The annual FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) was conducted from 3 to 14 December 2023 to estimate the annual cereal production during 2023 and assess the overall food security situation in the country. [Author] The CFSAM reviewed the findings of 36 crop assessment missions conducted at planting and harvesting time between June and November 2023 in different agroecological zones of the country. [Author] Using standard CFSAM procedures, the Task Force teams reviewed secondary sources of information regarding the main factors that affected crop performance during the 2023 agricultural season, estimated the aggregate national cereal production and assessed the overall food security situation. [Author] Where access in some areas was too dangerous due to high levels of insecurity, telephone interviews with key informants were carried out to obtain information about crop performance. [Author] After the signature of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan in September 2018, there has been a significant number of returns of displaced farming households, which contributed to the production increases. [Author] Therefore, the cessation of all hostilities and the implementation of the agreement is the primary recommendation to ensure and sustain progress in terms of agricultural activities to improve the country’s food security situation. [Author] While recognizing the complexity of the reconciliation and peace‑building process, the following recommendations are made on the basis that the national peace deal continues to hold, for a better future of the people of South Sudan. [Author]

The annual FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) was conducted from 1 to 16 December 2022 to estimate the cereal production in South Sudan during 2022 and assess the overall food security situation in the country. The CFSAM reviewed the findings of several crop assessment missions conducted at planting and harvest time from June to November 2022 in different agroecological zones of the country. All missions were carried out by a crop assessment Task Force Team comprising staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the respective State Ministry of Agriculture (SMoA). Task Force Team members were trained to conduct rapid assessments using established CFSAM instruments, protocols and techniques, including walking transects, scoring standing crops and livestock body conditions according to the Pictorial Evaluation Tool (PET),ii crop cuttings to assess yields, performing key informant interviews and farmer case studies. After the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan in September 2018, there has been a significant number of returns of displaced farming households, which contributed to the production increases. Therefore, the cessation of all hostilities and the implementation of the agreement is the primary recommendation to progress in terms of agricultural development in order to improve the country’s food security situation. While understanding the complexity of the reconciliation and peace-building process, the recommendations are made assuming that the national peace deal continues to hold, for a better future for the people of South Sudan.

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.

Between 2 and 17 January 2024, following a request by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoA&F), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in close cooperation with the Food Security Technical Secretariat (FSTS) and the State Ministries of Agriculture, carried out its annual Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) to estimate the 2023 crop production and assess the food supply situation throughout the 18 states of the country. The report's recommendations are to provide immediate response to the needs of the population most affected by acute food insecurity as well as to support the recovery of the agriculture sector, increasing food production and farmers’ incomes, and enhancing efficiency along the value chain to reduce production costs.

Between 11 and 31 December 2022, following a request by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF), the Food Security Technical Secretariat (FSTS), assisted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Animal Resources and Fishery (MoARF), the Strategic Reserve Corporation (SRCo), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), carried out its annual Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) to determine the 2022 crop production and the food supply situation throughout the 18 states of the country. Field visits were designed to collect data and information from state ministries and irrigation schemes and to audit it through transects, field observations and interviews with farmers and independent key informants. The aim of the recommendations is to strengthen domestic production, to improve food security and to enhance market functioning in the country.

On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously changing landscape. And agriculture continues to absorb a disproportionate share of the damage and loss wrought by disasters. Their growing frequency and intensity, along with the systemic nature of risk, are upending people’s lives, devastating livelihoods, and jeopardizing our entire food system. This report makes a powerful case for investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction – especially data gathering and analysis for evidence informed action – to ensure agriculture’s crucial role in achieving the future we want.

An FAO Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) visited all main food producing areas in Timor-Leste from 27 April to 9 May 2021 to estimate the 2021 crop production and the import requirements during the 2021/22 marketing year (April/March). The Mission’s aim was to provide an accurate picture of severity and extent of the shocks that affected the agriculture sector in 2021 and identify the country’s main agricultural support needs until the next harvest. In particular, as officially requested by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF), the CFSAM assessed the impact of the tropical storm and floods as well as FAW and ASF outbreaks on the agriculture sector.

International food aid has rightly been credited with saving millions of lives and is often the only thing that stands between vulnerable people and death. However, it was a serious obstacle in the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations and has been sharply criticised as a donor-driven response that creates dependency on the part of recipients and undermines local agricultural producers and traders upon whom sustainable food security depends. This issue of the 'State of Food and Agriculture' report examines the issues and controversies surrounding international food aid, particularly in crisis situations. It considers the ways in which food aid can support sustainable improvements in food security, in order to preserve its essential humanitarian role whilst minimising the possibility of harmful secondary impacts.

At the request of the government, a joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) visited the country from 24 June to 14 July 2023 to estimate the 2023 crop production, forecast cereal import requirements for the 2023/24 marketing year (July/June). The mission held extensive meetings to discuss the status of the agricultural sector and the 2023 production prospects with staff of various relevant government institutions, in particular the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the Agency on Statistics (AoS) under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Agency for Hydrometeorology (AfH) under the Committee of Environmental Protection and the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation (ALRI). In addition, the mission held consultations with staff of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The mission proposes a series of cost-effective measures to address some of the most pressing structural challenges to the agricultural sector with a view to contributing to national food security objectives and strengthening agricultural resilience of the agricultural sector in line with the National Development Strategy.