Extension and advisory services (EAS) play a key role in facilitating innovation for sustainable agricultural development. To strengthen this role, appropriate investment and conducive policies are needed in EAS, guided by evidence. It is therefore essential to examine EAS characteristics and performance in the context of modern, pluralistic and increasingly digital EAS systems. In response to this need, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed guidelines and instruments for the systematic assessment of national EAS systems.
Extension and advisory services (EAS) play a key role in facilitating innovation processes, empowering marginalized groups through capacity development, and linking farmers with markets. Advisory services are increasingly provided by a range of actors and funded from diverse sources. With the broadened scope of EAS and the growing complexity of the system, the quantitative performance indicators used in the past (e.g. related to investment, staffing or productivity) are not adequate anymore to understand whether the system is well-functioning.
Local banks, NGOs and public institutions worked closely to ensure that women could access loans, join associations and have their voices be heard in collective decision-making processes. It also allowed these women and their communities to make collective investments that would increase their production, stabilize and diversify their nutrition, and ultimately achieve a better life.
Geographic information system (GIS) data is often used to map socio-economic data with a spatial component. This data, which is obtained from multiple open-source databases, complements official statistics and generates additional spatial inputs to statistical and econometric analyses. IFAD uses impact assessments using data from face-to-face interviews in order to determine the impact of their projects on strategic goal and objectives. However, the COVID-19 pandemic meant these interviews could no longer take place.
China will be confronted with many challenges in the years to come, including achieving carbon neutrality, ensuring environmental sustainability, protecting vulnerable people, and ensuring a smooth transition from smallholder to modern agriculture. This policy note discusses how China could further advance its food and agricultural development model, making it greener, more sustainable, and more inclusive.
The spatial and temporal variability of soil properties (fluid composition, structure, and water content) and hydrogeological properties employed for sustainable precision agriculture can be obtained from geoelectrical resistivity methods. For sustainable precision agricultural practices, site-specific information is paramount, especially during the planting season.
Digitalization and internet use are transforming every aspect of our lives. Digital technologies are profoundly changing how we grow food, pack it, transport it and even shop for food. Digitalization and use of digital data, applications, and platforms are opening new possibilities for developing and restructuring the agrifood system. Digital agriculture is turning to digitalizing agrifood, rural economy, and rural societies. This report introduces the FAO Digital Village Initiative, which aims to facilitate through knowledge and information.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) financed the second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP2), in areas where poverty is most severe among indigenous peoples in the highlands of the Cordillera Region in northern Philippines. The aim is to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of indigenous peoples living in farming communities in the mountainous project area. The indigenous peoples consist of many tribes whose main economic activity is agriculture.
Recent sessions of FAO Governing Bodies have put a strong focus on science, technology and innovation and Members are increasingly requesting FAO’s support to harness science and innovation. The FAO Science and Innovation Strategy (the Strategy) was adopted by the FAO Council at its 170th Session following an inclusive and transparent consultative process, with the participation of all Members through formal sessions of Governing Bodies (including the Regional Conferences in 2022), as well as two informal consultations and informal meetings with Regional Groups.
The co-creation and sharing of knowledge among different types of actors with complementary expertise is known as the Multi-Actor Approach (MAA). This paper presents how Horizon2020 Thematic-Networks (TNs) deal with the MAA and put forward best practices during the different project phases, based on the results of a desktop study, interviews, surveys and expert workshops. The study shows that not all types of actors are equally involved in TN consortia and participatory activities, meaning TNs might be not sufficiently demand-driven and the uptake of the results is not optimal.