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As the world population continues to rise, new ways are needed to sustainably increase agricultural production, improve supply chains, reduce food losses and waste, and ensure access to nutritious food for all at all times.This brochure includes the contribution of genetic resources for food and agriculture to food security and to the achievement of relevant sustainable development goals. Available in following languages: Arabic, French, Mandarin, Spanish and Russian.

The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020 (SOCO 2020) aims to discuss policies and mechanisms that promote sustainable outcomes – economic, social and environmental – in agricultural and food markets, both global and domestic. The analysis is organized along the trends and challenges that lie at the heart of global discussions on trade and development. These include the evolution of trade and markets; the emergence of global value chains in food and agriculture; the extent to which smallholder farmers in developing countries participate in value chains and markets; and the transformative impacts of digital technology on markets.Along these themes, SOCO [...]

Morocco has a diverse and varied landscape, as part of the Mediterranean basin. Nevertheless, the country's valuable biodiversity, including the Atlas Mountains and its oasis systems, is threatened. 30 000 hectares of plant cover are thus lost each year in Morocco; this has significant consequences on the various species that depend on this cover for their protection, and creates a vicious circle. Biodiversity conservation and mitigation of land degradation through adaptive management of agricultural heritage systems are a priority for the country. To face these challenges, between April 2015 and December 2019, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with the contribution [...]

This study highlights the links between agroecology and climate change, by providing evidence on the technical (i.e. ecological and socio-economic) and policy potential of agroecology to build resilient food systems. The report aims to answer the following question:- How can agroecology foster climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience through practices and policies?Inspired by the idea that transformation will only happen through a coordinated approach among all levels, this study aims to combine evidence from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives.

Decisions over tenure – who gets access to land, fisheries, and forests, for how long, and under what conditions – have important implications for people’s livelihoods. Spatial planning procedures can have a considerable impact on the legitimate tenure rights of the respective rights holders and, in the long term, can affect livelihoods.This technical guide on regulated spatial planning and tenure acknowledges this link and provides guidance on the importance of recognizing legitimate tenure rights in spatial planning processes. Strengthening civic spaces in spatial planning processes focuses on the practical challenges of implementing spatial planning objectives and considering peoples’ tenure over [...]

This report assesses activities in the agriculture sector in the Solomon Islands – including activities funded by development partners and the private sector, as well as activities across subsectors and export-oriented production – in order to identify policy activities and current status of key agricultural indicators. It also provides information to inform a strategic sectoral plan, which will include gaps and opportunities for future development and sectoral growth. The stocktake was designed to identify key constraints and opportunities, and to inform the government, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) in further developing strategic direction and assist them to [...]

In recent years, along with the growing recognition of the rural gender gap in financial access as a key constraint to rural development, research has focused increasingly more towards analysing in depth the financial habits and patterns followed by women in rural areas, in order to produce observations and insights that could foster a more gender-sensitive policy approach towards financial inclusion.In line with this trend, this paper sets to explore the financial habits and constraints of rural women in two Sub-Saharan African countries (Mozambique, Tanzania), both at country and village level, with the objective of answering how, and why, they [...]

This document summarizes the online discussion How can agricultural policies and strategies help to end child labour in agriculture? held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) from 27 April to 25 May 2020. The discussion was facilitated by Jessie Rivera Fagan of FAO in Rome, Italy.The discussion was part of FAO’s activities leading up to the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour in 2021 and of its broader efforts to contribute to the progress in achieving Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2025. A comprehensive multisectoral approach is often needed [...]

The purpose of the publication is to provide a brief scientific overview and guidance to the government and researchers on the positive results of composting, recommending that they adopt a policy that encourages composting from organic waste, and demonstrating that the expected impact of compost production and its use in agriculture can be viewed from different angles.The organic fraction of the bio-solid waste is utilized as a resource to produce compost. The production process allows the organic part of the waste to be eliminated from the traditional disposal channel (landfill), in order to create an environmentally compatible waste management system.Production [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound negative effect on the global economy and is occurring in the context of a rapidly changing climate. This year is expected to be the second hottest in recorded history. Weather forecasts for 2020 indicate a high probability that extreme weather will adversely affect food production in many countries. This brief draws on historical evidence and demonstrates that reductions in national food availability caused by severe weather events tend to be considerably larger in magnitude when they occur during global economic downturns. The risks posed by this dual threat are particularly high for poorer countries [...]