This report examines the challenges of managing water resources for agricultural use — specifically in the context of food production — in the face of a changing climate. It provides an overview of climate change impacts in different parts of the world, details options for adaptation and mitigation, and offers practical recommendations on how developing countries can cope with these impacts.  

The report outlines methods to assess impacts on water and agriculture, and stresses that water and agricultural policies must be more closely aligned. It concludes with suggestions for action to help countries in carrying out such assessments and adapting agricultural water management. These include using methods such as decision analysis to improve predictions; developing and applying downscaling techniques to build capacity for better analyses and climate adaptation; and coordinating analyses of the level of investment required for different solutions.

This report presents a global overview of the role of livestock in nutrition and food security, and discusses ways of meeting the expected increase in demand for livestock as a source of food with limited resources. It examines how livestock contributes to food security in three population groups — livestock-dependent societies, small-scale mixed farmers and urban dwellers — and the main challenges they face in producing enough food.

The first section of the report discusses how livestock contributes to food security, including economic factors that affect the choice of foods, and the stability of livestock food supplies. The second section examines the contribution of livestock as a source of food in each population group, and the last part of the report looks to future prospects for producing enough food in the context of risks such as water shortages. It concludes that careful management of livestock food systems will be key in building a stable livestock food supply to meet future needs.

This report, written by the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change of CGIAR, puts forward a set of evidence-based policy recommendations on how to achieve food security and environmental sustainability in the context of climate change.

Based on the commission's scientific assessment of the potential impact of climate change on agriculture and food security, the report suggests major local and global interventions that could transform the production, distribution and consumption of food to increase food productivity, reduce greenhouse gases and preserve natural resources. Key recommendations include the need to integrate sustainable agriculture into national and global policies, target vulnerable populations and sectors, and reduce waste in food systems.

The report also looks at a set of relevant policies and programmes currently being implemented in countries around the world, including smallholder investments in Bangladesh, and efforts to integrate sustainable food production into land use policy in Brazil.

This report outlines how ICT (information and communications technology) could facilitate the adoption of agricultural technologies that can contribute to improving crop yields in developing countries.

It reviews existing agricultural extension services — programmes that deliver information to farmers — which use ICT, categorised by the type of services and how they are provided (by text, for example, or the Internet). The report concludes that although these programs are innovative, implementing them remains a challenge and evidence of their impact is limited. It is not yet clear that ICT-based services will replace existing agricultural extension systems, and there is a risk that they will become unsustainable — a fad with limited impact on the lives of the poor. The report suggests evaluating pilot programmes using rigorous methods, and says that future efforts should calculate demand and cost-effectiveness, and identify information best suited to such programmes.

This report, written by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, and commissioned by the UN Committee on Food Security (CFS), sets out to explore different causes and consequences of food price volatility, including how vulnerable populations can ensure access to food in times of food insecurity.

The report is set out in five sections. The first outlines the causes of recent food price variations, one of which suggests these variations may signal lasting scarcities in the agricultural sector. The second section presents key policy recommendations to address price volatility and its consequences for food security, including coordination of national storage policies and limiting the growth of demand for agricultural products in developing countries.

The third part of the report discusses how international food price rises have been reflected in domestic prices in developing countries. The fourth section outlines policy recommendations at the national level, stressing that these must be adapted to the local context, and the report concludes by discussing the role of the CFS in relation to price volatility and food security.

This year's edition of the report focuses on the costs of food price volatility, as well as the dangers and opportunities that high food prices present to poor countries. It outlines how food price volatility affects food security, offers policy options to reduce volatility cost-effectively, and suggests how countries can manage cost increases when they cannot be avoided.

A key message of the report is that increases in food prices are set to continue. The authors pinpoint contributing factors such as climate change-related increases in the frequency of extreme weather events, and stronger linkages between energy and agricultural markets because of growing demand for biofuels.

One of the key points made in the report is that large countries were able to insulate themselves from the crisis, but small countries dependent on imports, especially in Africa, were hard hit. Others include the importance of safety-net mechanisms for alleviating the impacts of food insecurity and laying the foundations for development, and that high food prices offer incentives for improving food security in the long term by increasing investment in agriculture.

