Is low greenhouse gas emission (GHG) agriculture possible? Is it, in fact, desirable? In seeking answers to these two basic but extremely relevant questions, this study examines current farming practices, and incorporates scientific databases from longterm field experiments as case studies for low GHG agriculture. Further, the study examines the...

The aim of this document is to describe the potential of organic agriculture to sequester carbon and to meet the requirements of carbon accounting systems, including factors such as carbon permanence, leakage and additionality. Furthermore, the document discusses the suitability of measurement and verification methodologies to agriculture systems, including an...

The purpose of the FAO Diversification booklets is to raise awareness and provide decision support information about opportunities at farm and local community level to increase the incomes of small-scale farmers. Each booklet focuses on a farm or non-farm enterprise that can be integrated into small farms to increase incomes...

The increased demand for high quality products in export markets, coupled with Pacific Island Countries (PICs) national desire to protect the environment, biodiversity and family farming structures, lead to assume that organic agriculture could offer good prospects for PICs development. Besides market opportunities, organic agriculture could increase PICs food self-reliance...

The reports draw on the work of hundreds of experts from all regions of the world who have participated in the preparation and peer review process. As has been customary in many such global assessments, success depended first and foremost on the dedication, enthusiasm and cooperation of these experts in...

At the end of 2009, despite the international commitments made to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, over a billion people are going hungry and 70% of those women and men who suffer from hunger live in rural areas. These alarming results inevitably raise questions as to the effectiveness of the...

There is a need to create an environment conducive to small farmers’ entry to organic export markets, through low-cost certification schemes and trusted organic food control systems in developing countries. As a centre of excellence in the field of agriculture, fisheries, forestry and their natural resource basis, FAO stands ready...

Prince Mahidol Award Conference on Mainstreaming Health into Public Policies Bangkok, Thailand, 28-30 January 2009 FAO/WHO Session on Agricultural Policies, Climate Change and the Impact on Human Wellbeing and Nutrition The Italian experience has shown that the introduction of organic food in schools meals generates a wide range of benefits for the...

This paper presents the general trends of demand and supply of organic products in Asia and the Pacific. This regional market is put in perspective within the global organic agrifood market and the current economic conditions that may have a great impact on the development of organic agriculture in Asia...

La cebolla (Allium cepa L.) es la segunda hortaliza más consumida en Colombia. La producción y los precios de mercado de esta hortaliza están determinados por varios factores, entre ellos el clima. Últimamente, el clima ha experimentado cambios en su comportamiento. Estos cambios están afectando, entre otros, la productividad agraria....

During two decades of monopoly cocoa marketing by the Vanuatu Commodity Marketing Board (VCMB) farmers were not able to take advantage of significant price premiums available for organic and single origin cocoa. It is only now that these markets have become a realistic prospect. The VOCGA case study looks at...

La productividad del cultivo de tomate bajo invernadero es resultado de la interacción de factores ecofisiológicos, de los cuales el productor ejerce un mayor o menor grado de control sobre ellos. Factores como densidad de plantación y poda de frutos determinan la productividad y el agricultor aplica sus propios esquemas...

Interview à Mamadou Cissokho au moment où il vient de publier "Dieu n’est pas paysan" qui retrace le mouvement paysan en Afrique de l’Ouest. Son combat, c’est celui de l’agriculture familiale, respectueuse de l’environnement.   

La diversidad, el reciclaje y la gran importancia del conocimiento local son características esenciales de los sistemas de pequeña agricultura en casi cualquier parte del mundo. La diversidad puede asumir distintas manifestaciones y este número de LEISA proporciona varios ejemplos. De la producción agrícola diversificada en Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, México...

We are Gunis (traditional healers) and medicinal plants conservation farmers from the Mewar Region of Rajasthan in India. The Gunis among us take our name from guna, which is a Sanskrit word that has three meanings: knowledge, healing and virtue. Anyone can have knowledge, but Gunis are those of us...

Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Starving people in poor nations, obesity in rich nations, increasing food prices, on-going climate changes, increasing fuel and transportation costs, flaws of the global...

The paper investigates the current situation with fragmentation of family farms in Moldova and its effects on family well-being and farm productivity. A key hypothesis is that consolidation of agricultural land in Moldova has beneficial effects in terms of productivityand is desirable in the long run.This is an examination of ...

Welcome to Dimitra Newsletter No. 16! This issue is devoted – as all our newsletters are – to the empowerment of women and men living in rural areas. FAO’s efforts in the Great Lakes Region highlight the fact that Farmer Field Schools can be instrumental in addressing a range of...

Similarly to other Northern countries, Italy has witnessed a growth in recent years of forms of direct sale of agri-food products. These so-called short supply chains often open new opportunities for the development and conservation of rural areas which are not merely economic in nature. The case study described here...

"El proceso de calentamiento global, que ya no puede ser negado, está; causando cambios climáticos importantes y acelerados que impactan de manera directa sobre la producción agropecuaria. Este número de LEISA está dedicado a presentar experiencias de cómo, en esta nueva situación en la que el planeta está entrando, la...