FAO is analysing and providing updates on the emerging COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on agricultural markets—effects that are still largely unknown. Most current assessments generally foresee a contraction in both supply of and demand for agricultural products, and point to possible disruptions in trade and logistics. On the supply side, widely different views remain on the duration of the shocks, the price dynamics, differential impacts between domestic and international markets, differences across countries and commodities, the likely paths of recovery, and the policy actions to remedy the various shock waves. On the demand side, there is near ubiquitous agreement that agricultural demand and trade would slow-down, with contractions stemming from a deceleration in overall economic activity (GDP growth) and rising rates of unemployment. While food and agricultural systems are exposed to both demand and supply side shocks (symmetric), these shocks are not expected to take place in parallel (asynchronous) since, inter alia, consumers can draw on savings, food stocks and safety nets.
At its 26th Session in October 2018, the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) requested FAO to take the lead to develop voluntary codes of conduct for the reduction of food loss and food waste. In response to the COAG request, FAO developed the Voluntary Code of Conduct for Food Loss and Waste Reduction, which was endorsed by the 42nd Session of the FAO Conference in June 2021. The Voluntary Code of Conduct for Food Loss and Waste Reduction sets out a generic framework of actions and guiding principles that should be followed to reduce food loss and waste (FLW) and support the transformation of agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable. Governments can use the framework as a basis for the development of strategies, policies and legislations, which are critical elements of intervention packages aimed at effectively and sustainably reducing FLW. The framework can also serve for the formulation of programmes on FLW reduction and for the preparation of technical guidelines for use by practitioners.
This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives and contaminants and to prepare specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a brief description of general considerations addressed at the meeting including updates on matters of interest to the work of the Committee. A summary follows of the Committee’s evaluations of technical toxicological and/or dietary exposure data for seven food additives (benzoates; lipase from Fusarium heterosporum expressed in Ogataea polymorpha; magnesium stearate; maltotetraohydrolase from Pseudomonas stutzeri expressed in Bacillus licheniformis; mixed B-glucanase cellulase and xylanase from Rasamsonia emersonii; mixed B-glucanase and xylanase from Disporotrichum dimorphosporum; polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) – polyethylene glycol (PEG) graft copolymer) and two groups of contaminants (non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls and pyrrolizidine alkaloids). Specifications for the following food additives were revised or withdrawn: advantame; annatto extracts (solvent-extracted bixin and solvent-extracted norbixin); food additives containing aluminium and/or silicon (aluminium silicate; calcium aluminium silicate; calcium silicate; silicon dioxide amorphous; sodium aluminium silicate); and glycerol ester of gum rosin. Annexed to the report are tables or text summarizing the toxicological and dietary exposure information and information on specifications as well as the Committee’s recommendations on the food additives and contaminants considered at this meeting.
Healthy diets promote health, growth and development, support active lifestyles, prevent nutrient deficiencies and excesses, communicable and noncommunicable diseases, foodborne diseases and promote wellbeing. The exact make-up of a diet will vary depending on individual characteristics, preferences and beliefs, cultural context, locally available foods and dietary customs. However, the basic principles of what constitutes healthy diets remain the same. In this document the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have formulated principles of what constitute healthy diets, underpinned by guidelines and other normative elements developed by the two Organizations. The principles provide the basis for the design of policies aimed at improving diet and for the assessment of the healthiness of diets.
