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This brief brings together the critical mass of evidence emerging from recent rigorous impact evaluations of government-run cash transfer programmes in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These assessments have been developed under the PtoP initiative, led by FAO and UNICEF in partnership with national governments and research organizations.

The food production and supply chain consumes about 30 percent of total end-use energy globally, and contributes to over 20 percent of total annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (excluding emissions or sinks from land use change). A growing worldwide population, changing diets and growing economic development will all serve to increase competition for land, water and energy resources – which already face problems of environmental degradation and, in some cases, scarcity. To address these challenges, agrifood systems at every scale, from the small family farm to the vertically integrated corporate farm level, will have to become more efficient by using [...]

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ethiopian Ministry for Livestock and Fishery to hold the first Africa Sustainable Livestock 2050 (ASL2050) Technical Consultation on the 21st and 23rd of February 2017 and the ASL2050 Regional Launch on the 23rd February 2017. Representatives from Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, as well as numerous partner organisations, attended the technical meeting to discuss the future impacts of livestock sector growth on Africa’s environment, public health and livelihoods. In the next 30–40 years, growing demand [...]

Territorial approaches to foster agro-industrial investment at local, country and regional levels are becoming increasingly relevant as policy-makers acknowledge the influence of place-specific factors – the endowment of natural and other productive resources together with social, institutional and knowledge capital. As a consequence, a number of instruments to attract agro-industrial investments into specific locations are becoming mainstream, namely agrobased corridors, clusters and special economic zones, as well as agro-industrial parks and incubators. This sourcebook appraises these instruments and considers their nature and objectives, their potential benefits and challenges and the approaches used to implement them. It also examines the practices that have led to both successful and unsuccessful outcomes. The [...]

This technical report reviews issues related to fertilizers access in Tanzania and identify policy options that would enable smallholder farmers to continue to access fertilizer at reasonable prices, also in the absence of subsidies. Where possible, the options have been assessed against their potential impact on input cost reduction; the implications for the government budget, mostly in qualitative terms; and the time and coordination required for their implementation. The report recommends to consider a balanced package of options to address the aspects currently undermining the effectiveness and efficiency of the fertilizer sector with a view to increase access to and [...]

Since 2013, the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) has been empowering forest and farm producers and their organizations, the “missing links” that are needed to put the SDGs and NDCs into practice. Evidence from the last four years and strong demand for FFF support from FFPOs and governments in more than 50 countries worldwide has shaped our proposed Phase II. The goal of Phase II of the FFF is to support forest and farm producers and their organizations to enable ‘Climate Resilient Landscapes and Improved Livelihoods.’ This brochure gives the highlights of the FFF Phase II proposal.

The brief aims at summarizing the efforts of FAO to maximize the impacts of social protection interventions in the Sahel and West Africa by strengthening the linkages with resilience, food security, nutrition and economic growth; ensuring the effective reach of most vulnerable households and making national social protection programmes risk-informed and shock-responsive.

For smallholder agriculture to prosper and transform itself, access to rural services is essential. Rural services that enable smallholders to overcome constraints to increase their productivity, manage their farms as a sustainable business, link to inputs and outputs markets and act collectively to improve their livelihoods are a first line of action to reduce rural poverty. Undoubtedly, improving rural services has long been on the development agenda. Yet, ensuring equitable access to rural services remains a challenge that governments and their development partners need to address to improve rural livelihoods and overcome rural poverty. The pluralistic Market-Oriented Services (MOS) programme [...]

The International Organisations Consortium for Measuring the Policy Environment for Agriculture aims to create a community of practice, to provide a harmonized and consolidated database, and to provide a forum for discussion aimed at raising the quality and coverage of the available measures. The goals of the consortium include maintaining the autonomy and ensuring the consistency of each International Organization’s (IO) role with its mandate, creating a collaborative approach for database, with a clear recognition of Intellectual Property Rights.

The Addressing agriculture, forestry and fisheries in National Adaptation Plans – Supplementary guidelines (referred to as the NAP-Ag Guidelines) responds to a call by the Least Developed Group (LEG) of the UNFCCC, inviting international actors to draft sectorial guidelines to the UNFCCC NAP Technical Guidelines.  The NAP-Ag Guidelines aim to support developing countries in: reducing vulnerability of the agriculture sectors to the impacts of climate change by building adaptive capacities and resilience; addressing agriculture in the formulation and implementation of NAPs; and enhancing the integration of adaptation in agricultural development policies, progammes and plans. The NAP-Ag Guidelines outline four elements and related steps for preparing [...]