Knowledge Portal

This article investigates which drivers influence farmer’s decision-making on adopting organic or conventional coffee management practices. The authors use the case of Santader, Colombia, one of the world’s most important producers of Arabica coffee, where both conventional and organic schemes of management are used. The results suggests that social identity of coffee growers, the influence of coffee institutions, attitudes about management practices, and social relations of production, all play an important role in the process of decision making. »

This webinar by the Impact Insurance Facility looked at how governments can catalyse the development of agriculture insurance markets through a variety of interventions such as the provision, administration and management of subsidies, support for developing infrastructure for effective implementation of insurance programmes, investment in collection and sharing of data and customer education. »

This paper explores new cases for weather monitoring and forecasting through mobile phones to enhance climate resilience. The authors advocate for increasing focus and investment from mobile network operators (MNOs), value added service (VAS) providers and donors into enabling technologies that can provide more localized and accurate service. In the developing world, the availability of localized, granular weather forecasts can benefit smallholder farmers who depend on rain for their agricultural activities and food security. »

This report by FAO shows the nature of the impacts of climate change on, and vulnerabilities of fisheries in different parts of Africa, to identify current and potential coping mechanisms/strategies as well as biophysical and social characteristics/attributes that increase resilience to these impacts. The report consists of five chapters. Each chapter includes observations on the adaptive capacity of the social-ecological system and concludes with observations on the potential role of fisheries management institutions to reduce vulnerability to climate change. »

This article investigates the public perspectives and awareness about the environmental impacts of food and of eating less meat. It thereby considers the cultural and social values associated with eating meat. While reducing meat consumption is central to many of the scientific debates on healthy and sustainable diets, the social and cultural values related to meat consumption are often not evaluated. »

This article argues that to overcome food security challenges, the application of an energy, water and food nexus approach is needed. This can be done following three main pathways: employing sustainable production methods in agriculture, changing diets, and reducing waste in all stages of the food chain. »