Resilience Assessment Of Avocado And Pineapple Value Chains

Building resilience is important for agrifood systems – such as tropical fruit value chains – to prepare, withstand and adapt to a wide range of risks, including climate and non-climatic shocks and stresses. Resilience is also important to foster transformation of value chains, to both minimize the negative impacts of external risks on the supply chain and also to prevent new operational problems that could compromise the long-term viability of businesses. The FAO-led Building responsible global value chains for the sustainable production and trade of tropical fruits project conducted a comprehensive study during the last quarter of 2022 to identify the main resilience challenges that participants in the avocado and pineapple sectors are facing. The study also aimed to understand the capacities the actors from both value chains possess to prevent, anticipate, absorb, adapt and transform in view of future climate and socioeconomic risks. The report includes the main results from the study, which were validated by the project participants during a workshop held on 6 December 2022. The findings largely draw on literature review and consultations with some of the main actors from the global avocado and pineapple industries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This catalogue aims to improve the dissemination and outreach of FAO’s knowledge products and overall publishing programme. By providing information on its key publications in every area of FAO’s work, and catering to a range of audiences, it thereby contributes to all organizational outcomes. From statistical analysis to specialized manuals to children’s books, FAO publications cater to a diverse range of audiences. This catalogue presents a selection of FAO’s main publications, produced in 2023 or earlier, ranging from its global reports and general interest publications to numerous specialized titles. In addition to the major themes of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it also includes thematic sections on climate change, economic and social development, and food safety and nutrition.

Fresh fruits and vegetables constitute important commodities in world agricultural production, trade and consumption. Their typically high nutritional value makes fresh fruits and vegetables a critical component in ensuring global food security and nutrition. Since a large share of fruits and vegetables are produced in low income countries, concerns regarding equitable smallholder incomes and foreign exchange generation also play a special role. Over the past decade, global trade in fresh fruits and vegetables more than doubled in response to rising demand, placing this commodity group among the most valuable food commodities in terms of export value. As such, fresh fruits and vegetables constitute telling examples of high value and sometimes delicate export crops with challenging transport needs, with supply chain disruptions negatively impacting on producers, exporters and end users. The need to keep supply chains functioning and to facilitate the availability and affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables, is of eminent importance in times of crises, whether these are linked to economic difficulties, disease outbreaks, conflict, natural disasters or other factors. This paper lays out some of the salient features of global trade in fresh fruits and vegetables and the special characteristics pertaining to their supply chain needs. It presents an investigation of market developments observed in 2020/2021 and investigates the potential implications of shocks to supply chains, in order to highlight bottlenecks to be addressed to strengthen the resilience and preparedness of supply chains in times of crises.

Climate change is impacting global food production systems, making the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population more difficult than ever before. The tropical fruit sector is particularly at risk from the negative impacts of climate change driven by rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and associated challenges such as water stress and increased pests and diseases. This poses significant risks for the long-term sustainability of production and trade of important tropical fruits including avocados. Recognizing these challenges, the Responsible Fruits Project has developed this technical guide on climate change adaptation for the avocado export industry. The guide is for producers and exporters of avocado who are interested in learning more about climate change in the context of their own business systems. It was developed through a consultative process with avocado companies and producer organizations participating in the Responsible Fruits Project. The purpose of this technical guide is to: • Provide up-to-date information on recent and predicted climate change effects and trends in key avocado producing and exporting countries. • Identify climate change risks and impacts on the production and trade of avocado. • Identify adaptation practices and recommendations that may help to address these risks, minimize negative impacts and build resilience. • Share good practices adopted by companies to address specific climate-related production risks in a sustainable manner. • Identify gaps in information, research and technical solutions needed to strengthen the availability and adoption of adaptation practices.

Ethiopia is a low-income country and agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for for 34 percent of GDP and 70 percent of total employment share. Ethiopia remains one of the world’s poorest countries, despite the significant progress achieved in reducing poverty and hunger. The Government of Ethiopia through its Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) has consistently prioritized the transformation of agriculture from low-input, subsistence-oriented production systems to a fast-growing, intensive and commercially oriented sector to support the country’s aspirations to become a middle-income country by 2025. FAO’s Country Programme Framework (2016-2020), was formulated based on the GTP II. Over the evaluation period (2014-2019), FAO exceeded the resource mobilization targets. Overall, FAO’s programme displays several imbalances and disconnects, specifically between development activities and emergency response. The evaluation calls for FAO to adopt a more cohesive programmatic approach and continue to consolidate its fragmented programme. In the context of the Government’s plans for agricultural transformation, the evaluation also recommends that FAO support an economically sound value chain and market-based approach to agricultural development, while upholding normative values of inclusiveness and ecological sustainability.

Climate change is impacting global food production systems, making the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population more difficult than ever before. The tropical fruit sector is particularly at risk from the negative impacts of climate change driven by rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and associated challenges such as water stress and increased pests and diseases. This poses significant risks for the long-term sustainability of production and trade of important tropical fruits including pineapple. Recognizing these challenges, the Responsible Fruits Project has developed this technical guide on climate change adaptation for the pineapple export industry. The guide is for producers and exporters of pineapple who are interested in learning more about climate change in the context of their own business systems. It was developed through a consultative process with pineapple companies and producer organizations participating in the Responsible Fruits Project. The purpose of this technical guide is to: • Provide up-to-date information on recent and predicted climate change effects and trends in key pineapple producing and exporting countries. • Identify climate change risks and impacts on the production and trade of pineapple. • Identify adaptation practices and recommendations that may help to address these risks, minimize negative impacts and build resilience. • Share good practices adopted by companies to address specific climate-related production risks in a sustainable manner. • Identify gaps in information, research and technical solutions needed to strengthen the availability and adoption of adaptation practices.

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2020-2029 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, incorporating expertise from collaborating member countries and international commodity organisations. It provides market projections for national, regional and global supply and demand of major agricultural commodities, biofuel and fish.

Sub—Saharan Africa is one of the poorest regions of the world. Because most Africans work in agriculture, escaping such dire poverty depends on increased agricultural productivity to raise rural incomes, lower food prices, and stimulate growth in other economic sectors. Per capita agricultural production in sub—Saharan Africa has fallen, however, for much of the past half—century. Successes in African Agriculture investigates how to reverse this decline. Instead of cataloging failures, as many past studies have done, this book identifies episodes of successful agricultural growth in Africa and identifies processes, practices, and policies for accelerated growth in the future. The individual studies follow developments in, among other areas, the farming of maize in East and Southern Africa, cassava across the middle belt of Africa, cotton in West Africa, horticulture in Kenya, and dairying in East Africa. Drawing on these case studies and on consultations with agricultural specialists and politicians from across sub—Saharan Africa -- undertaken in collaboration with the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development -- the contributors identify two key determinants of positive agricultural performance: agricultural research to provide more productive and sustainable technologies to farmers and a policy framework that fosters market incentives for increasing production. The contributors discuss how the public and private sectors can best coordinate the convergence of both factors. Given current concerns about global food security, this book provides timely and important resources to policymakers and development specialists concerned with reversing the negative trends in food insecurity and poverty in Africa.