The Food Security and Nutrition Network resource library features practical implementation-focused guides, tools, and training materials in a number of relevant program areas. You can browse the library by topic or view the newest, highest rated, most downloaded or FSN Network recommended materials. If you know what you are looking for you can also search by author or title.

We welcome submissions of new resources from the community. Please remember we are looking for high-quality, published materials, that offer guidance for improved food security and nutrition implementation.

Growth and Poverty Reduction Impacts of Public Investments in Agriculture and Rural Areas: Assessment Techniques, Tools, and Guide for Practitioners

Download

This guide lays out a conceptual and empirical framework for a holistic assessment of the economy-wide, growth and poverty reduction impacts of public investments in agriculture and rural areas. It shows how the framework and results of the analysis can be used for budgeting, monitoring and evaluating public investments and poverty reduction strategies to achieve stated development objectives.

Authors: 
Sam Benin
Alejandro Nin Pratt
Shenggen Fan
Clemens Breisinger
Tewodaj Mogues
James Thurlow
Xinshen Diao
Organizational Authors: 
ReSAKSS
Year Published: 
2008
No votes yet
Categories:

Farmer’s Awareness Building on Proper Application Method and Dose of Fertilizer, Micronutrient, Insecticide and Pesticide (Supply-Side and Demand Assessment)

Download

This short questionnaire provides a good example for surveying agricultural markets. It is useful for practitioners, business owners, or donor agencies interested in understanding both the demand and supply of agricultural markets. This particular questionnaire is useful for understanding the awareness of the benefits of fertilizer for vegetable farmers.

Organizational Authors: 
IDE
Year Published: 
2006
No votes yet
Categories:

Gender-Disaggregated Data for Agriculture and Rural Development: Gudie for Facilitators

Download

This guide contains several materials useful to facilitators planning and conducting a workshop on gender-disaggregated data for agriculture and rural development, whether long or short, focusing on data tabulation and analysis or questionnaire design, or intended for more technical staff or decision-makers.

Organizational Authors: 
FAO
Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis Programme
Year Published: 
2003
No votes yet
Categories:

Facilitating the Development of Outgrowing Operations: A Manual

Download

The principle objective of this manual is to provide development organizations with knowledge and tools that can assist them build the capacity of companies to develop and operate mutually beneficial outgrowing operations with farmers. The manual is divided into five sections, including: Question Guides; General Lessons Learned; Role of the Development Organization in Facilitating the Development of Outgrowing Operations; and Intervention Briefs. Case studies are also included.

Organizational Authors: 
USAID
Action for Enterprise
Year Published: 
2009
No votes yet
Categories:

Increasing the Competitiveness of Market Chains for Small-Scale Rural Producers

Download

This manual is the third in a series designed to support agencies implementing a territorial approach to rural business development. The manual series currently includes:

1. A guide to developing partnerships and territorial characterization

2. A guide to identifying market opportunities for smallholder producers and processors

3. Strategies to improve the competitiveness of market chains for smallholder producers

4. Collective marketing for small-scale producers

5. A guide to evaluating and strengthening Rural Business Development Services.

Authors: 
Mark Lundy
María Verónica Gottret
William Cifuentes
Carlos Felipe Ostertag
Rupert Best
Dai Peters
Shaun Ferris
Organizational Authors: 
Rural Agro-enterprise Development Project
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Year Published: 
2004
No votes yet
Categories:

Appetite for Change: Reinventing the Global Food System

Download

This tool discusses how the global food and agriculture system needs to be redefined and adapt to changing world conditions to produce enough food, both safely and sustainably. It pulls ideas and innovative practices from the corporate side, development community and public sector, in addition to providing clear recommendations. It asks a number of questions: Is the private sector ready to embrace a new vision and play a central role in transforming the global food system so that it adequately addresses the increasingly critical issues of food security and sustainability? What role can and should companies play in this transformation — for the good of consumers, producers and their own bottom lines?

Authors: 
Jennifer Biringer
Mark Lee
Elvira Thissen
Organizational Authors: 
SustainAbility
Year Published: 
2011
No votes yet
Categories:

Missing Food: The Case of Postharvest Grain Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa

Download

While the profile of PHL has been raised for a number of commodities in SSA, this report focuses on grains, which still constitute the basis for food security for the majority of the population in the region and are a vital component in the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Crop production is estimated to account for roughly 70 percent of typical incomes, of which grain crops account for about 37 percent, on average. Recorded production amounts to 112 million tons per year, although records for some crops and some countries are not available. Most grains are produced and consumed by small farming households.

