Rapid economic growth and market integration have transformed Viet Nam’s economy and integrated it into global markets. Yet in rural areas, poverty remains severe and chronic, and is concentrated among ethnic minority groups. Additionally, one third of the population are living close to the poverty line. Rural people have little or no savings or state support and are almost totally dependent on subsistence-level agriculture and gathering natural resources. This makes them especially vulnerable to unexpected shocks. This country fact sheet outlines IFAD’s strategy to eradicate poverty in Viet Nam, which focus on developing market-led innovations that aid poor people. These deepen institutional and policy reform at the provincial level and build capacity among poor farm households.

Investing in farmers through public-private-producer partnerships Rural Empowerment and Agricultural Development Scaling-up Initiative in Indonesia. Investing in farmers – or agriculture human capital – is crucial to addressing challenges in our agri-food systems. A global study carried out by the FAO Investment Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute, with support from the CGIAR Research Programme on Policies, Institutions and Markets and the FAO Research and Extension Unit, looks at agriculture human capital investments, from trends to promising initiatives. One of the nine featured case studies is the Rural Empowerment and Agricultural Development Scaling-up Initiative in Indonesia. This programme adds perspectives on investing in human capital in agriculture through public-private-producer partnerships, using lead farmers, cocoa doctors and farmer field schools. The case study shows that the training and coaching provided increased knowledge of and practical skills in cocoa farming, including technical skills, soft skills and empowerment, leading to better productivity and cocoa quality. The programme increased farmers’ confidence to take on new activities and sell a quality product. In addition, farmers developed group cooperation and decision-making skills, and group members learned communication, entrepreneurship and marketing skills. This publication is part of the Country Investment Highlights series under the FAO Investment Centre’s Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.

Agriculture plays a significant role in the economy of the Philippines The resiliency of the agriculture sector not only ensures the country’s food security but also the incomes of households depending on this sector, and the sectors along its value chain However, the country has the second highest exposure to natural hazards of any country in the world, owing to its location in the typhoon belt, through which storms generated in the western Pacific Ocean pass Agriculture is highly vulnerable to these natural hazards, because of the sector’s spatially fixed, environment sensitive, and high investment nature Philippine farmers bear the brunt of the damage caused by these calamities.

In recent decades, chemical pesticides and fertilizers have been widely applied in agricultural production in China Although this has improved production in terms of quantity, it has also diminished soil health, jeopardized the natural environment, and affected the quality of both food production and people’s health In response, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs initiated a programme of Zero Growth of Pesticide and Chemical Fertilizers by 2020 Following a call from central government, the major rice production area of Chongming Island of Shanghai needed to establish new standards and practices for the production of quality green rice with zero chemical input Chongming Island is located in the northern part of Shanghai Municipality and serves as the estuary of Yangtze River to the Eastern China Sea It offers unique geographical and ecological advantages for agriculture development, possessing 25 percent of Shanghai’s rural areas and grain production, and accounting for 22 percent of total rice production in Shanghai.

The rapid development of a large scale and intensive farming industry in Hainan has led to a sharp increase in livestock and poultry manure, which poses a significant challenge to both the ecological environment and human health The treatment and disposal of livestock manure have become a bottleneck that limits the development of the breeding industry in a green and sustainable way In recent years, China has attached great importance to the development of ecological circular agriculture Biogas treatment has arisen as an important way to manage livestock manure By utilizing manure to produce biogas and then promoting the use of biogas, rural areas can greatly reduce the use of fuel and coal Rural sanitation and living environment can be improved, and soil health and plant growth can also benefit from the provision of biogas slurry nutrient If well managed, the biogas can provide an effective and efficient alternative in support of green and ecological agriculture development Hainan Province is a tropical island in China Tropical cash crops, and livestock and poultry farming are the major income sources for Hainan farmers Located in the north of Yazhou District, Sanya City, Hainan Province, Beiling Village is home to 3 857 famers, including 3 852 from the Li ethnic minority, accounting for 99 9 percent of the total Local villagers rely on mango and banana as the main cash crops.

While there are existing national policies that mainstream climate change adaptation (CCA), resource materials on how to integrate urban agriculture (UA) as a CCA strategy into local policy planning is urgently needed. This document provides the policy context and perspectives in mainstreaming UA, particularly the entry points in the different stages of the local climate change action plan and the comprehensive land use plan. This is to guide LGUs in the process of mainstreaming and to provide specific policy recommendations for legislation. In addition, this guidebook is a useful reference for designing and implementing different types of urban farm projects.

This research investigated the outcomes and social effects of a community-based development project in the form of a rice-based community intervention. Conducted in Regions 1, 6, and 10 in the Philippines, it employed mixed methods to gather quantitative and qualitative data concurrently from 86 randomly sampled farmer-cooperators and 20 purposively sampled key informants who were project implementers and facilitators.

Critical to farmers’ incomes, nutrition and food security, livelihoods and resilience in much of Southeast Asia, the trend of increasing demand for livestock products is not yet matched by significant efforts to increase smallholder production, implying there could be widespread benefits to farmers and consumers alike if the former can respond to the increased demand. However, if increases in the production of livestock products are not carefully managed, adverse consequences could include greater pressures on natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and threats of zoonotic diseases.

This project quantified and evaluated the performance of generic agroforestry options and tree species to underpin investment in promoting agroforestry; generated understanding of the suitability of different agroforestry options in relation to different contexts and develop markets and policy to scale-up adoption; understanding the ecological and economic values of degraded forests, and co-developed appropriate forest rehabilitation methods with local communities; understanding drivers of land-use change and develop cross-sector planning approaches for landscapes, integrating forests and agroforestry land uses; developed local capacity for agroforestry, forest rehabilitation and integrated landscape management.