Results
Issue paper
2019
FAO’s goal and role for sustainable forest management in Asia and the Pacific
As part of RAP’s efforts to raise visibility to a wider audience of the good work its specialists undertake for member countries in the region, this two-page brochure summarizes our priority areas of work and explains the value they add to our member countries in the region. This regional sectoral snapshot (fisheries and aquaculture) is a first of its kind in at least the last five years.
Issue paper
2019
Blockchain for agriculture. Opportunities and challenges
This publication provides an in-depth analysis of the applications of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in the agriculture sector. It aims to facilitate a better understanding of the opportunities and benefits of blockchain in agriculture, as well as the technical and institutional barriers to its adoption. The paper analyses how blockchain and smart contracts can increase efficiency, transparency and traceability in agricultural supply chains and improve rural development interventions; as well as be an impetus to achieve the SDGs. Blockchain-based technologies have the potential to promote more sustainable agriculture supply chains, better facilitate trade and provide a more inclusive trading [...]
Issue paper
2019
Renforcement des relations entre les petits producteurs et les acheteurs dans le secteur des racines et tubercules en Afrique. Le Bénin
Le Bénin est parmi les 20 premiers pays producteurs du manioc dans le monde et au quatrième rang pour la production d’igname. La culture du manioc a connu un développement très important de même que les techniques de sa transformation en gari et autres produits dérivés («importation» des habitudes alimentaires brésiliennes - farinha). L’importance de l’igname dans l’alimentation réside également dans les multiples types de transformation. Cependant, les acteurs impliqués dans ces filières sont confrontés aux problèmes d’organisation, de faible productivité, d’accès aux financements et aux incertitudes face au changement climatique. Afin d’améliorer les conditions de vie de ces acteurs, [...]
Issue paper
2019
Strengthening linkages between small actors and buyers in the roots and tubers sector in Ghana, Africa
Cassava is both a subsistence and commercial crop in Ghana. Due to the growing demand for cassava and its products, the Government has identified cassava as a priority crop. Nevertheless, cassava farmers and small processors faces challenges such as difficulty in marketing, lack of business management orientation and transportation issues that hinder the development of the sector. In order to improve the livelihood of those involved in the cassava value chain, the project aims at the following results: (i) existing national and regional strategies are aligned with initiatives supporting the development of improved regional market integration for the roots and [...]
Tool
2019
The Ex-Ante Carbon-Balance Tool (EX-ACT)
The Ex-Ante Carbon-balance Tool (EX-ACT) is an appraisal system developed by FAO providing estimates of the impact of agriculture and forestry development projects, programmes and policies on the carbon-balance. The carbon-balance is defined as the net balance from all greenhouse gases (GHGs) expressed in CO2 equivalent that were emitted or sequestered due to project implementation as compared to a business-as-usual scenario.
EX-ACT is a land-based accounting system, estimating C stock changes (i.e. emissions or sinks of CO2) as well as GHG emissions per unit of land, expressed in equivalent tonnes of CO2 per hectare and year. The tool helps project designers [...]
Tool
2019
Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Tool (FPMA)
The Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) database includes over 1400 monthly domestic retail and/or wholesale price series of major foods consumed in 94 countries and weekly/monthly prices for 85 internationally traded foods. The Tool provides easy access to the data, allowing users to quickly browse and analyse trends of single price series, create comparisons among countries/markets/commodities, and download charts, data and basic statistics such as maximum and minimum levels, averages, percentage changes and standard deviations over different time periods.
The Tool was developed in 2010 as part of FAO’s initiatives to address the soaring food prices.
Issue paper
2018
Future smart food. Rediscovering hidden treasures of neglected and underutilized species for Zero Hunger in Asia
This publication contributes directly to SO1 and under Regional Initiative on Zero Hunger Challenge. Eradication of hunger and malnutrition is a major challenge in Asia. Dietary and production diversity are recognized factors in strategies to improve food security and nutrition. Currently, agriculture has an over-reliance on a handful of major staple crops. Agrobiodiversity offers huge potentials in addressing malnutrition and agricultural sustainability. Future Smart Food (FSF), often referred to as Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS), are rich in Asia. They represent a promising abundance of food resources and constitute the bedrock of the food system diversity. FSF have enormous benefits [...]
Issue paper
2018
High-Level Expert Seminar on Indigenous Food Systems. Building on traditional knowledge to achieve Zero Hunger
In December 2017, FAO and Bioversity International entered into an agreement to contribute to the overall food systems and climate change adaptation debate through analytical and field activities on indigenous food systems. Thanks to this agreement, and through a task force thatincluded, FAO and Bioversity, the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty, the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and local indigenous organizations, different food systems across the world were profiled.
To present the first results of these studies and to identify strategies to safeguard the preservation and transmission of ancestral [...]
Briefs
2018
Policy Brief: Water accounting for water governance and sustainable development
There is growing interest in water accounting, why it is needed, what benefits it brings, and equally important, how it can be put into practice. Water accounting is about quantifying water resources and uses of water, much like financial accounts provide information on income and expenditure. Interest in water accounting is based on the premise that ‘We cannot plan and manage what we do not measure’ – a statement that few would disagree with.Society needs more accurate information and answers to the key questions about water supply and demand. More data are needed but simply doing water measurements and assessments [...]
Brochure
2018
FAO’s work on agricultural innovation. Sowing the seeds of transformation to achieve the SDGs
This brochure presents FAO ’s work on agricultural innovation. FAO advocates a shift from interventions focusing on single components of agricultural innovation towards a system-approach aimed at strengthening institutions and stakeholders’ networks that better respond to the needs of smallholder farmers.
Agricultural innovation is the process whereby individuals or organizations bring new or existing products, processes or ways of organization into use for the first time in a specific context in order to increase effectiveness, competitiveness, resilience to shocks or environmental sustainability and thereby contribute to food security and nutrition, economic development or sustainable natural resource management. Innovation is central to [...]