The past few decades have seen dramatic improvements in the region in access to food, reduction in stunting rates, in premature death and disability caused by communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases. However, the gains in the fight against hunger and malnutrition have reversed in the wake of conflicts and violence that have spread in many parts of the region in the last decade. Today, nearly 55 million people in the Arab States, 13.2 percent of the population, are hungry and the situation is particularly worrying in countries affected by conflicts and violence: Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. Displacements and forced migration are widespread in the region, especially among the growing youth population segment. Many countries carry a double burden of malnutrition, including overweight and obesity and undernutrition. A high or very high prevalence of stunting in children under the age of five persists in nearly half of the Arab States, while anaemia is a severe public health issue in certain countries. The trends of overweight and obesity continue to worsen for children and adults. Beyond these numbers, the report explores food systems in the Arab States and the policies that support them. It also explores how the latter have contributed to poor nutritional outcomes by failing to make safe and diversified healthy diets available to all. While there has been significant progress in policies designed to reduce caloric deficiencies in the population, the policy reaction to address existing malnutrition problems, particularly in relation to overweight and obesity,
The Arab region needs a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water. Agricultural water management has always posed challenges and opportunities in the Arab world. However, unprecedented and accelerating drivers such as climate change, population growth, and land degradation make agricultural water management a more urgent priority than ever before. In addition, as part of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, Arab countries have committed to work towards an ambitious set of development targets, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unless the right policies and investments are put in place, it will be difficult to achieve the SDGs, including ending hunger and providing clean water and sanitation for all. This paper is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute to foster dialogue on agricultural water policies and investments in the context of the FAO led Regional Water Scarcity initiative. The purpose of the paper is to frame the key challenges and opportunities in the sector – including emerging innovations in digital agriculture, water accounting, water supply and wastewater reuse – and to lay out broad strategic directions for action.
Complete absence or existence of limited quantified recipes has negatively impacted on optimal gains from dietary activities being promoted by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MoALF) towards alleviating food and nutrition insecurity, and ultimately malnutrition. The lack of reliable quantified recipes in the country may have therefore led to incorrect nutrient intake estimations resulting in erroneous nutrient adequacy estimations in populations and eventually, inaccurate programming decisions. It is on this premise that Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supported the government in documenting commonly consumed recipes, which were quantified with ingredients, preparation methods and yield factors. This book is a detailed account of commonly consumed dishes featuring a diversity of mixed ingredient recipes from across Kenyan communities. These recipes were selected based on frequency of use and so the most commonly used recipes are featured. The book was developed side by side with the revised Kenya Food Composition Tables (KFCT) and so nutrient calculations for mixed recipes featured were drawn from the revised Kenya Food Composition Tables (KFCT), 2018. This first version of recipes book covers a total of 142 mixed recipes. The main components of the book include for each recipe a list of ingredients with household measures, the preparation and cooking method, cooking time, nutrient profile per 100g of recipe, servings and a photograph of the final dish. In addition, individual recipes have been grouped into broader categories for ease of reference. Recipes that are common among urban dwellers have also been captured. Recipes that apply to infants particularly have been indicated in the recipe introductions. Of note about infant recipes is that the information received during focus group discussions revealed that most of the recipes consumed by the entire family are also eaten by infants above 6 months and children. A full nutrient profile, nutrient calculations, yield factors and retention values are provided per recipe. Of note, the recipes in this book were developed to serve a minimum of four people. There is still room for continued review and inclusion of more recipes that will provide a wide representation of the Kenyan Cuisine, give correct information on the population diet, holistically tackle malnutrition, inform current programming and influence policies, and consequently address chronic and acute malnutrition in the country in a more sustainable way.
The publication was launched at the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon (GSOC) held at FAO headquarters (Rome, 21-23 March 2017). It provides an overview to decision-makers and practitioners of the main scientific facts and information regarding the current knowledge and knowledge gaps on Soil Organic Carbon. It highlights how better information and good practices may be implemented to support ending hunger, adapting to and mitigating climate change and achieving overall sustainable development.
The main objective of this report is to provide a synthesis of the climate change mitigation and adaptation priorities in the agriculture and land use sectors set forth in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of countries in the Pacific and to identify opportunities for governments to strengthen their sectoral mitigation and adaptation ambitions, capture synergies and accelerate progress on the sustainable development agenda.
Through an array of project outcomes in different countries, this paper demonstrates that contract farming is a “win–win” solution because young workers gain access to markets, while private companies have access to produce without acquiring land or supervising labour.
