Policy brief No. 1. In recent years, food consumers have become in- creasingly aware of and concerned about the sa- fety of food products. As a response, public and private actors have introduced different standards to ensure that food safety reaches the degree de- manded by consumers. Developing countries often lack the institutional capacities and financial and non-financial resources to comply with standards.
El presente documento es elaborado en el marco del diseño de una Agenda de Extensión Rural Latinoamericana que contribuya a un desarrollo inclusivo. En esta etapa la Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe para Servicios de Extensión Rural, constituida en Noviembre del 2010, ha priorizado el trabajo en 4 temas relevantes siendo “La Extensión como parte de un sistema de innovación”, uno de ellos.
El presente trabajo aborda un tema de importancia estratégica para el sector rural como es la agricultura familiar.
Este informe describe los cambios y las dinámicas actuales de los vínculos urbano-rurales enfocandose en el análisis de los circuitos cortos de comercialización (CCC) e iniciativas empresariales exitosas que valorizan los sistemas alimentarios locales
Policy brief No. 3. Adequate nutrition is a crucial welfare dimension. Malnutrition at a young age can have severe con- sequences for a person’s development of human, social, and economic capital. Also in later phases of one’s life, malnutrition can severely affect health and restrict productivity as well as overall quality of life. Efforts to improve nutrition among rural populations, for example through more diversified diets, are therefore key components of many rural development agendas, especially in Africa where undernutrition is still a large public health prob- lem.
The latest turmoil of production and price volatility in the global food sector has put agriculture back to the top of the development agenda. Population growth, changing consumer preferences, bioenergy demand and climate change are some of the huge challenges for agricultural production today and in the future. In the last decades, productivity has been constantly improved through the introduction of improved crop varieties and the greater use of mechanization, irrigation, chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
Enhancing the diversity of agricultural production systems is increasingly recognized as a potential
means to sustainably provide diversified food for rural communities in developing countries, hence
ensuring their nutritional security. However, empirical evidences connecting farm production
diversity and farm-households’ dietary diversity are scarce. Using comprehensive datasets of
market-oriented smallholder farm households from Indonesia and Kenya, and subsistence farmers
Food systems in developing countries are transforming, involving a rapid expansion of supermarkets. This supermarket revolution may affect dietary patterns and nutrition, but empirical evidence is scarce. The few existing studies have analyzed implications for food consumers and producers separately. We discuss a more integrated framework that helps to gain a broader understanding. Reviewing recent evidence from Kenya, we show that buying food in supermarkets instead of traditional outlets contributes to overnutrition among adults, while reducing undernutrition among children.
This white paper has been prepared to support consultations on the content and structure of the FAO National Medium Term Priority Framework for India. It is intended to be an authoritative report on the issues facing food and agriculture in India and on the capacity of FAO to partner with India in addressing priorities identified by India.
This book represents the proceedings of the FAO international technical conference dedicated to Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10) that took place in Guadalajara, Mexico on 1-4 March 2010. A major objective of the conference was to take stock of the application of biotechnologies across the different food and agricultural sectors in developing countries, in order to learn from the past and to identify options for the future to face the challenges of food insecurity, climate change and natural resource degradation.