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REDUCING FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY RISKS IN SIERRA LEONE The production and productivity of most staple crops in Sierra Leone is affected by several factors, including floods, pest and disease infestation, rainfall fluctuations and post-harvest losses, resulting in lower food availability. Against this background, it was necessary to establish a well structured food security and nutrition National Early Warning System (NEWS) to ensure the timely prediction of food availability and access by the population, and facilitate a concerted response when access to food fell below the recommended levels, with high risk of acute and chronic malnutrition. It was also necessary to [...]

ENHANCING SAFETY IN FOOD PROCESSING ENTERPRISES IN KYRGYZSTAN AND TAJIKISTAN In order to realize the considerable potential of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the production and export of processed food (milk, dairy and meat products, fruit and vegetables), it is necessary to improve the compliance with hygiene and sanitary requirements in these countries’ food processing enterprises, and enhance food safety management processes. This involves increasing government awareness on modern food safety management systems and strengthening capacity for food safety at the food enterprise level. Therefore, the project aimed to enable the target countries to comply with international requirements for hygiene and manufacturing [...]

ENHANCING FISHERY MANAGEMENT IN THE WESTERN CENTRAL ATLANTIC FISHERY COMMISSION AREA At the 14th and 15th sessions of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), the European Union (EU) member countries expressed an urgent need to improve fisheries data and information collection in the wider Caribbean region. The identified data gaps lessened the effectiveness of significant efforts made to improve fishery management, and constituted one of the major reasons preventing a change of WECAFC status towards a management organization. The project aimed to contribute to the availability of high quality information for fisheries management and development in the area, in support [...]

This brochure presents FAO’s work on mainstreaming biodiversity as a cross-cutting theme in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors. It provides examples of on-the-ground activities and highlights relevant international mechanisms. It shows how biodiversity and ecosystems benefit people in countless ways by providing food, clean water, shelter and raw materials for our basic needs. Agriculture is a major user of biodiversity but also has the potential to contribute to the protection of biodiversity. Occupying more than one-third of land in most countries of the world, if managed sustainably, agriculture can contribute to important ecosystem functions. These include maintenance of water quality, erosion control, biological pest control [...]

STRENGTHENED FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY CONTROL OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS IN THAILAND The primary aim of the project was the institutional strengthening of food safety and quality control in the supply chain management of livestock products. However, its impact was felt far beyond this. Livestock production and meat/poultry processing are among the largest food sectors in Thailand and the contribution of small-scale meat producers is significantly high. These producers, generally family businesses, benefited by improving the safety and quality of their products, and by aligning their practices with the relevant national and international standards. Domestic and international market prices of Thai meat [...]

The main objective of the Forum is to reach a better understanding of the drivers and impacts of migrations for forward-looking policies and programmes. Speakers Kostas Stamoulis, Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Development Department, FAO Gianni Bonini, Vice-President, CIHEAM Anna Triandafyllidou, Global Governance Programme, EUI Saïd Bhira, Special Counsellor to the Secretary General, UfM Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit at EC - DG DEVCO, European Commission Luca Maestripieri, Deputy Director General, General Directorate for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Leonardo Carmenati, Director, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation At the crossroads of three continents, all Mediterranean countries are areas of origin, destination and [...]

In sub-Saharan Africa, crop diversification features prominently in many countries’ climate change adaptation strategies. This study focuses on the determinants of adoption and on the impact of seven cropping systems in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. The work finds that the selection of a high volatile or low productive cropping system increases smallholders’ vulnerability and exposure to food insecurity. The findings suggest that policies supporting private agricultural input and output market development are critical for inducing adoption of more diverse, resilient, and profitable cropping systems. Finally, the brief shows that while parastatal institutions may encourage the adoption of maize mono-cropping systems [...]

Based on governance dialogue seminar held at FAO in November 2017, the brief emphasizes that to effectively address the risk of protracted crises, it is critical to understand the governance and political economy of the prevailing contexts, the principal actors and their power dynamics, the impact of the crises and the nature of the support required. The political economy and conflict analyses can reveal the underlying or proximate causes of a crisis, inform conflict-sensitive programming and help bridge humanitarian and development intervention. The brief also discusses the relevance of investing in resilient agriculture-based interventions in protracted crises contexts.

Together with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), FAO is hosting the Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Biodiversity Mainstreaming across Agricultural Sectors, to be held at FAO headquarters in Rome from 29 to 31 May 2018.  This meeting is one of the first activities of the Biodiversity Mainstreaming Platform launched last year. The Dialogue will be an open-ended informal meeting bringing together experts and stakeholders from agriculture, forestry, fisheries and the environment sectors aiming at identifying areas of joint action in developing integrated approaches for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in support of the SDGs, while increasing production to meet the [...]

This policy brief is part of the ESA Policy Brief Series. It aims to improve the understanding about the design, implementation and impact of public-private partnerships for agriculture. For this reason, FAO gathered 70 case studies from 15 developing countries along with evidence from field-based support to agri-PPP initiatives in Central America and Southeast Asia. This brief presents the lessons learned for policy makers from this study.  See the complete series here.