South Asia

This publication by FAO provides good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for fruits and vegetables during on-farm production and post-production processes resulting in safe agricultural products, ensuring a safe food supply. This publication comprises two volumes: Volume 1 documents the entire scheme and Volume 2 covers a training package on this scheme. »

This article, published in the Environmental Research Letters journal, presents a map of mean agricultural area, classified by the amount of land per farming household, at subnational resolutions across three key global regions using a novel integration of household microdata and agricultural landscape data. These data meet a critical need, as improved understanding of the prevalence and distribution of smallholder farming is essential for effective policy development for food security, poverty reduction, and conservation agendas. »

This World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) working paper builds on a series of workshops and eight of the latest climate-smart agriculture case studies from South Asia. It identifies seven key ‘ingredients’ and several pathways for successfully scaling up climate-smart agriculture. The paper aims to help policy makers and rural development practitioners strategically plan scaling up of successful climate-smart agriculture practices. »

This article investigates the link between agriculture and nutrition in South Asia and East Africa and how better enabling environments can be created. South Asia and East Africa have the highest concentration of undernutrition and the majority of the nutritionally vulnerable populations here is dependent upon agriculture as a primary source of livelihood. The agriculture sector and agri-food system are considered to be central to sustained progress in reducing undernutrition. »

In this expert opinion blog, CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff speaks on the topic of ‘Wheat and the role of gender in the developing world’ prior to the 2015 Women in Triticum Awards at the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Workshop in Sydney on 19 September. Kropff highlights “If we are to be truly successful in improving the lives of farmers and consumers in the developing world, we need to base our interventions on the best evidence available. If we act based only on our assumptions, we may not be as effective as we could be or, even worse, actively cause harm.” »