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The countries of West Asia and North Africa (WANA) have long had the challenge of providing sustainable livelihoods for their populations in the fragile ecosystems of semi-arid and arid areas. Climate change is already a reality in WANA and it places additional constraints on the already fragile ecosystems of dry areas and limited natural resources in WANA. A comprehensive and integrated approach to planning and implementing the climate change adaptation strategies across the wide range of agro-ecosystems in different countries in WANA could help both the planners and the local communities to deal effectively with the projected impacts and also contribute to overall sustainability of agricultural production systems. This book addresses the important issue of climate change and food security in West Asia and North Africa and presents the appropriate strategies which could help in the development of new policies to better adapt agriculture production systems and enhance food security in WANA.
Well-funded agricultural research and development (R&D) systems play an important role in transforming agrifood systems and helping countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The advantages of investing in agricultural R&D are also clear from looking at the past, where a wide range of studies have clearly demonstrated the substantial benefits that resulted from investments in agricultural R&D. The importance of investing in R&D has also been highlighted by governments on numerous occasions in intergovernmental settings. Gathering, compiling and analysing multi-year, multi-country datasets on investments in agricultural R&D are complicated tasks that require a lot of meticulous work and dedication. Only a small number of groups have worked actively in this specialized area. In some cases, they have used different procedures for gathering data on public and private sector investments in agricultural research. This report reviews the current situation and trends regarding investments in agricultural R&D in the world and presents some clear results that emerge from recent studies.
Food production worldwide is primarily carried out by smallholder farmers. Closing the gap between actual smallholder yield and those achievable through scientific research is vital to increasing the food availability and efficient use of inputs and natural resources. Multiple factors and constraints contribute to these production gaps, including uncoordinated linkages between education, research and extension. These linkages are often supply-driven and top-down, and unable to respond to the diversity of location-specific, locally-adaptive and multiple knowledge demands – as smallholders are a diverse group in terms of incomes, knowledge, perceptions and farming practices. In 2005, China A...
This book addresses an important topic of food security in South Asia with specific reference to climate change. Of the 1 billion food insecure people in the world, more than 30% are in South Asia. The problem of food insecurity may be exacerbated by the projected climate change especially because of the water scarcity caused by rapid melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and increase in variability in monsoonal rains and frequency of extreme events. Furthermore, large populations of Bangladesh and other coastal regions may be displaced by sea level rise. Thus, this volume addresses recommended land use and soil/water/crop/vegetation management practices which would enable land managers to adapt to climate disruption by enhancing soil/ecosystem/social resilience. In addition to biophysical factors, this book also addresses the issues related to human dimensions including social, ethnical and political considerations.
Several plant bioactives or plant-derived therapeutic molecules have been used against life-threatening diseases and their nanoparticle-mediated delivery greatly improves therapeutic efficacy. Advances in Phytonanotechnology for Treatment of Various Diseases aims to describe past and recent advances achieved in the field of phytonanotechnology. The chapters of this book provide thorough knowledge of medicinal plants, plant bioactives, plant extract-based nanoparticle synthesis, delivery of plant bioactives through nanoparticles, and their therapeutic activity against life-threatening diseases. This book focuses on the therapeutic activity of phytocomponents present in plants from diverse fam...
This publication, produced by FAO and Zhejiang University, examines how rural e-commerce could advance the digital transformation of agri-food systems, including increasing production efficiency, expanding farmers’ market access, improving poverty alleviation, fostering agricultural entrepreneurship, and attracting young generations back to their villages for economic revival and rural revitalization. It is highlighted that an enabling ecosystem with favourable government policies and strategies, public-private partnerships and innovative business models is of great importance to accelerate the development of rural areas in China, and generate larger economic, social and environmental impacts. As the largest developing country in the world, the experience of digital agriculture transformation in China could be shared with other developing countries. The report also discusses some of the challenges encountered and lessons learned during the development of rural e-commerce, as well as the proposals for the way forward.
Assessing or understanding the agriculture innovation system (AIS) is an essential step to better understand the needs, new skills and functions needed by the actors and the system. To accelerate the uptake of innovation and progress towards eradicating poverty, there is an urgent need for well-coordinated, demand-driven, and market-oriented information, knowledge, technologies and services. This document includes a set of information, templates and resources that aim to assist agricultural Innovation systems actors, stakeholders, producers, farmers to develop and share impactful stories. It guides actors and organizations across all sectors in the innovation system to collect and document case studies, success stories, good practices and lessons learned from the project initiatives, trainings and others actions. It highlights scaling-up elements so that other actors can replicate these innovations with a view to scale-up, particularly the stakeholders and actors involved in the DeSira project, through knowledge exchange and sharing.
Bees provide a critical link in the maintenance of ecosystems, pollination. They play a major role in maintaining biodiversity, ensuring the survival of many plants, enhancing forest regeneration, providing sustainability and adaptation to climate change and improving the quality and quantity of agricultural production systems. In fact, close to 75 percent of the world’s crops that produce fruits and seeds for human consumption depend, at least in part, on pollinators for sustained production, yield and quality. Beekeeping, also called apiculture, refers to all activities concerned with the practical management of social bee species. These guidelines aim to provide useful information and suggestions for a sustainable management of bees around the world, which can then be applied to project development and implementation.
Digital agricultural extension and advisory services (AEAS) have a great potential to enhance accessibility, delivery, transparency, scope and impacts of information and services for smallholder farmers. However, this potential is often unfully harnessed and the benefits of digital AEAS unequally distributed due to an evident, widening digital divide between rural and urban areas, gender, and different social groups both within and among regions. Due to low-level e-literacy and digital skills, particularly smallholder farmers in rural areas in developing countries have limited access to and utilization of digital AEAS. Considering the above-mentioned benefits of digital AEAS, their poor uptake by smallholder farmers, and the importance of digital empowerment of smallholder farmers in particular, this guide, targeting smallholder farmers in need of digital AEAS as its principal users, provides a set of tools to enhance their digital skills in terms of basic knowledge and skills on using digital tools, methods of access to digital AEAS, methods of access to e-commerce, and capacity building.
This comprehensive report provides an overview of the objectives, speakers, and outcomes of each session of the second edition of the FAO Science and Innovation Forum (SIF) 2023. The SIF, a pivotal component of the annual flagship World Food Forum, unfolded from 18 to 20 October 2023 at FAO headquarters. Centered around the theme of leveraging science and innovation for the transformative enhancement of agrifood systems in the context of climate action, the Forum fostered discussions aimed at identifying concrete actions. It served as a platform for strategic deliberations on the nuanced ways in which science, technology, and innovation contribute to vulnerability, impact, and capacities, cr...