FAO.org

In Lesotho, social protection plays an important role in protecting poor and vulnerable people from natural hazards saving lives and livelihoods, while also enhancing families’ capacity to cope, respond and withstand threats and crises.  In 2009 rural poor in Lesotho started receiving cash transfers through the Child Grant Programme. This brought positive impacts on the local economy, education and school enrolment, children living standards and agriculture production.  Cash transfers are a powerful tool to combat hunger and poverty. This video highlights and raise awareness on how social protection impacts can be maximized. 

Agroecology has been gaining interest in recent years among governments, research and civil society organizations worldwide and many actors present it as a strategic pathway to transition to sustainable food and agriculture systems for achieving food security and nutrition. Following the First International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition, held in Rome in 2014, FAO organized a series of regional multistakeholder seminars in Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, China, Europe and Central Asia, and the Near East and North Africa from 2015 to 2017. These seminars provided many opportunities for exchange and debate and revealed that while the scientific [...]

The study summarizes the results emerging from the 2017 update of the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) indicators for the 2005-2016 period for 14 sub-Saharan African countries. These indicators - comparable across commodities, countries and years - are commonly used to assess the extent of policy support in agriculture. They measure the effect of trade and market policies and inefficiencies on the degree of price incentives faced by farmers in key commodity value chains, as well as the level and composition of public expenditures in support of the agriculture sector. Despite results being very heterogeneous across countries [...]

Les écarts entre l’engagement politique en faveur de l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes et leur concrétisation, et la disponibilité limitée de données ventilées par sexe et d’indicateurs sensibles au genre pour éclairer l’élaboration des politiques et des programmes et l’allocation des budgets, contribuent à la marginalisation des femmes dans de nombreux secteurs. Le manque d’une situation de référence basée sur des données fiables empêche de mesurer les progrès accomplis vers l’autonomisation des femmes dans l’agriculture, la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition, le développement rural et la gestion des ressources naturelles. Ce rapport a été conjointement préparé par la FAO et la Commission de la [...]

Gaps between policy and implementation, and limited availability of sex disaggregated data and gender-sensitive indicators to inform sound policies and budgets have kept women marginalized in many sectors. No baselines mean no measurement of progress in effectively implementing the array of commitments towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in agriculture, food security and nutrition, rural development and management of natural resources. This report reveals gender disparities in access to critical agriculture and rural resources, knowledge, opportunities, services and markets. It explores the existing gender relations and gaps in the various sub sectors of agriculture, and their possible causes and impact on food and nutrition [...]

Gaps between policy commitment and implementation, and limited availability of sex disaggregated data and gender-sensitive indicators to inform sound policies, programmes and budgets have kept women marginalized in many sectors. No baselines mean no measurement of progress in effectively implementing the array of commitments towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in agriculture, food security and nutrition, rural development and management of natural resources. This report was jointly prepared by FAO and the ECOWAS Commission within the framework of their technical cooperation project on “Gender responsive regional and national agricultural investment plans for meeting the Zero Hunger challenge in the ECOWAS region”. It reveals gender disparities in access [...]

This FAO-IOM two-pager examines the nexus between agriculture, climate change and migration. It further showcases what we know to date and what are the gaps on agriculture, climate change, and migration nexus, for effective policy and technical intervention. Key policy processes and a framework for collaborative action among multiple stakeholders are suggested.

This technical note explores the impact of trade on nutrition, addressing the role of trade in the “nutrition transition” and the extent to which trade policies affect nutritional objectives.  See all Trade Policy Technical notes

Crop Prospects and Food Situation is published by the Trade and Markets Division of FAO under the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS). It is published four times a year and focuses on developments affecting the food situation of developing countries and in particular the Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs). The report provides a review of the food situation by geographic region, a section dedicated to the LIFDCs and a list of countries requiring external assistance for food. It also includes a global cereal supply and demand overview to complement the biannual analysis in the Food Outlook publication. The report [...]

The Conference of the Parties (COP) of UNFCCC is a prime opportunity to communicate FAO’s work on climate change and to liaise with potential partners, at the numerous side events and parallel events organized around the COP. This booklet seeks to raise awareness on the impacts of climate change on food security and nutrition and advocate for the importance of having the agricultural sectors properly considered in climate change mechanisms, policies and finances.