Small-Scale Fisheries make an important contribution to food security and nutrition, employment and income generation in local and national economies. Despite this importance, the sector is often politically, socially and economically marginalized, impeding full enjoyment of human rights including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, with detriment to sustainable resource utilization and equitable development. 

You are invited to participate in a moderated e-mail conference hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from 10 to 23 October 2016 entitled “Exploring the contribution of small farms to achieving food security and improved nutrition”.

Americans have long been touted as the poster children for obesity. However, new data shows that the isolated communities of the Pacific Islands are home to an unparalleled epidemic of this global problem. The majority of countries with the highest rates of obesity in the world are Pacific island nations. In some areas, obesity has surged to more than 70 percent among adults.

Bolstering the opportunities that allow rural people in developing countries to remain at home is a critical component of any plan to tackle the contemporary migration crisis, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today.

"A necessary first step is to address the factors that lead to distress migration," he said today during the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants."We must create the opportunities for rural people in developing countries to stay in their home."

Costa Rica will organize, with the technical support of the Joint Capacity Building Programme on Farmers’ Rights of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (International Treaty), the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and other organizations, the First National Meeting on Farmers’ Rights to be held on 11 Octo

In July 2016 the Eurasian Soil Partnership of the Eurasian Center for Food Security, together with the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership Secretariat, published a book— a collection of research papers entitled Land Resources and Food Security in Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus. The book was prepared in 2015 under the EASP Implementation Plan of the subregional partnership approved in Izmir, Turkey, which provides for the publication of scientific, research, and working papers that address challenges of sustainable soil management in the region.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a Facilitating Agency of GFAR, has just launched Rural Development Report 2016: Fostering inclusive rural transformation. It is IFAD’s flagship publication bringing together leading thinkers to analyse lessons learnt from experiences across the globe, and to lo

Rural women make up over a quarter of the total world population. In developing countries, rural women represent approximately 43 per cent of the agricultural labor force. Roughly forty percent of the world’s population lives in drylands, making dryland rural women farmers fundamental for the eradication of poverty, food security, and sustainable development. The International Day of Rural women on the 15th of October gives an opportunity to celebrate, support, and empower rural women farmers, including indigenous women.