This paper suggests that research-based, small-scale interventions that help farming systems adapt to climate change can guide progress towards achieving food security and addressing the food crisis in the Horn of Africa.

It outlines lessons learnt from the Climate Change Adaptation and Development Programme jointly implemented by the UN Environment Programme and the UN Development Programme for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The authors argue for a shift away from top-down, corporate approaches to agricultural research and practice, in favour of a democratic approach that involves giving more decision-making power to local people, including farmers and indigenous people. Small-scale initiatives reduce tillage, protect the soil surface and alternate cereal crops with legumes that enrich the soil.

The paper suggests that communicating food security solutions to the public can help balance vested interests and level the field in favour of small producers. Managed effectively, the current drought in the Horn of Africa offers a window of opportunity to re-establish food security as a global priority.

This report, published by the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, reviews developments about the food situation in developing countries, particularly Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs). It is published four times a year, with the earliest available on the website dating back to 2006.

Each report contains a review by geographic region, with a section dedicated specifically to LIFDCs and a list of countries requiring external assistance for food. It also contains a global overview of cereal supply and demand, major issues that have arisen since the previous report, a thorough report on LIFDCs and a statistical index that includes cereal supply and demand indicators, as well as international prices of wheat and grain.

The report is available in English, French, Spanish and Chinese.

This report presents two case-studies that illustrate problems arising from subsidising fertiliser and electricity for groundwater irrigation in India — a policy put in place in the 1960s to boost food production and food security. It aims to analyse why subsequent reforms of these policies have done little to resolve economic and environmental problems; identify reforms that could prove successful; and outline political processes that could help achieve them.

Using India's experience, it highlights political challenges of using subsidy policies that could also be relevant to other countries.

This analysis is based on a literature review and interviews with stakeholders. The report also presents the conceptual framework, and gives an overview of fertiliser policy in India: how it has evolved, the stakeholders involved in the political process, and the policy implications of subsidy reform. Case-studies of electricity supply in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab are used to demonstrate policy reform feasibility.

The report concludes that for both electricity supply and fertiliser policies, various reforms could be adopted that are unlikely to face significant political obstacles. It argues that experimental and research-based knowledge could be used more effectively.

This report details the proceedings of the 2nd World Seed Conference, held on 8–10 September 2009 at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Headquarters, to investigate the role of plant breeding in improving seed quality and crop varieties that are crucial for food security.

The proceedings contain the presentations, discussions and conclusions from a one-day policy forum and the five sessions of the two-day expert forum. Areas covered include the importance of genetic resources for plant breeding, access and benefit sharing; plant variety protection; and the importance of seed quality in agriculture.

The conclusions emphasised the importance of encouraging plant breeding to enable the production and distribution of high-quality seed. Participants highlighted the International Treaty on Plant and Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as an innovative instrument for achieving food security through conservation and access to genetic resources, and the importance of protecting intellectual property. They also recommended that countries develop the capabilities needed to determine seed quality and certify seed varieties.

The conference was organised by the FAO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, the International Seed Federation and the International Seed Testing Association.

This report aims to identify strategies that the agricultural sector can adopt to mitigate and adapt to climate change, ensure food security, and improve the livelihoods of poor smallholder producers.

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for poor people in developing countries, and improving agricultural productivity is key to achieving food security and meeting most targets set as part of the Millennium Development Goals. In Sub-Saharan Africa, climate change is adding to existing development challenges, making it essential that mitigation, adaptation and rural development strategies are developed together.

By focusing on the example of smallholder farmers in Kenya, the authors suggest "triple win" agricultural practices that promise the greatest payoff in terms of increased resilience of the agriculture sector to climate change mitigation, adaptation, productivity and profitability. They include irrigation, soil and water conservation, integrated soil fertility management and improved livestock feeding.

This report looks at the state of food security in 2010, focusing on countries that face a high and persistent incidence of hunger as well as difficulties in meeting the Millennium Development Goals — defined as being in protracted crisis, or containing areas in crisis. This includes 22 countries that represent 20 per cent of the world's undernourished people.

