The publication looks at innovations happening at all stages of the food value chain: from production to manufacturing and retailing. This also includes the extended value chain, for example input supply, financial services and agribusiness support services. Yields are improving and primary production is becoming more resilient as a result of digital technologies such as precision agriculture, agricultural drones, and digital farming services and marketplaces; and novel business models such as plant factories, crowdsourcing for farmers.
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.
Researchers at the University of Queensland have worked on research projects in the PNG Highlands since 2005. These projects were, and are, applied research to manage soil fertility in sweetpotato-based cropping systems in the Highlands. They were funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. Our key collaborator was PNG’s National Agricultural Research Institute. Although the projects were in the field of Soil Science, specifically soil fertility management, our approach has always been multidisciplinary.
El propósito de esta guía es contribuir al desarrollo de las capacidades funcionales entre individuos y organizaciones que apoyan la innovación en América Latina. En la guía se ha utilizado el marco común para el desarrollo de capacidades promovido por la Plataforma de Agricultura Tropical (TAP, por sus siglas en inglés), con el fin de identificar y reforzar las capacidades funcionales clave en organizaciones e individuos.
The Newsletter of the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) provides regular updates on activities by TAP and its partners, on the projects and on upcoming events. This issue specifically refers to the period from May 2022 to July 2022.
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.
Policy briefs are an effective tool to communicate policy messages using evidence. Thus, the Department of Agriculture Extension and Cooperatives (DAEC) and the Department of Planning and Cooperation (DOPC) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) in Lao PDR organized a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue process with support from FAO’s TAP-AIS project to spur discussion and gather evidence for this policy brief. Stakeholders involved in the policy dialogue process included representatives from the private sector, farmers organizations, academia, NGOs and the government.
This training manual, which is based on a methodology developed by FAO’s Research and Extension Unit (OINR), presents a training course on assessing AIS consisting of eight modules.
Agrifood system transformation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals requires increased attention to developing, adapting and diffusing impactful science, technology and innovation (STI). Current levels and patterns of STI uptake are inadequate to facilitate needed agrifood system transformations, especially in today's low- and middle-income countries.
If the world is to transition towards agrifood systems that are more sustainable and equitable, small-scale production systems will be key to progress. Large parts of the world depend on small-scale systems for maintaining food security and nutrition (Lowder, Sánchez and Bertini, 2021; Herrero et al., 2017). Despite this centrality, neither small-scale production systems nor small-scale producers have received due recognition under predominant agrifood systems paradigms.