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In the 1950s and 1960s, the Republic of Korea was one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. Deforestation had stripped the country of half its forest cover, contributing to severe erosion, repetitive flood and drought damage and a decrease in agricultural production which threatened national food security. Recognizing the importance of forests’ watershed and soil protection functions in restoring agricultural productivity, the government undertook an intensive forest rehabilitation effort. The implementation of two Ten-Year Forest Rehabilitation Plans in the 1970s and 1980s not only fully restored the country’s forest cover, but also delivered food security benefits [...]

The Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS) continuously monitors food supply and demand and other key indicators for assessing the overall food security situation in all countries of the world. It issues regular analytical and objective reports on prevailing conditions and provides early warnings of impending food crises at country or regional level. At the request of national authorities, GIEWS supports countries in gathering evidence for policy decisions, or planning by development partners, through its Crop and Food Security Assessment Missions (CFSAMs), fielded jointly with WFP. In country-level application of tools for earth observation and [...]

Food Outlook is published by the Trade and Markets Division of FAO under Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS). It is a biannual publication focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. Each report provides comprehensive assessments and short term forecasts for production, utilization, trade, stocks and prices on a commodity by commodity basis and includes feature articles on topical issues. Food Outlook maintains a close synergy with another major GIEWS publication, Crop Prospects and Food Situation, especially with regard to the coverage of cereals. Food Outlook is available in English. The summary section is also available in [...]

This booklet is directed towards FAO Member States, UN system and all other potential partners, and sheds light on the role that agriculture and rural development and the sustainable management of natural resources can play in curbing migration pressure in rural areas. It also outlines the main entry points where FAO can support international efforts to address global movements of refugees and migrants. Together with its partners, FAO is committed to further strengthening its efforts on migration within humanitarian and development contexts while building on its comparative advantage in agriculture and rural development issues.

This document presents the conceptual framework for distress migration of rural youth. The framework focuses on the migration of rural youth (aged 15–24), who account for a large proportion of migrants and are a particularly vulnerable group. The framework comprises three sections: Analysis of the main factors determining the propensity of rural youth to migrate; Assessment of the likely impacts of distress migration of rural youth in terms of rural development for local areas of origin; Illustration of the most promising policies and programmes to reduce distress migration of rural youth and maximize its developmental benefits for the communities of origin.

Since 2009, FAO’s MAFAP programme has been working in several developing countries to create sustainable policy monitoring systems and carry out a consistent set of policy and public expenditure analyses across a wide range of agricultural value chains. MAFAP works with government institutions, research organizations and other partners to establish a community of practice on policy measurement, monitoring and analysis by developing institutional capacities to systematically analyse government policies and their effects. MAFAP analyses are used to inform targeted food and agricultural policy reforms that will result in a more conducive environment for agricultural investment and productivity growth, especially for smallholder farmers. MAFAP’s [...]

High levels of investments are required to unleash the potential of agriculture for sustainable development and poverty reduction in developing countries, but low public budgetary allocations to the sector have slowed growth. To address this problem, innovative partnerships that bring together business, government and civil society actors are increasingly being promoted as a mechanism for pooling much-needed financing while mitigating some of the risks of doing business in the agriculture sector. Commonly referred to as public–private partnerships (PPPs), these initiatives are expected to contribute to the pursuit of sustainable agricultural development that is inclusive of smallholder farmers. However, there remain [...]

What is the evidence that climate change is affecting food security and agriculture? What should governments, farmers and food producers do in order to facilitate an effective response to a changing global climate? How can the agriculture sectors contribute to containing greenhouse gas emissions? The 2016 edition of The State of Food and Agriculture provides answers to these and other questions. The report includes an analysis of current and future impacts of climate change, indicating viable paths that a range of stakeholders should pursue in order to respond to them. It also shows how to overcome barriers that could prevent the [...]

Les directives volontaires pour une gouvernance responsable des régimes fonciers applicables aux terres, aux pêches et aux forêts (DV) ont été adoptées par le Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale (CSA) en mai 2012. Depuis, plusieurs acteurs tentent de les mettre en œuvre sur différents continents. Quatre ans plus tard, des bilans sont tirés de ces initiatives. La FAO a ainsi publié une brève compilation d’initiatives pour mieux comprendre comment les Directives volontaires sont désormais mobilisées au service de l’amélioration des régimes fonciers en Afrique, Asie, Europe, Asie centrale et Amérique latine.

Seventy-five percent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas. The agricultural sector, therefore has a key role to play in poverty reduction and improving rural lives. Maya Takagi, Deputy Leader of the FAO Strategic Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction, together with Ana Paula De La O Campos, Programme Adviser explain the importance of promoting inclusive economic growth; long-term support to the rural poor; social protection; empowerment of rural women; decent rural employment; equitable access to land and resources; and strengthening rural institutions are key in creating new income generating opportunities. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy [...]