In order for Codex Alimentarius Members to share information on the results of Genetically Modified (GM) food safety assessments, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) maintains an online database entitled “FAO GM Foods Platform”. Upon requests from several Members, a global community meeting of the FAO GM Foods Platform was organized from 10 to 13 September 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. Ninety-nine people from 73 different Platform community members participated in the meeting. This report describes the key points of discussions that took place during the three and a half days of the meeting; these include, but are not limited to, clear benefits of data sharing, and good practices in the process of sharing and utilizing the shared data. While the main purpose of the Platform is to simply share the relevant official data globally, the community of the Platform was recognized as a great value, providing an opportunity for all focal points of the Platform to be able to directly communicate and learn from each other on technical issues around GM food safety assessments, and more importantly, to develop mutual trust among the community members from different countries. The Platform itself has become a model for an effective community of practice, resulting in many collaborative and successful joint activities, including bilateral and multilateral capacity development actions. At the end of the meeting, participants had the opportunity to network through the World Café to identify concrete steps for follow-up actions at the national and regional level.
The 2018 FAO-OIE-WHO (Tripartite) zoonoses guide, “Taking A Multisectoral, One Health Approach: A Tripartite Guide to Addressing Zoonotic Diseases in Countries” (2018 TZG) is being jointly developed to provide member countries with practical guidance on OH approaches to build national mechanisms for multisectoral coordination, communication, and collaboration to address zoonotic disease threats at the animal-human-environment interface. The 2018 TZG updates and expands on the guidance in the one previous jointly-developed, zoonoses-specific guidance document: the 2008 Tripartite “Zoonotic Diseases: A Guide to Establishing Collaboration between Animal and Human Health Sectors at the Country Level”, developed in WHO South-East Asia Region and Western Pacific Region. The 2018 TZG supports building by countries of the resilience and capacity to address emerging and endemic zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, rabies, Ebola, and Rift Valley fever, as well as food-borne diseases and antimicrobial resistance, and to minimize their impacts on health, livelihoods, and economies. It additionally supports country efforts to implement WHO International Health Regulations (2005) and OIE international standards, to address gaps identified through external and internal health system evaluations, and to achieve targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2018 TZG provides relevant country ministries and agencies with lessons learned and good practices identified from country-level experiences in taking OH approaches for preparedness, prevention, detection and response to zoonotic disease threats, and provides guidance on multisectoral communication, coordination, and collaboration. It informs on regional and country-level OH activities and relevant unisectoral and multisectoral tools available for countries to use.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration is an important process that can serve as a tool and strategy to solve complex issues and problems such as transforming national food systems towards more sustainable outcomes. This guide aims to support stakeholders working at all levels of the food system in the implementation of actions to transform their food systems. Centered on 5 building blocks underpinning successful multi-stakeholder collaboration for food systems transformation, the guide uses these constructions to illustrate ingredients of the process and show the interconnectedness of the steps needed to be successful. The guide also contains two annexes with a list of tools, and assessment questions. Annex 1 highlights a range of tools to support facilitators and participants with deeper guidance on a specific topic. Annex 2 contains a checklist of questions, customized to the content provided under each Building Block, and serves as an ongoing monitoring tool that can be used alongside the recommendations provided.
On 1 May 1 2004, after a 14-year transitional period from central planning to market economics, eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) became members of the European Union (EU). Bulgaria and Romania are preparing for accession and are expected to join in 2007. Croatia submitted its application for membership in 2002 and Macedonia in 2004. Part One of this paper presents an overall analysis of the situation and development of producer groups and farmer cooperatives across the CEE countries, including the new EU members, the applicant countries and Balkan states alike. Part Two provides a case study of FAO's experiences and lessons learned with technical assistance programmes and projects in the subregion. The example presents a number of practical suggestions as to how development organisations, governments, donors and advisers might be best able to facilitate the formulation and implementation of policies and strategies that promote the further development of more autonomous and financially sustainable producers' organisations and cooperatives in CEE countries.
This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of residues of certain veterinary drugs in food and to recommend maximum levels for such residues in food. The first part of the report considers general principles regarding the evaluation of veterinary drugs within the terms of reference of JECFA, including compounds without an ADI or MRL; recommendations on principles and methods in derivation of MRLs, including a new procedure for estimating chronic dietary intakes; the use of a spreadsheet-based procedure for the statistical evaluati.
