agricultural university

2-3 April 2019 . Brussels.  The European Commission in Brussels – on behalf of the Global Network against Food Crises – hosted the high-level event on food and agriculture in times of crisis. #FightFoodCrises The high-level event: Set the scene of the current and projected situation with respect to food crises and related trends and drivers based on solid and consensus-based evidence. Highlight current and future challenges and opportunities to reduce the risks of food crises, focusing on the role of agricultural livelihoods and related agri-food systems in the framework of social, environmental, economic and security dynamics. Review policies, initiatives, tools, and coordination mechanisms currently in place to address food crises, exploring whether emerging and recurrent challenges require changes and adaptive strategies, and defining areas for improvement and innovative solutions and partnerships. Draw political, strategic and operational conclusions and define a roadmap t...

Ailafoun Dairy Farm, owned by Sudan’s Dal Group and the country’s largest such facility, has in the past brought in foreign cows to increase production. 2 April 2019.   Bloomberg Businessweek. Arab policymakers have been touting Sudan’s ability to feed the populous and water-scarce Middle East since the 1970s. The country features as much as 200 million acres of arable land, a strategic location less than a day’s sail across the Red Sea to the Saudi port of Jeddah, and a roughly 25 percent share of the Nile’s waters under regional agreements, much of it unused. In the Middle East and North Africa, by contrast, World Bank and United Nations statistics show that the number of chronically undernourished people has doubled, to 33 million, since 1990 , and that water availability has tumbled on average to a sixth of the global mean. Abdellatif, chairman of Dal Group, beside a statue of Taharqa, a Nubian king, in the lobby of his office in Khartoum . The benefits for both parties wou...

31 March - 4 April 2019.  Cairo.  Land and Water Days in the NENA Region 2019  : 3 April 2019.  Water scarcity from options to actions what does it take? Collective intelligence, information and research This session addressed common goals and support institutions working in water and agricultural sectors, so they can improve the livelihoods of the resource-poor in dry areas. This can be undertaken by enhancing food and nutrition security, conserving natural resources, and supporting the effective management of water scarcity through research and partnerships to achieve sustainable increases in agricultural productivity and income, while ensuring the more efficient and equitable use of ecosystem services. This session was organized by ICARDA, IWMI, IOM, and FAO, and demonstrated how accessing and using information, knowledge and data management of the use of water resources for agriculture can help to improve technologies and practices to meet the challenges of wate...

31 March - 4 April 2019.  Cairo.  Land and Water Days in the NENA Region 2019  : 1 April:  Governance of Oases ecosystems: Challenges and perspectives NENA oases overview : a strategic role for a fragile ecosystem, Noureddine Nasr (see picture)   FAOSNE "We are looking for new tools and technologies for the youth to remain motivated to work and live in the oasis. And this will be different from the past." Presentation of the Maghreb advocacy strategy for the oases conservation : towards an international strategy, Patrice Burger  (see picture)   , President of the associative network for the oases sustainable development (RADDO) "Degradated land are degradated lifes" "One third of the world population are hosted in drylands. If nobody works on the oasis the oasis will collapse" "Oasis can learn us a lot about agricultural intensification" The importance of social and economic innovations through traditional water system management: Aflaj of Oman, ...

31 March - 4 April 2019. Cairo. Land and Water Days in the NENA Region 2019  : 1 April: Session: Halting land degradation Combating land degradation to promote sustainability, resilience and food security Land degradation and desertification (LDD) are increasing with alarming effects in the Near East and North Africa (NENA region), and is impacting the livelihoods of communities, their food security and likelihood of migration. The process is influenced by the socio-economic dynamic and conflict and is aggravated by climate change.  Desertification is nowhere more serious than in the NENA region. Soil erosion results in losses of soil nutrients, loss of soil organic carbon and declined productivity. Approximately 60% (135 million ha) of soil is eroded by wind, which can result in Sand and Dust Storms (SDS) under certain conditions, and causing loses of about USD 13 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year.  Growing population and the increasing demand for r...

