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The marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) comprise 40 percent of the earth’s surface, covering 64 percent of the surface of the ocean and 95 percent of its volume. The Common Oceans ABNJ Programme (2014-2019) was implemented by FAO as a concerted effort to bring stakeholders to work together to manage and conserve the world’s common oceans.The ABNJ Tuna project, one component of the Common Oceans ABNJ Programme, promoted important transformational changes in the management practices of tuna fisheries, improving their sustainability, strengthening Marine Stewardship Council capabilities of tuna regional fisheries management organizations (t-RFMOs) and their members, and significantly reducing [...]

This technical paper includes:- A literature review of the impact of trade policies and domestic support measures (for example, subsidies) on global value chain (GVC) participation including the effects of tariffs and non-tariff measures, Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) and Rules of Origin, as well as recent market developments and trade tensions on GVC linkages.- The computation of indicators and decomposition for 18 agri-food sectors and 29 countries and aggregate regions, derived from the most recent (2014) release of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database.- The description of the modeling and simulation exercises using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model [...]

Trade liberalization has long been advocated as a means to foster growth and welfare. In developing countries, the expansion of global value chain (GVC) participation of agriculture and food sectors could support transformation from a subsistence-oriented and farm-centered system to a commercialized, productive and off-farm centered one.While empirical evidence examining the linkages between GVC participation and economic performance in the agricultural sector has traditionally relied on case studies at the product level, the availability of new aggregate data on trade in value added, now provides an unprecedented opportunity to carry out a global empirical assessment of the linkages.The present paper [...]

Farmer participation in agricultural markets is of major importance for rural economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries. This paper discusses market failures and constraints in agriculture in low-income countries, focusing on how these failures and constraints affect small farmers, input sellers and output buyers. It then explores innovative models implemented to address these challenges, including: out- grower schemes; input bundling programmes; decommodification through quality product differentiation; information and communication technologies; distributed ledger technologies; and direct purchasing models. Finally, the paper reviews the existing evidence surrounding these innovative approaches and highlights evidentiary gaps. See here The State of Agricultural Commodity [...]

Digital technologies have a high potential to enable further development of the agricultural sector, significantly reshape food value chains (FVCs), and greatly contribute towards more productive, resilient and transparent food systems. This paper provides a non-technical overview of digital technologies that have a high potential to revolutionize the agriculture and food industry, and contribute towards inclusion of small farmers into FVCs. The particular focus is on digital platforms providing e-commerce services and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), such as blockchain, as they mutually enable more efficient and more inclusive local and global agricultural markets by tackling their contribution to reducing information asymmetries, [...]

The background for conducting country studies on the challenges, needs and constraints of smallholders and family farms in seven countries has been a wish to further strengthen the Regional Initiative and develop the initiative towards a stronger programmatic approach at both the regional and country levels. To provide support to smallholders and family farms, there has been a need to develop a better understanding and knowledge platform of the main challenges, needs and constraints of smallholders and family farms in the specific country context. Even though many of the challenges are the same throughout the region, there are still significant [...]

With the global population approaching 8 billion, the role of agricultural value chains (VCs) is increasingly important in ensuring sustainable and equitable food production. However, in developing countries, market failures can prevent small farmers from fully participating in domestic and global value chains, and issues related to climate change create further challenges. Moreover, greening policies and actions, as well as concerns regarding nutritional outcomes, add complexity to providing nutritious high-quality food to feed a growing population. In this context, it is critical to examine how markets can be shaped to be pro-poor and to reduce negative social and environmental externalities.The [...]

Coffee is one of the key agricultural commodities in the Government of Uganda’s pursuance of economic growth and job creation, especially for the rapidly expanding youth population. A significant number of job opportunities exist for young people along the coffee value chain, not only in production but increasingly in processing, trade and marketing, as well as service provision. This policy brief provides recommendations for policymakers to support youth in realizing employment and entrepreneurship potential in the coffee sector, by facilitating their sustainable access to productive resources and markets, and equipping them with the necessary skills and capital.

The COVID-19 pandemic is jeopardizing human health and disrupting the food systems that are the foundations of health. Unless we take immediate action, we could face a global food emergency of severity and scale unseen for more than half a century.FAO is calling for USD 1.2 billion in initial investments to finance FAO’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme that aims to provide an agile and coordinated global response to ensure nutritious food for all both during and after the pandemic.The COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme enables donors to leverage the Organization’s convening power, real-time data, early warning systems and technical expertise to direct support where and when it is [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has more than ever shown the changing risk environment, as well as the systemic and overlaying nature of risks that affect and threaten all sectors. It has reinforced the call for multi-sectoral, multi-hazard and preventive and anticipatory approaches that consistently integrate disaster, climate and crisis risk management for strengthening the resilience of people, their agricultural livelihoods and the ecosystems they depend on in a sustainable manner. In her opinion paper, FAO Natural Resources Officer Wirya Khim discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the agriculture and food systems through a disaster risk reduction lens and offers some key [...]