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Scaling up conservation agriculture

Sharing best practices to ensure increased crop production while safeguarding the environment in southern Africa











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    Book (stand-alone)
    Manual / guide
    Field guide to improve crop water productivity in small-scale agriculture
    The case of Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda
    2020
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    By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, which requires an increase of food production by 70 percent compared to 2005 (FAO,2018). Nearly all the increase will occur in developing countries, where agriculture plays a major role to provide employment, income and to improve food security. One of the major challenges of increasing food supply is the limited water resources. Agriculture, as the driver of freshwater exploitation has, therefore, to be transformed into more resource efficient production (FAO, 2003). The world’s limited freshwater resources are potentially threatened by the expansion of agriculture. Increasing the potential output per amount of water used is an appropriate practice to improve production efficiency while protecting water resources. Therefore, increasing the productivity of agricultural water use in a sustainable manner is essential to ultimately sustain the social and economic conditions of livelihoods. Crop water productivity has grown into one of the major approaches to cope with water scarcity and advance crop-water relation. The number of conceptual frameworks and implications is ample, but there is always a growing need to review the step-by-step approach beyond. In this Field guide, practical pathways are presented to provide a comprehensive approach for assessing and improving crop water productivity in small-scale agriculture. The Field guide draws lessons learned in three countries (Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda) within the framework of FAO project “Strengthening Agricultural Water Efficiency and Productivity at the African and Global Level” funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Technical book
    Conservation agriculture in northern Kazakhstan and Mongolia 2006
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    In view of the difficult agro climatic conditions, the seriously degraded soil resources and the need for heavy investment into new machinery inputs for agricultural production in northern Kazakhstan and Mongolia the introduction of conservation agriculture into this region appears to be timely. This report describes the experiences of two FAO technical cooperation projects, one in Mongolia and one in northern Kazakhstan, which aimed to introduce conservation agriculture practices into the regio n. Conservation agriculture projects by their nature are multidisciplinary and involved several FAO technical units working together in a Conservation Agriculture workgroup. Both projects were technically led by the FAO Crop and Grassland service (AGPC), while the Agricultural and Food Engineering Technologies service (AGST) carried out the main responsibility for the mechanisation components of both projects.
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Brochure
    Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa
    Building partnerships for climate resilience
    2020
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    Southern Africa is warming at twice the global rate and with rainfall patterns growing increasingly unpredictable, floods and droughts are becoming more common. This means livelihoods are being threatened and in 2019 almost 42 million people in the region were food insecure. By adopting Conservation Agriculture (CA) though, farmers will become more resilient. The project Strengthening coordination, scaling up and governance of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa (SUCASA) is aimed at capitalising on the potential of CA by increasing collaboration among all partners in the region. By doing so, farmers will become more resilient to the effects of climate change and increase their food and nutrition security. In promoting CA in Southern Africa, FAO is working in close partnership with Norad, AUDA-NEPAD, SADC, COMESA, CCARDESA, ACT, CFU, CIMMYT, FANRPAN, Foundations for Farming, IITA, SACAU, Total Land Care & WWF. This factsheet provides an overview of the project and the benefits of conservation agriculture and is therefore a useful resource for all project stakeholders.

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    Booklet
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    FAO Strategy on Climate Change 2022–2031 2022
    The FAO Strategy on Climate Change 2022–2031 was endorsed by FAO Council in June 2022. This new strategy replaces the previous strategy from 2017 to better FAO's climate action with the Strategic Framework 2022-2031, and other FAO strategies that have been developed since then. The Strategy was elaborated following an inclusive process of consultation with FAO Members, FAO staff from headquarters and decentralized offices, as well as external partners. It articulates FAO's vision for agrifood systems by 2050, around three main pillars of action: at global and regional level, at country level, and at local level. The Strategy also encourages key guiding principles for action, such as science and innovation, inclusiveness, partnerships, and access to finance.
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    High-profile
    Status of the World's Soil Resources: Main Report 2015
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    The SWSR is a reference document on the status of global soil resources that provides regional assessments of soil change. The information is based on peer-reviewed scientific literature, complemented with expert knowledge and project outputs. It provides a description and a ranking of ten major soil threats that endanger ecosystem functions, goods and services globally and in each region separately. Additionally, it describes direct and indirect pressures on soils and ways and means to combat s oil degradation. The report contains a Synthesis report for policy makers that summarizes its findings, conclusions and recommendations.

    The full report has been divided into sections and individual chapters for ease of downloading:

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    Booklet
    Corporate general interest
    Emissions due to agriculture
    Global, regional and country trends 2000–2018
    2021
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    The FAOSTAT emissions database is composed of several data domains covering the categories of the IPCC Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector of the national GHG inventory. Energy use in agriculture is additionally included as relevant to emissions from agriculture as an economic production sector under the ISIC A statistical classification, though recognizing that, in terms of IPCC, they are instead part of the Energy sector of the national GHG inventory. FAO emissions estimates are available over the period 1961–2018 for agriculture production processes from crop and livestock activities. Land use emissions and removals are generally available only for the period 1990–2019. This analytical brief focuses on overall trends over the period 2000–2018.