This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives including flavouring agents and to prepare specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives including flavouring agents. A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of technical toxicological and dietary exposure data for eight food additives (Benzoe tonkinensis; carrageenan; citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol; gardenia yellow; lutein esters from Tagetes erecta; octenyl succinic acid-modified gum arabic; octenyl succinic acid-modified starch; paprika extract; and pectin) and eight groups of flavouring agents (aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbons; aliphatic and aromatic ethers; ionones and structurally related substances; miscellaneous nitrogen-containing substances; monocyclic and bicyclic secondary alcohols ketones and related esters; phenol and phenol derivatives; phenyl-substituted aliphatic alcohols and related aldehydes and esters; and sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: citric acid; gellan gum; polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monostearate; potassium aluminium silicate; and Quillaia extract (Type 2). Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for dietary exposures to and toxicological evaluations of all of the food additives and flavouring agents considered at this meeting.
This report examines data available prior to the Covid-19 pandemic that affected the region and the world in 2020. By 2019, the Arab Region was already off track to achieve hunger and nutrition-related SDG targets by 2030. In fact, after good progress during past decades, since 2015-17 the number of undernourished people in the region has been increasing steadily. In 2019, the number of hungry people stood at 51.4 million, or 12.2 percent of the region’s population. If such trends continue, even ignoring the potential impact of Covid-19, the number of undernourished in the region will exceed 75 million people by 2030.
The 'Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook' provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs. It is serves as a tool for: guidance; showcasing key principles in integrating gender into projects; stimulating the imagination of practitioners to apply lessons learned, experiences, and innovations to the design of future support and investment in the agriculture sector. The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other donor agencies, governments, institutions, and groups active in agricultural development. The Sourcebook looks at: access to and control of assets; access to markets, information and organization; and capacity to manage risk and vulnerability through a gender lens. There are 16 modules covering themes of cross-cutting importance for agriculture with strong gender dimensions (Policy, Public Administration and Governance; Agricultural Innovation and Education; Food Security; Markets; Rural Finance; Rural Infrastructure; Water; Land; Labor; Natural Resource Management; and Disaster and Post-Conflict Management) and specific subsectors in agriculture (Crops, Livestock, Forestry, and Fisheries). A separate module on Monitoring and Evaluation is included, responding to the need to track implementation and development impact. Each module contains three different sub-units: (1) A Module Overview gives a broad introduction to the topic and provides a summary of major development issues in the sector and rationale of looking at gender dimension; (2) Thematic Notes provide a brief and technically sound guide in gender integration in selected themes with lessons learned, guidelines, checklists, organizing principles, key questions, and key performance indicators; and (3) Innovative Activity Profiles describe the design and innovative features of recent and exciting projects and activities that have been implemented or are ongoing.
The purpose of the training module is to provide learners with a better understanding of what the gender roles in CSA are and their critical impact on project outcomes and sustainability. The training will teach them about different methods and tools to identify, formulate, implement, monitor and evaluate gender-responsive actions and practices in CSA development projects. Through the training, learners will become familiar with the main concepts of gender, climate change and climate-smart agr iculture. They will also understand the relevance of gender dimensions in climate change adaptation and mitigation and in developing gender-responsive CSA interventions. Furthermore, they will learn the steps to take and tools and approaches available for conducting gender analysis and promoting gender mainstreaming in CSA project design, implementation and monitoring. The manual also presents available gender, climate change and CSA guidelines and other relevant materials to support learners in their work in implementing gender-responsive interventions. This training module provides basic information for organizing a short training workshop to develop gender mainstreaming capacities in CSA-related projects, throughout the whole project cycle. The module mainly focuses on activities in the field. It is important to recognize, however, that gender-responsive CSA development also requires actions at the institutional and policy level as well as changes in the existing social and cultura l norms. The module also provides some recommendations for better integration of gender issues in governments’ CSA policies and strategies.
The Agricultural Outlook 2019-2028 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations as well as input from collaborating member countries to provide an annual assessment of the prospects for the coming decade of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets.This year's Special Feature will focus on agricultural development in Latin America.
