The economy of Mindanao is dominated by the agriculture sector. With one-third of its land area devoted to agriculture, the island has been tagged as the country’s food basket. The majority of the country’s total production of high-value commodities, such as rubber, pineapple, banana and coffee, comes from Mindanao. It also supplies over 40 percent of the country’s food requirements and contributes more than 30 percent to the national food trade. The Department of Agriculture (DA) continues to stimulate productivity and gain wider market niches by harnessing emerging global opportunities for local producers. One such opportunity is the growing global market for Halal foods, known to be worth USD 2.95 billion for meat alone, which other non-Muslim countries such as Thailand, Australia, Brazil and Belgium have already successfully entered. In the 2004-2010 Medium Term Philippine Development Plan, Mindanao was cited as the part of the country most suited to the development of the Halal industry. The plan identified the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the only region with Muslim identity, as the focal area for Halal development. The Philippine Development Plan (2017-2022) aims to expand the economic opportunities of those currently engaged in producing agriculture, forestry and fisheries products and, at the same time, increase access to economic opportunities for small farmers and fishers in order to achieve inclusive growth. The government will also continue to promote climate change adaptation measures, organic agriculture, urban agriculture and Halal food production.

Women smallholder farmers often face complex social and economic barriers that prevent them from exercising agency and securing decent livelihoods. This Discussion Summary Paper draws from an online discussion co-hosted by Business Fights Poverty, Unilever and Oxfam, on how companies and their partners can recognize, value, and enhance the contributions of the hidden women on whom our global food supply systems depend. Read it to learn about the key levers of change, case studies and lessons learned, and how to collaborate for transformational change.

This project aimed to accelerate the adoption of Zero-Till seed drills (including the Happy Seeder) to reduce crop residue burning and boost sustainable food energy water security.

Stubble burning, combined with the traditional practice of tillage prior to crop establishment has a detrimental impact on soil health and quality. The development of Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices, characterised by the direct sowing of crop into standing (retained) stubble, is termed Zero-Till and provides a real alternative to traditional farming techniques. The Happy Seeder developed specifically for the intensive rice-wheat cropping system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (with significant project investment by ACIAR) is presented as the single most viable option for direct sowing of wheat crops into standing rice stubble. As State Governments move towards enforcing a ban of the burning of stubble across India, it is likely that there will be an increased motivation by farmers to adopt the Happy Seeder. However, experience to date has indicated that Happy Seeder adoption has been less than optimal, there is a need to identify how farmer adoption can be accelerated.

Over the past decades, there has been an extensive transformation in global agri-food value chains, resulting in advances in efficiency, food quality, and food safety. Despite this transformation, many farmers and labourers active as primary producers in these chains have not experienced improvements in their living standards. Based on a study conducted in 2020 by KIT Royal Tropical Institute and Oxfam Novib, this paper explores value chain approaches that reduce social inequality and enable smallholder farmers and labourers to have decent livelihoods.

The agricultural supply chains (ASCs) are exposed to unprecedented risks following COVID-19. It is necessary to investigate the impact of risks and to create resilient ASC organisations. In this study, we have identified and assessed the ASC risks caused by disruptions. These threats were assessed using Fuzzy Linguistic Quantifier Order Weighted Aggregation (FLQ-OWA). The findings reveal that supply risks, demand risks, financial risks, logistics and infrastructure risks, management and operational, policy and regulation, and biological and environmental risks have a significant impact in ASC depending upon the organisations scope and scale. Various strategies such as adoption of industry 4.0 technologies, supply chain collaboration and shared responsibility is identified for sustainable future. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided based on the outcomes of the study.