Organizational Authors: 
World Bank
Natural Resources Institute
FAO
Year Published: 
2011
No votes yet
Categories:

Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Essentials for Non-Specialist Development Professionals

Download

This follow-up paper to the 2020 conference Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health, Delhi 2011 outlines basic concepts and definitions, tools and indicators, and common interventions used by each development sector, in order to provide a baseline level of knowledge and understanding on which to build dialogue and collaboration.

Authors: 
Jody Harris
Organizational Authors: 
IFPRI
Year Published: 
2011
No votes yet
Categories:

Climate, Agriculture and Food Security: A Strategy for Change

Download

This report outlines climate change and agricultural issues that are diminishing food security. It discusses the critical juncture we're in to do international agricultural research and provides a framework for action, including policy and communications challenges and strategies for change.

Authors: 
Anne Moorhead
Organizational Authors: 
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
Danish International Development Agency
Challenge Program on Climate Change
Agriculture and Food Security
Year Published: 
2009
No votes yet
Categories:

Seed Aid for Seed Security - Advice for Security Practitioners

Download

Seed-based agricultural recovery is more complex than commonly assumed. These ten practice briefs offer advice on how to sustain and strengthen seed systems during disaster response and recovery periods. Up-to-date technical information addresses issues such as introducing new varieties, protecting agrobiodiversity, and exploiting market opportunities during periods of acute and chronic stress. Specific aid-response tools are also offered, including methods for assessing seed system security, guidelines for learning-focused evaluations, and checklists to ensure quality in seed-aid proposal development. The briefs were prepared by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and Catholic Relief Services, with CARE Norway.

Organizational Authors: 
USAID
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Catholic Relief Services
CARE Norway
No votes yet
Categories:

Quality Improvement & Verification Checklists: Online Training Module, Training Files, Slides, QIVCs, etc.

Download

Quality Improvement and Verification Checklists (QIVCs) provide a detailed check of development workers’ performance on their key processes in order to monitor and improve their performance, identify “system problems,” and to encourage them.  QIVCs are being used in many countries throughout the world to improve key processes.&

Authors: 
Thomas Davis
Organizational Authors: 
FH
FSN Network
TOPS
Year Published: 
2012
Your rating: None Average: 4.6 (5 votes)
Categories:

Leveraging Municipal Government Support for Agricultural Value Chains in Nicaragua

Download

This resource, from Catholic Relief Services (CRS), outlines their 4-phase strategy for creating a value-chain-friendly environment. Until recently, municipal governments in Nicaragua had not considered agricultural development to be part of their institutional mandate, making it difficult for small producers to competitively engage in agricultural value chains. CRS and its partners created the Alliance to Create Opportunities for Rural Development through Agroenterprise Relationships (ACORDAR) project in 2007. Since then, ACORDAR has helped more than 3,000 Nicaraguan farmers achieve a 98 percent increase in sales and a 117 percent increase in net income.

Authors: 
Jefferson Shriver
Jorge Manuel Brenes Abdalah
Organizational Authors: 
Catholic Relief Services
Year Published: 
2012
Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)
Categories:

Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook

Download

The Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs.

Organizational Authors: 
World Bank
FAO
IFAD
Year Published: 
2009
Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)
Categories:

Quality Improvement & Verification Checklists: Online Training Module, Training Files, Slides, QIVCs, etc.

Download

Quality Improvement and Verification Checklists (QIVCs) provide a detailed check of development workers’ performance on their key processes in order to monitor and improve their performance, identify “system problems,” and to encourage them.  QIVCs are being used in many countries throughout the world to improve key processes.&

Authors: 
Thomas Davis
Organizational Authors: 
FH
FSN Network
TOPS
Year Published: 
2012
Your rating: None Average: 4.6 (5 votes)
Categories:

Challenging chains to change - Gender equity in agricultural value chain development

Download

This book provides numerous examples of how program implementers have included women in value chain activities including production and marketing.  Chapters within this 300+page book include the analytical framework, mitigating resistance by building on tradition, creating space for women, organizing for change, standards/certifications/labels, and gender responsible business.