The report highlights common features of areas in protracted crisis, why they deserve special attention, and the assistance they receive from governments and the international community. Development assistance for most of these countries is less than what least-developed countries receive on average, with agriculture receiving 3–4 per cent of funds despite its important role in supporting livelihoods.

Recommendations for providing more effective and lasting assistance for people living in these areas are outlined in the report. They include further analysis of coping mechanisms to better understand how their resilience can be strengthened; protecting and rebuilding livelihoods, which includes providing support to institutions that work towards that goal; and undertaking a review of external assistance so that it matches the needs and institutional constraints on the ground.

This paper reports the results of a systematic review of the impacts of climate change on crop productivity in Africa and South Asia. The study, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), assessed eight food crops — rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, yam, plantain and sugarcane — that make up more than 80 per cent of agricultural production in these regions. Its findings aim to inform DFID's policies, allocation of resources and other practices according to the need for a stronger focus on evidence-informed decision-making on agriculture in a changing climate. The report provides background information; a detailed account of the review protocol and methodology; the data extraction strategy; data collection; meta-analyses; a synthesis of results; and key findings for all crops organised by region. It recognises that climate change will worsen environmental conditions that already affect crops, such as heat, drought, salinity and submergence in water.

This report highlights small-scale farmers who combine growing crops with raising animals. Although this farming system may appear old-fashioned, it remains the most prevalent and has gained popularity in recent years.

Most poor people currently rely on around one billion of these 'mixed' family farmers cultivating rice paddies and raising a few animals, for example. It is not big farms but these small agricultural systems that will play the biggest role in global food security over the next several decades, according to the report.

The study is the first to investigate mixed farms. It argues for a transition towards this farming system because it has a huge potential for increasing productivity in developing countries, provided that farms are managed appropriately.

The international donor community should fund and commit to policies that foster this neglected form of agriculture, it suggests, or their money will go to waste.

This book, published by IWMI, evaluates the benefits, costs and impacts of water development over the past 50 years. The authors highlight challenges still facing poor countries today and outline some of the solutions people have adopted. The assessment is available as a summary, with specific policy recommendations, or in individual chapters covering topics ranging from integration and institutional reform to improvements in irrigation and groundwater use.

This report examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on people's livelihoods in rural areas of Africa, China, Central Asia, India and Russia.

The authors consider labour economising technologies, and set out the potential policy options. They conclude that providing anti-retroviral drugs would have an immediate, and a long-term effect on food security and is the only way of ensuring continued access to labour in the rural sector.

This publication from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), brings together a series of academic papers originally presented at an ILRI workshop, Coping with feed scarcity, in 1999.

The authors present case studies of undernutrition in ruminant livestock in tropical developing countries, and discuss implications for feed evaluation and socio-economic issues such as gender roles.

This report considers strategies to help the Greater Mekong Subregion in South-East Asia meet food demands in the face of climate change. The authors predict likely effects of climate change on agriculture in the region and make recommendations to cope with these, including improving water efficiency and promoting broad-based agricultural development to reduce poverty.

This report identifies the major impacts of climate change in the Arab world and outlines potential adaptation measures for the region. It aims to inform and shape climate change policy in the Arab world. Dwindling water resources, sea level rise, reduced food production, deteriorating biodiversity and declining tourism are highlighted as particular areas of concern.

Food security is a major challenge in global health. Agriculture will need a significant boost if we are to feed the expected global population of nine billion people in 2050. This detailed report outlines the case for 'sustainable intensification'.

Climate change is already putting pressure on existing agricultural systems and will likely continue to alter rainfall patterns, temperatures and soil quality. But climate change isn't the only culprit — agricultural output has also fallen through growing pesticide resistance and low crop diversity.

The report argues that crop management must take these biological factors into account. But to be sustainable it must also support poor farmers and rural populations. This will require technological approaches underpinned by robust science, says the report.

The authors provide a detailed overview of how climate change will affect food production and the latest genetic techniques available to boost output. No single approach is going to work, and splitting agriculture into different camps — genetically modified or not, for example — will have no traction. The key is to consider the problem holistically and see how different approaches could be combined for the best results.

The report calls for agricultural sciences to be placed at the forefront of innovation, and supports its position in university courses, arguing that if agriculture is to see a revolution, it will need talented scientists.