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The 2020 report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the Asia and Pacific region, provides an update on progress towards the 2030 targets (SDGs and WHA) at the regional and country level. Selected indicators look at undernourishment, food insecurity, childhood stunting, wasting and overweight, adult overweight, child minimum acceptable diet, exclusive and continued breastfeeding, and anaemia in women and children. While the region continues to work towards ending all forms of malnutrition and achieving Zero Hunger, progress on food security and nutrition has slowed, and the Asia and Pacific region is not on track to achieving 2030 targets. [...]

This brief provides an overview of Climate Services (CS) and how they can be used to assess risk and optimize adaptation decision-making in the agriculture sectors.1 It highlights entry points to integrate CS across all elements of adaptation planning while acknowledging the challenges and limitations of using CS, particularly in the least Developed Countries (LDCs). The brief also discusses key considerations in using climate services for planning and provides technical guidance on dealing with the uncertainty and confidence of climate projections.

In response to the growing concern caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 variant strain, FAO has prepared this document to raise awareness amongst livestock professionals about highly susceptible captive farmed wild or domestic species and provide practical guidelines on how to prevent infecting animals or getting infected.See the full list of policy briefs related to COVID-19.

The Government of Palestine officially endorses a new national food and nutrition security policy and a corresponding National Investment Plan. Read the whole article here.

The urgent need for a positive impact on the livelihoods of livestock keepers is elaborated in this Regional Strategy for Animal Health and Production for FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU). This strategy aims to present the main aspects of REU’s work on livestock and includes three pillars – animal health, animal production, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – along with seven cross-cutting issues, among them gender, environmental sustainability, community farming as a business, and coordination with other international organizations. The strategy follows FAO’s commitment to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through continuous and dedicated work [...]

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha generado graves amenazas para la seguridad alimentaria y la nutrición y ha afectado en gran medida a los medios de vida y las condiciones de trabajo en las cadenas de valor agrícolas. Esta nota de orientación sobre políticas se centra en el papel de la inversión responsable y la conducta empresarial responsable a lo largo de las cadenas de valor agrícolas en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID-19. También presenta recomendaciones de políticas para los gobiernos, los inversores, las empresas y la sociedad civil sobre la forma en que pueden alentar la inversión responsable [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted digital financial inclusion trends across the world in many and complex ways. In developing and emerging contexts, this crisis also holds the potential to propel an unprecedented acceleration in the process of financial digitization and turn out to be a game-changer for digital financial inclusion.The aim of this study is to illustrate the opportunities and risks associated with the surge in uptake and use of digital financial service, providing ideas on how to leverage the paradigm changes affecting the overall approach and perspective towards digital financial services – on the part of various stakeholders – [...]

Agricultural Value Chain Finance Innovations and Lessons: Case Studies in Africa documents key aspects and lessons from selected best practice cases for training and learning. Using site visits to document the information, the 22 practical case studies and examples were developed across Africa to portray a diverse set of experiences that address different aspects of applying agricultural financing using a value chain approach. The cases are of varied length and complexity. Eighteen short case studies for use in time-constrained workshop settings are presented and together with four longer, highlight cases, which deal with more complex arrangements and business models. The [...]

The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities. It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices weighted by the average export shares of each of the groups over 2014-2016. A feature article published in the June 2020 edition of the Food Outlook presents the revision of the base period for the calculation of the FFPI and the expansion of its price coverage, to be introduced from July 2020. A November 2013 article contains technical background on the previous construction of the FFPI.Monthly release [...]

This manual systematically describes basic management techniques needed to ensure best practices in raising crickets for food production. These techniques are based on 20 years of practical experience in cricket farming in Thailand, and previously unpublished data and knowledge collected by the author and support team. Robust research data related to cricket farming is still lacking, but will undoubtedly increase over time. However, in the interim, the growing cricket farming sector can be enhanced through the application of known best practices and related guidance. Also available in Burmese.