Organizational Authors: 
Royal Tropical Institute
Agri-ProFocus
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction
Year Published: 
2012
Your rating: None Average: 4 (1 vote)
Categories:

Using Cascade Groups for Promotion of Agricultural Practices for Women Farmers Presentation

Care Groups are a type of cascade group that speficically were created for use in MCH programs. This presentation is based on the question "Can a similar Cascade Group Methodology be applied to boost adoption of agricultural practices of women?" Please click here to view slides.

Organizational Authors: 
Food for the Hungry
Year Published: 
2010
Your rating: None Average: 4 (1 vote)
Categories:

Integrating Very Poor Producers into Value Chains Field Guide

Download

This guide provides the field-level practitioner with tools and applications to reach very poor households. The intended outcome of the resource is to have greater market engagement for very poor households through enterprise development activities.

The guide focuses on allowing practitioners to more effectively reach the very poor, defined as those persons in the bottom half of the population below the nationally defined poverty line or those living on less than the purchasing power parity equivalent of $1 per day.

Value chain development methodologies have been used widely in enterprise and market development. Donors such as USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID, GIZ and AusAID have supported this work. For development organisations, value chain development tools have been helpful, but many of the tools have not been specifically designed to support or benefit very poor producers.

Organizational Authors: 
FHI 360
World Vision
Year Published: 
2012
Your rating: None Average: 1 (1 vote)
Categories:

Green Manure/Cover Crops and Crop Rotation in Conservation Agriculture on Small Farms

Download

Soil degradation on small farms in the Eastern Region of Paraguay is the principal cause of a continuous decrease in crop production. The consequences of this are reduced economic income and increased poverty among rural families. Management measures to maintain soil fertility on small farms in Paraguay should be oriented toward the utilization of practices that maximize biomass production while minimizing its decomposition. These practices together are referred to as “conservation agriculture” and explored in this paper.

Authors: 
Miguel Angel Florentín
Marcos Peñalva
Ademir Calegari
Rolf Derpsch
Melissa J. McDonald
Organizational Authors: 
FAO
Year Published: 
2011
No votes yet
Categories:

USAID/Uganda Agricultural Sector Pesticide Procedures Guide: Compliance and Capacity Building

Download

This study reviews projects, ascertains the extent of pesticide use, and provides a guide to facilitate compliance with regulatory procedures. This guide reviews 13 projects and the pesticide-related activities (delineated in Reg. 216) that would trigger an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) are identified.

Authors: 
George A. Schaefers
Robert C. Hedlund
Samuel Kyamanywa
Organizational Authors: 
U.S. Agency for International Development/Uganda
Year Published: 
1999
No votes yet
Categories:

The Economics of Conservation Agriculture

Download

Conservation agriculture is an innovative approach for improving resource use in sustainable production. Its benefits include reduced inputs, more stable yields, improved soil nutrient exchange and enhanced long-run profitability. This study examines the financial and non-financial factors that affect the adoption and success of conservation agriculture at farm, national and global levels. Conscious of the possible divergence between private and social interests, it highlights the importance of farmers' objectives and motives, the collective dimension and the role of policy. In calling for improved policy analysis and information for decision-making, it recommends the development of sustainability indicators and a whole-farm approach to analysis.

Organizational Authors: 
FAO
Year Published: 
2001
No votes yet
Categories:

Diseases of Economic Importance in Small Ruminants in Sub-Saharan Africa

Download

Diseases of small ruminants affect the incomes of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa by reducing productivity or through loss of the animal. This is a collection of slides and accompanying text that will help identify symptoms of the diseases.

Authors: 
H.Ibtahim
S.Tembely
Organizational Authors: 
International Livestock Research Institute
Year Published: 
1999
No votes yet
Categories:

Conservation Farming & Conservation Agriculture Handbooks - 2007 Edition

Download

Conservation Farming & Conservation Agriculture Handbook for Ox Farmers in Agro-Ecological Regions l & lla 2007 Edition has recommendations that will increase crop yields, reduce production costs and improve the fer tility of their soils. They will also be in a better position to confront the threat of climate change and will regenerate the environments in which they live. The farming systems recommended are practical and can be easily understood and adopted by all serious farmers.

Conservation Farming & Conservation Agriculture Handbook for HOE Farmer s in Agro Ecological Regions I & IIa - Flat Culture 2007 Edition is for those who follow flat culture rather than ridge culture. The results of Conservation Farming (CF) speak for themselves and many thousands of small-scale farmers in Zambia are now benefiting from these simple practices. This Handbook also explains the principles of Conservation Agriculture (CA). If conservation farmers adopt CA, the benefits to them will be even greater. If farmers are to reap the many benefits of CF and CA it is essential that they are carefully trained in the basic practices.

