Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
-
ProjectPalm Dates Value Chain Development in Egypt - TCP/EGY/3603 2020
Also available in:
No results found.Egypt’s varying climatic zones make it the perfect countryfor growing different varieties of dates. Date palms cantolerate arid conditions and require a relatively smallamount of water, making them an ideal crop for this areaof the world. Dates are a crucial part of the local diet inEgypt, and date by-products, such as bars, blocks, syrupsand pastes, are processed in factories and sold for localconsumption. For these reasons, the date palm tree isexpected to maintain a dominant place in Egyptianagriculture in the future.Despite being ranked the top date producing country inthe world, Egypt’s export contribution to the internationaldate market is low. Food safety issues and a lack ofinternational quality standards (e.g. size, appearance,colour, texture and freedom from defects) contribute toEgypt’s low date exports. Other problems that occurduring growth and post-harvest (e.g. sunburn, skinseparation, sugar migration and fermentation) along withdifficulty managing the Red Palm Weevil (RPW), a majorpest for date palms, are other factors that negativelyimpact Egypt’s date exports. This project sought to buildthe capacity of actors across the value chain through aseries of training sessions for date growers, collectors,traders, packers and processors. It also established a pestmanagement programme for RPW. -
Book (stand-alone)Sustainable management of Miombo woodlands
Food security, nutrition and wood energy
2018Also available in:
No results found.The Miombo woodland is a vast African dryland forest ecosystem covering close to 2.7 million km2 across southern Africa (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The woodlands are characterized by the dominance of Brachystegia species, either alone or in association with Julbernardia and Isoberlinia species. It is estimated that the woodlands – through their numerous goods and services which include various non-wood forest products (NWFPs) (e.g. insects, mushrooms, fruits, tubers, medicine, fodder, honey, seeds) and woodfuels, which, for simplicity, will be referred to as non-timber forest products, or NTFPs, throughout the publication – sustain the livelihoods of more than 100 million rural poor and 50 million urban people. The charcoal sector alone employs vast numbers of rural people and offers additional income to many poor rural families. Communities moreover rely directly on the woodlands for food and nutrition. NWFPs add vital micro- and macronutrients to local diets and contribute to diversified food systems, while woodfuel is essential for cooking and sterilizing, thus ensuring proper nutrient absorption and providing clean water for drinking. Forests and trees, if managed sustainably, are an important source of resilience for rural people in the Miombo woodlands, supporting households to absorb and recover from climatic or economic calamities and contributing to resolving the underlying causes of food insecurity, undernutrition and poverty by providing nutritious edible products and woodfuel for cooking in addition to conserving biodiversity and water resources, buffering extreme weather conditions and preventing land degradation and desertification. Generally speaking, it is now accepted that forests managed for both timber and NTFPs retain more biodiversity and resilience than forests managed solely for one aspect, e.g. timber and exotic timber plantations. However, a growing population in high need of agricultural land and unsustainable use and overharvesting of natural resources in parts of the Miombo woodlands, combined with climate change impacts (e.g. drought, fires), leave insufficient time for many trees and associated species to regenerate naturally, posing a serious threat to the products and services of the woodlands, and to the livelihoods depending on them. Compounding the problem and hindering development of the Miombo ecosystem, are: i) lack of an enabling policy environment; ii) unsustainable management; iii) limited willingness and ability to pay for and access to energy-efficiency technologies; iv) inadequate awareness and information, including technical capacity; v) high poverty levels; and vi) limited access to microcredit facilities. With the Committee on World Food Security’s endorsement of the recommendations presented in the High Level Panel of Experts Report on Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition in late 2017 – which include promoting multifunctional landscapes, integrated food-forestry systems, and research on associated linkages, among other things – forests and trees are expected to play a greater role in future land-use decisions and related policies. This paper provides an overview of these linkages in the context of the Miombo woodlands, in the hope that future land use, policy decisions and financial investments are shaped to support the contributions of forests and trees to the health and livelihoods of communities in the ecoregion. The following key messages were formulated: • Forests and trees, if managed sustainably, are an important source of resilience for rural people in the Miombo woodlands, supporting households to absorb and recover from climatic or economic calamities and contributing to resolving the underlying causes of food insecurity, undernutrition and poverty by providing nutritious edible products and woodfuel for cooking in addition to conserving biodiversity and water resources, buffering extreme weather conditions and preventing land degradation and desertification. • Current data bases referring to the value of the Miombo must be analysed and used as evidence to improve policy-making. • Miombo woodlands may be dominant (spatially), but they have not been addressed as a single unit but as part of the region’s forests. They form part of the overall forestry strategies and no specific mention in the conventions does not suggest that their importance is underplayed. • The management of Miombo will require some changes in management structures, especially in providing benefits emerging from trade in forest products to local managers. • Local forest managers should play a greater role in allocating resources for feedstock for charcoal production. -
Book (stand-alone)Animal genetic resources - conservation and management 1981
Also available in:
No results found.The term "animal genetic resources" In used to include all broods, types, varieties and populations of animals that inhabit the earth under both improved and unimproved conditions. TLe conservation and management of these resources is a subject of great concern 'to both FAO and UNEP. Dr. Ralph W. Fbillips, Doputy Director-General of FAO has given an excellent summary of FAO activities In this area In the inaugural address which is Included in these proceedings. In the developed temperate zones of the world, the centuries of slow but effective selection by breeders, followed by the application of scientific brooding programmes during the present century have resulted in high levels of performance being achieved in a small number of breeds of each species. Thin eventually led to the replacement of many local low-producing broods in Europe and elsewhere by the high-producing "improver" breeds. The growing demand for animal products in warmer countries has led to this policy being follow ed world wide. Because of the case of replacing a population by artificial insemination (AI) there is a danger of genetic attrition m the scale that has already occured in Europe. Furthermore, this policy of massive grading-up in being applied in climates in which it may not be the most desirable. The genes can easily be imported (e.g. as semen), but the environment to which they are adapted in less easy to reproduce. In many cases a systematic crossbreeding programme In more appropriate than gr ading up to a temperate breed. Such a programme requires the retention of the local adapted breeds.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.