Undernourishment in Latin America and the Caribbean increased in the last measurement period. After a plateau of several years, in 2016 approximately 42.5 million people do not have enough food to meet their required daily calorie intake, accounting for an increase of 2.4 million people versus the previous year. If necessary actions are not taken to overcome both hunger and malnutrition, Latin America and the Caribbean will not attain the goal of ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030, set in the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the decline in child undernutrition, overweight and obesity continue posing important health issues for Latin America and the Caribbean. The prevalence of obesity in adults is on the rise and overweight in children under 5 years of age affects 7% the population, ranking above the 6% of overweight children registered worldwide. Although Latin America and the Caribbean produce enough food to meet the needs of their population, this does not ensure healthy and nutritious diets. There is a need for creating sustainable and nutrition-sensitive food systems to provide varied and safe foods, with good nutritional quality that help put an end to hunger and all forms of malnutrition. Both the economic slowdown in Latin America and the Caribbean and the slower pace of poverty and extreme poverty reduction dynamics over the last few years have hindered the eradication of hunger and malnutrition. Furthermore, persisting income inequality puts pressure on access to food, with the ensuing impact on food and nutrition security. Marked differences in access to basic services are observed in Latin America and the Caribbean, both among and within countries. Rural areas and low-income population groups have far less access to drinking water and sanitation in the region. Weather-related disasters have caused considerable economic damages and severe consequences for food and nutrition security. This scenario has imposed a sense of urgency on the actions required for the mitigation and adaptation actions required.
This guide provides a methodology for the review of national legal and institutional frameworks related to responsible investments in agriculture and food systems. It also identifies key areas of regulation within a thematic context, with a focus on larger scale private agricultural investments in primary agriculture.
Livestock is crucial to Kenya's economy and socio-cultural practices, but it also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. Climate-smart agriculture and sustainable livestock management practices can help Kenya achieve its climate change targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while ensuring food and nutrition security. This report presents the key outcomes and recommendations of a national stakeholder workshop FAO organized in December 2022 to address climate change in Kenya's livestock sector.
Global fruit and vegetable (F&V) production and consumption are significantly below the threshold needed to meet the FAO and World Health Organization (WHO) recommended F&V intake. In 2017, approximately 4 million premature deaths globally were attributable to insufficient F&V consumption. Globally, very few policy actions specifically promote F&V consumption beyond school-based interventions. Communication and behavior change interventions are insufficient on their own. International evidence suggests that fiscal policies, and policies and programmes that increase access to fresh F&Vs through mobile produce markets can be effective in increasing F&V consumption.
During the last three years, progress at reducing undernourishment has slowed tremendously in Asia and the Pacific. After years of gains in combatting hunger, progress has stagnated in all parts of this vast region. Despite decades of economic growth, nearly half a billion people remain undernourished. Children, in particular, continue to face the burden of malnutrition – this region is home to more than half of the world’s malnourished children – with one child in every four below the age of five suffering from stunting. This is a colossal human loss, given the association between undernutrition and poor cognitive development, with severe lifelong consequences for these children. At the same time, and almost paradoxically, Asia and the Pacific has witnessed rapid growth in the number of overweight children and the serious consequences that entails for their future health and well-being. This double burden of malnutrition sees undernourished and overweight children living in the same communities and households and it can even occur within the same child. Efforts to fight hunger and malnutrition must go hand in hand with those to build and sustain peace and there is an urgent need to accelerate and scale up actions that strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity of people and their livelihoods to climate variability and extremes. As migration from rural to urban areas continues apace, particularly involving poorer families, urban malnutrition is another challenge facing many countries. In summary, what is becoming increasingly clear is that the world cannot meet the 2030 target of zero hunger if Asia and the Pacific – the world’s most populous region – is not leading the way. It is a hard reality but one that must be faced with a united determination to turn things around. For the first time, four UN agencies have come together to jointly assess the state of food security and nutrition in Asia and the Pacific. Together, we hope that the findings of this report will contribute to a more informed dialogue. Without doubt, all stakeholders must make much greater efforts to accelerate progress toward the goals of a healthy and hunger-free Asia and the Pacific. Action is needed now. The sense of urgency cannot be overstated.
This publication offers a synthesis of the major factors at play in the global food and agricultural landscape. Statistics are presented in four thematic chapters, covering the economic importance of agricultural activities, inputs, outputs and factors of production, their implications for food security and nutrition and their impacts on the environment. The Yearbook is meant to constitute a primary tool for policymakers, researchers and analysts, as well as the general public interested in the past, present and future path of food and agriculture.
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