Organizational Authors: 
Conservation Farming Unit
Year Published: 
2007
No votes yet
Categories:

Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Project: Evaluation Report

Download

The Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development project was the largest organic agriculture project in Lebanon. The three-year project was designed and implemented by World Vision Lebanon to improve the quality of living of Lebanese farmers. This final evaluation explores impact, challenges, key lessons learned, and recommendations.

Authors: 
Alexander Horst
Rodolph Abougebrael
Organizational Authors: 
World Vision International, Lebanon
USAID
Year Published: 
2006
No votes yet
Categories:

Disease Control in Cassava Farms

Download

This field guide details how to: recognize common cassava diseases and specify their causes, specify how the diseases damage cassava plants, identify the sources of cassava diseases, and understand how cassava diseases spread, and combine appropriate practices to control cassava diseases and grow a healthy crop of cassava.

Authors: 
Weston Msikita
Braima James
Emmanuel Nnodu
James Legg
Kerstin Wydra
Francis Ogbe
Organizational Authors: 
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
Year Published: 
2000
No votes yet
Categories:

Farmer’s Awareness Building on Proper Application Method and Dose of Fertilizer, Micronutrient, Insecticide and Pesticide (Supply-Side and Demand Assessment)

Download

This short questionnaire provides a good example for surveying agricultural markets. It is useful for practitioners, business owners, or donor agencies interested in understanding both the demand and supply of agricultural markets. This particular questionnaire is useful for understanding the awareness of the benefits of fertilizer for vegetable farmers.

Organizational Authors: 
IDE
Year Published: 
2006
No votes yet
Categories:

Starting a Cassava Farm

Download

This field guide details how to: select good sites for cassava farms, improve soils for good cassava growth, select suitable cassava varieties for planting, and select, prepare, and plant healthy cassava stem cuttings.

Authors: 
Braima James
John Yaninek
Ambe Tumanteh
Norbert Maroya
Alfred Dixon
Rasaq Salawu
Joseph Kwarteng
Organizational Authors: 
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
Year Published: 
2000
No votes yet
Categories:

Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems (SUCCESS): A Component of the Global Integrated Management of Coastal and Freshwater Systems (IMCAFS) Program

Download

This guide focuses on the use of small-scale, no-take zones—known as community-based marine protected areas—for the purpose of improved management of cockle fisheries. Cockles are an important resource, especially in coastal and island populations, where they provide food and income for thousands of families worldwide. In many parts of the world, expanding populations and the opening of commercial markets has led to increased collection of cockles. The increased rate of collection then leads to overharvesting and declining stocks and catches as well as declining income for harvesters and food availability for coastal communities.

Organizational Authors: 
USAID
Coastal Resources Center
University of Rhode Island
EcoCostas
UCA
Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association
Conservation International
The Nature Conservancy
World Wildlife Fund
The Sea Grant Network
Year Published: 
2005
No votes yet
Categories:

Increasing the Competitiveness of Market Chains for Small-Scale Rural Producers

Download

This manual is the third in a series designed to support agencies implementing a territorial approach to rural business development. The manual series currently includes:

1. A guide to developing partnerships and territorial characterization

2. A guide to identifying market opportunities for smallholder producers and processors

3. Strategies to improve the competitiveness of market chains for smallholder producers

4. Collective marketing for small-scale producers

5. A guide to evaluating and strengthening Rural Business Development Services.

Authors: 
Mark Lundy
María Verónica Gottret
William Cifuentes
Carlos Felipe Ostertag
Rupert Best
Dai Peters
Shaun Ferris
Organizational Authors: 
Rural Agro-enterprise Development Project
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Year Published: 
2004
No votes yet
Categories:

Integrated Crop Management—Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Crop Intensification in Lesotho

Download

This case study draws on the data collected by FAO in 2006 to illustrate the impact of likoti on sustainable crop intensification in the southeastern highlands of Qacha’s Nek district and in the western lowlands of Butha-Buthe and Berea. According to these data, the adoption of likoti has brought about significant advantages compared to conventional tillage.

Authors: 
Laura Silici
Organizational Authors: 
FAO
Year Published: 
2010
No votes yet
Categories:

Integrating Household Nutrition and Food Security Objectives into Proposed Agriculture Projects: Illustrative Guidance

Download

This guidance helps agriculture project designers build nutrition and food security objectives into their projects rather than leave positive impacts to chance. By following this guidance during the initial planning stages, project designers can enhance nutritional impact and food security of vulnerable groups.