25-29 March 2019. Bilbao, Spain. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the  Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 on 20 December 2017 in order to improve the position of family farmers in all five (5) continents. The VI Global Conference on Family Farming is a preparatory event of the launching of the Decade, to be held in Rome weeks later . Both occasions are part of a process to build a solid, multi-stakeholder and participatory Agenda for the Decade of Family Farming. #FamilyFarmingDecade #VIConferenceWFR The objectives of the VI Global Conference are as follows: Contribute to design the official Decade Agenda for the national, regional and global levels by developing quality inputs for the Action Plan of the Decade of Family Farming. Facilitate dialogue, new partnerships and the involvement of new actors in the Decade (governments, farmers organizations, international organizations, rural associations, cooperatives, research centers, other CSOs, etc), to pro...

18-22 March 2019.  Accra, Ghana.  Africa Climate Week . the Africa Climate Week (ACW) 2019 was convene in the lead-up to the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in September 2019, bringing together diverse actors from the public and private sectors. Participants will focused on how engagement between Parties and non-Party stakeholders can be further strengthened in key sectors for Africa, including energy, agriculture and human settlements. The event showcased the role of future carbon markets to enhance climate action towards the goal of sustainable development, and seek to facilitate implementation of countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement on climate change and SDG 13 (climate action), among other Goals. Extract of the programme: 18/03 Stepping Up Action to Build Climate Resilient Agriculture and Food Systems in Africa  The purpose of the event is to identify the opportunities for increased ambition in building climate resilie...

Operational Manual, Farmer Marketing Schools. A facilitator’s guide (ADRA 2019)  (ADRA 2017, revised version 2019, 52 pages ) It is a comprehensive training manual that sets out the FMS objectives, provides a detailed description of the content of FMS facilitators training, and an operationalized step-by-step practical guide for setting up FMS .  Facilitator training comprises four stages: (i) preparatory activities; (ii) theoretical understanding of a market value chain (covering six technical themes); (iii) a practical interactive module where participants, through discovery learning, learn about the market; and (iv) monitoring learning loops. To be engaged with the market requires much more than just removing the middleman, actually not necessarily a good idea, because the middleman has a function in the value chain by bringing goods from A to B, without which the chain would not function. The farmer needs market skills, must be market ready, before s/he can maneuver and b...

WWAP (UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme). 2019. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2019: Leaving No One Behind. Paris, UNESCO . 202 pages 19 March 2019 . Geneva. Launch of the  United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) - the flagship publication of UN-Water on the state of global freshwater resources. Listen to live audio: 16h00 - 17:45 local time # WorldWaterDay UN World Water Development Report 2019: Leaving No One Behind You can download the report when you click on the  download icon ( right upper on your screen  of the online versions: English | Français | Español (pdf) Executive Summary English | Français | Español | Русский | ا لعربية | 中文 (pdf) Italiano | Português | ภาษาไทย | Deutsch | Korean (pdf) Main messages English (pdf) Facts and Figures English | Français | Español (pdf) Italiano | Português (pdf) Media corner | Global launch | Regional launches Improved water resources management and access to safe wat...

16-17 March 2019.  Cairo, Egypt.   5th General Assembly of the Arab Water Council  . During this triennial event, more than 400 members and experts representing 25 countries and several regional and international organizations gathered to get acquainted with the Council achievements since the last meeting of the GA in February 2016, and discussed the way forward by approving the Council’s future Work Plan for the next term 2019-2021, and to elect its Board of Governors for the forthcoming mandate until 2021. The water problems are numerous, especially in the Arab region, given the growing population growth, the Arab region is an arid region and there is an increasing impact of climate change on food safety. Arab countries import more than 50% of their food from abroad. The water situation in the region is critical and requires measures, partnerships and non-traditional solutions to address these challenges. It is time for the Arabs to accept these challenge...