An enduring commitment to sustainable agriculture and resilient communities

Figure: FAO field officer, Quincy Ybañez talks to Rodolfo Famisan, a coconut farmer from Leyte, who lost his livelihood during Typhoon Haiyan.

FAO: Celebrated every 19 August, World Humanitarian Day provides an annual reminder of the continuing need for collective action to alleviate suffering and want around the globe. It is also an occasion to honour the humanitarian workers and volunteers toiling on the frontlines of crises. Here, we reflect on FAO's activities in humanitarian situations and profile some of our team who are working in the field to build a world free from hunger.

A seed takes months to develop and grow before it yields its bounty, but conflict or natural disasters can — sometimes in a matter of seconds — wipe out an entire season's crop. And slow onset-crises like those associated with climate change sap fields and livestock, taking a steady toll on plant and animal health and culminating in "slow-motion" harvest failures.

Each year, millions of people who depend on the production, marketing and consumption of crops, livestock, fish, forests and other natural resources are confronted by a variety of disasters and crises that threaten either their food security, their livelihoods, or both. The repercussions can be felt at local, national and, at times, regional and global levels.

When the worst happens and people find themselves unable to feed or shelter themselves, humanitarian responses that provide emergency food, water, health and shelter represent critical, life-saving interventions.

However, the longer-term work that goes into helping communities build their resilience to such events, cope with them as they unfold, and recover once they subside, presents a unique set of challenges.

These are the challenges that FAO and its partners are wrestling with each day in places like Afghanistan, Central America's Dry Corridor, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

In 2016, 75 percent of the planet's poorest, most vulnerable people remain reliant on agriculture as their primary source of food and income.

Yet agricultural development, farming, livestock rearing are activities that require a considerable time investment. They are highly vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather, and perform best in times of peace. Planting and tending crops is hard work and can be a challenge just on its own — it is infinitely more difficult in conflict zones, or when extended droughts mean that the rains on which crops and animals depend, simply never come.

See: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/429733/icode/