Millets can grow on arid lands with minimal inputs and are resilient to changes in climate. They are therefore an ideal solution towards self-sufficiency and to reduce reliance on imported cereal grains. The United Nations dedicates 2023 to greater efforts in producing millets given their nutritional properties and resilience in adapting to climate change. The (#IYM2023) will also promote the sustainable production of millets, while highlighting their potential to provide new sustainable market opportunities for producers and consumers.
Agriculture and Food
2022 has been a busy year for . Investing in the world's poorest rural people, the UN agency continues to help them adapt to climate change and deal with global shocks such as the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis. The UN agency looks back on some of the themes that defined a year of dramatic change. Find out more about .
The holidays are a great time to celebrate and appreciate food. Yet, holidays can also bring over-eating and food waste. And food isn鈥檛 the only thing that is wasted when it goes uneaten: the money and labour that go into producing, harvesting, processing, transporting and preparing it are also wasted. Not to mention the pollution and greenhouse gases that are created for nothing. In 2019, estimated that 14 percent of all food produced globally is lost, from post-harvest all the way up to but not including retail. Here are nine tips on how to avoid and reduce holiday food waste.
On top of the challenges that all smallholders face, farmers with disabilities also experience negative attitudes, stigma, discrimination, and a lack of accessibility. Climate change and other external shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, tend to exacerbate these existing inequalities. is supporting farmers with disabilities - like Abu Koroma, Leonard Murani and Mariama Jalloh - to make a living from agriculture and build their resilience. This allows them to feed their families and sell the surplus. Watch the video to find out more.
More than just a textile, cotton is a culture and a way of life for hundreds of millions of households worldwide. Cotton creates jobs and incomes for millions at the heart of the supply chain. 80% of cotton is used in the apparel sector, but all parts of the cotton plant can be used to produce food, feed, and energy. Cotton's diverse uses create high-value opportunities for smallholders, women, and young people - boosting livelihoods and contributing to food security. Watch the video to find out how and its partners help the cotton industry to thrive.
Maher Dallah is originally a woodworker, but he wasn鈥檛 a complete stranger to bees and hives. Before he went into the business, his grandfather taught him how to make traditional beehives from clay. Maher built on his carpentry skills with help from 鈥檚 programme entitled Nabta (the Arabic word for seedling. Through Nabta, FAO supports young people in their entrepreneurial initiatives in agriculture and agriculture-related sectors. Participants get general training on agriculture and business. Investing in youth is vital to ensure the future of Syria鈥檚 agricultural sector.
Soil nutrient loss is among the most critical problems for food security and sustainability all around the globe. If not managed sustainably, fertility is lost, and soils will produce nutrient-deficient plants. Over the last 70 years, nutrients in food have decreased, and 2 billion people worldwide suffer from a lack of micronutrients. World Soil Day 2022 (5 December) and its campaign 鈥溾 seek to emphasize the current challenges in soil that could threaten our ecosystems and human well-being. Get the message across with the many and .
Carp was once the 鈥淜ing of Lake Shkod毛r鈥. Found in abundance in the largest inland body of water in the Balkan Peninsula, carp was a lifeline for fishers and their communities for generations. Lakeshore development, pollution, climate change and overfishing have taken a heavy toll on the lake鈥檚 biodiversity, including carp and other fish stocks, and that鈥檚 affected the lives and livelihoods of those who depend on them. Now around 420 fishers are taking part in an FAO initiative to improve sustainable fishing practices and rebuild breeding stocks by using aquaculture-based practices.
The shows that the price inflation remains high on domestic food around the world. July to October 2022 shows high inflation in almost all low-income and middle-income countries.
In recent decades, the violence has left millions of Colombians internally displaced. A peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in 2016 marked a significant watershed. Yet six years on, displacement has continued, leaving 7.35 million people in the country still in need of food security assistance. But at least for the villagers of Cedro, daily life recently has had a calmer and more normal feel to it. A project by helps provide for the villagers鈥 food and livelihood needs and get them on a path back to normal life.
The food we eat and how we produce it is evolving. explains what our plates might look like in the future and explore how the world鈥檚 small-scale farmers are revolutionizing what we eat.
Indigenous women like this Ecuadoran farmer have precious ancestral knowledge about growing and using traditional foods. They are the backbone of their families and communities 鈥 and make up roughly one-eighth of Latin America鈥檚 rural population. Even more crucially, perhaps, they keep and transmit precious ancestral knowledge on growing and using traditional foods, whose importance is only now being recognized. Yet the vital role the region鈥檚 Indigenous rural women play in their communities and society is very seldom acknowledged, much less celebrated. helps to support Indigenous rural women to overcome historic barriers, fully harness the ancestral wisdom they carry, and contribute on an equal footing to the life of their communities.
Innovative technologies can help us make our agrifood systems become more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable. One such 鈥渘ew kid on the block鈥 is blockchain technology.
Agrifood systems face complex and unprecedented challenges related to climate change, biodiversity loss, migration, conflict, economic instabilities, and COVID-19. The , organized together with the and the from 17 to 21 October 2022, highlight the centrality of science, technology and innovation to catalyze the transformation of our agrifood systems. The events encourage a diversity of perspectives based on science for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all.
Around 80 percent of farmland in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa is managed by smallholder farmers. However, farm families are affected by climate change, lower earnings, higher costs, and delayed access to markets. They also disproportionately feel the burden of commodity price increases and inflation. A -supported project in Myanmar and Cambodia links smallholder farmers with input suppliers or new output markets, thereby increasing farm production, incomes, and farmer resilience. Collective action also allows smallholder farmers to buy and sell larger volumes, and to negotiate for lower input prices and reduced individual transportation costs.