FAO Publications

A data portrait of smallholder farmers

The FAO Smallholder Farmers’ Dataportrait is a comprehensive, systematic and standardized data set on the profile of smallholder farmers across the world. It can generate an image on how small family farmers in both emerging and developing countries live their lives. It is about putting in numbers, the constraints they face, and the choices they make so that policies can be informed by evidence to meet the challenge of agricultural development.

Also - Smallholders Data-portrait

Adopted International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (Last updated 2023-07)

Parent page

Adopted Standards (ISPMs)

Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) User guide - 20-01-2022

FAO. 2022. Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) User guide. Rome. https://doi. org/10.4060/cb8611en

AGORA is a programme of Research4Life – a public-private partnership between Cornell and Yale Universities, FAO, the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Research4Life is the collective name for five programmes that provide developing countries with free or lowcost access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content online. The five programmes are Research in Health (Hinari), Research in Agriculture (AGORA), Research in the Environment (OARE) and Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI), and Global Online Access to Legal Information (GOALI).

Urban and peri-urban agriculture sourcebook - 20-01-2022

FAO, Rikolto and RUAF. 2022. Urban and peri-urban agriculture sourcebook – From production to food systems. Rome, FAO and Rikolto.

https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9722en

The purpose of this book is to set out the key lessons learned and to provide recommendations and guidance based on existing cases and examples for a wide range of actors involved in urban food systems. In particular, the aim is for this publication to serve as a sourcebook for local decision-makers, policy advisors, urban planners, specialists, practitioners and others involved in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). The sourcebook is also for those involved in the design and implementation of production schemes, planning of urban food strategies, and policies concerning agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas.

Top 10 Benefits of Pastoralism - 01-01-2021

This publication provides information on the top 10 benefits Pastoralism on a community and the environment. Pastoral activities span more than 100 countries, and contribute to global development and food security. This presents opportunities for securing widespread benefits of pastoralism and its tradition of innovation, including:

Weather and Desert Locusts - 20-01-2016

Desert Locust plagues can be an important contributing factor to famines and a threat to food security in many regions of the world. The Desert Locust plague of 1986–1989 and subsequent upsurges during the past two decades demonstrate the continuing capacity of this historic pest to threaten agriculture and livelihoods over large parts of Africa, the Near East and SouthWest Asia. In 2004–2005, a major upsurge caused significant crop losses in West Africa, with a negative impact on food security in the region. These events emphasize the need to strengthen and maintain a permanent system of well-organized surveys in areas that have recently received rains or been flooded, supported by a control capability to treat Desert Locust hopper bands and adult swarms efficiently in an environmentally safe and cost-effective manner.

FAO : Pulses - Nutritious seeds for a sustainable future - 20-01-2016

Pulses have been an essential part of the human diet for centuries. Yet their nutritional value is not generally recognized and their consumption is frequently under-appreciated. Undeservedly so, as pulses play a crucial role in healthy diets, sustainable food production and, above all, in food security. This book, Pulses. Nutritious seeds for a Sustainable Future, highlights the benefits of these relatively unknown seeds. Given that pulses come in thousands of varieties, it would be impossible to list them all. Thus, the book focuses on the main families of pulses to whet your appetite. This book illustrates the five main ways in which pulses contribute to food security, nutrition, health, climate change and biodiversity along with an overview of the production and trade in pulses worldwide.

It also takes you on a voyage around the world to demonstrate how pulses are important historically and culturally, as reflected in today's cooking. We are honoured to present ten world-class chefs sharing their secrets of both traditional and tasty pulse dishes. We hope these recipes will entice you to try some or all of them and encourage you to include more pulses in your weekly diet.

FAO Training Manual for Organic Agriculture - 20-01-2015

Edited by Nadia SCIALABBA Climate, Energy and Tenure Division (NRC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO)

The goal of organic agriculture is to contribute to the enhancement of sustainability. But what does sustainability mean? In the context of agriculture, sustainability refers to the successful management of agricultural resources to satisfy human needs while at the same time maintaining or enhancing the quality of the environment and conserving natural resources for future generations. Sustainability in organic farming must therefore be seen in a holistic sense, which includes ecological, economic and social aspects.

The economic lives of smallholder farmers - 20-01-2015

About two-thirds of the developing world’s 3 billion rural people live in about 475 million small farm households, working on land plots smaller than 2 hectares. Many are poor and food insecure and have limited access to markets and services. Their choices are constrained, but they farm their land and produce food for a substantial proportion of the world’s population. Besides farming they have multiple economic activities, often in the informal economy, to contribute towards their small incomes.

These small farms depend predominantly on family labour. In China, nearly 98 percent of farmers cultivate farms smaller than 2 hectares – the country alone accounts for almost half the world’s small farms. In India about 80 percent of farmers are small. In Ethiopia and Egypt, farms smaller than 2 hectares constitute nearly 90 percent of the total number of farms. In Mexico, 50 percent of the farmers are small; in Brazil smallholders make up for 20 percent of the total number of farmers.

The differences in smallholder farms between countries can be significant, and often reflect differences in the stages of development across countries. This is because the evolution of the small farm is intrinsically related to the process of economic development.

Cassava - A Guide to Sustainable Production Intensification - 20-01-2013

Cassava is a tropical root crop, originally from Amazonia, that provides the staple food of an estimated 800 million people worldwide. Grown almost exclusively by low-income, smallholder farmers, it is one of the few staple crops that can be produced efficiently on a small scale, without the need for mechanization or purchased inputs, and in marginal areas with poor soils and unpredictable rainfall.

Since 2000, the world’s annual cassava production has increased by an estimated 100 million tonnes, driven in Asia by demand for dried cassava and starch for use in livestock feed and industrial applications, and in Africa by expanding urban markets for cassava food products. There is great potential for further production increases – under optimal conditions, cassava yields can reach 80 tonnes per hectare, compared to the current world average yield of just 12.8 tonnes.

Booming demand offers millions of cassava growers in tropical countries the opportunity to intensify production, earn higher incomes and boost the food supply where it is most needed. But how smallholder cassava growers choose to improve productivity should be of major concern to policymakers. The Green Revolution in cereal production, based on genetically uniform varieties and intensive use of irrigation and agrochemicals, has taken a heavy toll on agriculture’s natural resource base, jeopardizing future productivity. In moving from traditional, low-input to more intensive cultivation, small-scale cassava growers should not make the same mistakes.