In the rapidly changing context of agri-food systems, extension and advisory services (EAS) are expected to provide new roles and services that go well beyond the traditional production-related technology transfer. Consequently, pluralistic EAS systems with diverse actors have emerged with diverse actors, including private and civil society organisations. These multiple EAS actors must adopt innovative entrepreneurship models if they are to act proactively and respond to the increasing diversity of farmers’ demands while staying independent and sustainable.
TECA is an FAO online platform for the exchange and sharing of agricultural technologies and practices for smallholder farmers and producers. The platform facilitates the transformation process in rural areas by making relevant and innovative technologies available to farmers in the field. In doing so, TECA further enhances the access to knowledge of smallholder producers in rural areas increasing their capacity to innovate and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Water is scarce and pivotal for the Sahel, not only for increasing the productivity for millions of small-scale farmers but also for countering loss of arable land resulting from erosion and warming temperatures. A major barrier to the use of water in the Sahel is the lack of infrastructure and technologies – 45 percent of the population do not have access to water, and only 2 percent of arable land is irrigated (OECD, 2022).
This document collects a series of fact sheets realized under the EU-funded SALSA project, which is aimed to understand how small farms and food businesses contribute to sustainable food and nutrition security (FNS).
The research findings in the fact sheets concern 30 reference regions from countries in Europe and Africa. For each region, we present:
● The regional indicators on the concentration and spatial distribution of small farms (SF), obtained also with support of the Sentinel-2 satellite data
Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) and short organic supply chains have emerged as promising solutions for smallholder farmers to provide organic produce to nearby consumers. PGS is an institutional innovation that builds trust among producers, traders and consumers through a low-cost transparent and participatory certification mechanism. They have particularly gained a foothold among smallholder farmers in middle- income countries, where third-party certification costs are often unaffordable.
En la actualidad, las tecnologías digitales forman parte de nuestra vida cotidiana, y la constante búsqueda de factores innovadores se ha vuelto indispensable para adaptarse al futuro. La innovación involucra la creación de algo nuevo y diferente, ya sea resolver un problema preexistente de una manera original, enfrentar un desafío inexplorado utilizando una solución comprobada, o bien, aportar a una problemática completamente nueva con una respuesta novedosa (FAO, 2023a).