Organizational Authors: 
USAID
IYCN Project
Year Published: 
2011
No votes yet
Categories:

Integrating Very Poor Producers into Value Chains Field Guide

Download

This guide provides the field-level practitioner with tools and applications to reach very poor households. The intended outcome of the resource is to have greater market engagement for very poor households through enterprise development activities.

The guide focuses on allowing practitioners to more effectively reach the very poor, defined as those persons in the bottom half of the population below the nationally defined poverty line or those living on less than the purchasing power parity equivalent of $1 per day.

Value chain development methodologies have been used widely in enterprise and market development. Donors such as USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID, GIZ and AusAID have supported this work. For development organisations, value chain development tools have been helpful, but many of the tools have not been specifically designed to support or benefit very poor producers.

Organizational Authors: 
FHI 360
World Vision
Year Published: 
2012
Your rating: None Average: 1 (1 vote)
Categories:

Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health Conference Briefs

Download

In February 2011, IFPRI convened a conference in New Delhi to explore the theme, "Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health." The briefs give a manageable but in-depth look at the relation between the conference theme and diverse topics such as gender, sectoral coordination and issues in nutrition and health along the value chain. They also present evidence based arguments for this renewed focus on the need to leverage agriculture to improve nutrition and health which is on the minds of academics, practitioners and donors alike - useful background for proposals.

Organizational Authors: 
IFPRI
Year Published: 
2011
No votes yet
Categories:

Leveraging Municipal Government Support for Agricultural Value Chains in Nicaragua

Download

This resource, from Catholic Relief Services (CRS), outlines their 4-phase strategy for creating a value-chain-friendly environment. Until recently, municipal governments in Nicaragua had not considered agricultural development to be part of their institutional mandate, making it difficult for small producers to competitively engage in agricultural value chains. CRS and its partners created the Alliance to Create Opportunities for Rural Development through Agroenterprise Relationships (ACORDAR) project in 2007. Since then, ACORDAR has helped more than 3,000 Nicaraguan farmers achieve a 98 percent increase in sales and a 117 percent increase in net income.

Authors: 
Jefferson Shriver
Jorge Manuel Brenes Abdalah
Organizational Authors: 
Catholic Relief Services
Year Published: 
2012
Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)
Categories:

Livestock Keepers - Guardians of Biodiversity

Download

The purpose of this booklet is to provide an overview of the role of small-scale livestock keepers in the sustainable management of animal genetic resources and provide suggestions on how this role could be strengthened for the benefit of livestock biodiversity and poverty alleviation.

Organizational Authors: 
FAO
Year Published: 
2009
No votes yet
Categories:

Livestock’s Long Shadow Environmental Issues and Options

Download

This in-depth assessment explores the significant impacts of the world’s livestock sector on the environment—to help raise attention towards the substantial contribution of animal agriculture to climate change and air pollution, it’s impact on land, soil, and water degradation, and to the reduction of biodiversity. The paper includes technical and policy-related action to address these impacts.

Organizational Authors: 
LEAD
FAO
Year Published: 
2006
No votes yet
Categories:

Mainstreaming Gender Sensitivity in Cash Crop Market Supply Chains

Download

This paper considers the impact of gender specific constraints on the production and marketing of cash crops. Assessing the nature of female involvement in cash crop production is important, not just because it differs from the production of other crops, but because cash crop production holds significant potential as a means by which rural households can improve their welfare. Through a combination of review and original data analysis, this paper stresses the point that women are equally productive as men and receive equal prices to men, when they farm with the same resources and sell their crops in the same way.

Authors: 
Ruth Vargas Hill
Marcella Vigneri
Organizational Authors: 
Agricultural Development Economics Division
FAO
Year Published: 
2011
No votes yet
Categories:

Making the Most of Agricultural Investment: A Survey of Business Models that Provide Opportunities for Smallholders

Download

Drawing on a literature review, this report explores the range of business models that can be used to structure agricultural investments in lower- and middle-income countries, and that provide an alternative to large-scale land acquisitions.

Authors: 
Sonja Vermeulen
Lorenzo Cotula
Organizational Authors: 
IIED
FAO
IFAD
SAC
Year Published: 
2010
No votes yet
Categories: