

This paper presents an analysis of the characteristics of family farming in Asia and the Pacific and discusses its role in overcoming some of the major development challenges in this region. The main objective of the study is to depict family farming’s diversity in the region. Furthermore, it examines the...

A short video about  a Study visit to Paksong on commercial agriculture

The two studies in this report explore these issues further using empirical quantitative surveys as well as qualitative fieldwork from a cross-section of developing economies in South and SouthEast Asia. The first study is an empirical investigation of the digital gender divide amongst the poor (broadly called the Bottom of...

A short video about Technical Exchange Workshop on sustainable agriculture in Lao

There is huge potential for an increase in urban forests, trees and green areas to counteract the negative effects of rapid urbanization and improve livelihoods in the major cities of Asia and the Pacific, a regional meeting on urban forestry heard today. The First Asia-Pacific Urban Forestry Meeting is co-convened by...

In this book we focus mainly on innovation opportunities for small farmers, with a particular emphasis on marginalized small farm communities. The first chapter elaborates on the concept of the ‘small farm’ and offers a synthesis of the findings of all the chapters in this volume. The contributions have reconfirmed that...

In this video Nepalese farmers explain how they learned, after an FAO training course, to use bio-pesticides instead of the chemical ones.