Farming First guide to food security for G8 Summit

In the runup to the next G8 meeting, Farming First - an advocacy group for sustainable agriculture - has launched a guide to the many initiatives working for food security.

Download the guide or learn more by using the interactive food security map.

Information specialists might be interested to see the widespread use of social media tools - blogs, facebook, twitter, RSS, etc - on their website.

REDSAN: FAO lanza una Red de Intercambio de Conocimiento en Seguridad Alimentaria

La REDSAN es una red de intercambio de conocimiento, integrada por científicos y profesionales de diferentes disciplinas relacionadas a la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional. Se trata de un iniciativa promovida por FAO, que lanzó su portal web el pasado 10 de noviembre: www.redsan.org.

En dicho portal, los integrantes pueden participar de las discusiones del blog y de los foros, y postular al concurso de investigación. Además, pueden publicar sus investigaciones en la base de artículos, informarse sobre fondos concursables de investigación y enterarse de conferencias, seminarios y eventos.

Además, a partir del jueves 19 de noviembre se dio inicio el foro de discusión virtual de la REDSAN, cuyo tema es la versión corta de la Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA).

ITU Technology Watch Report: ICTs and Food Security

This report from the ITU examines some ways that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are being used to address the problems of food security and hunger.

From the conclusion:

"ICTs are used by many international organizations for mapping and monitoring world food supplies, early warning systems, and to respond when disasters strike."

"In developing countries, the use of ICTs by farmers and the rural population to overcome hunger and food security remains in early stages. The mobile phone revolution, especially the growth of mobile penetration in developing countries, offers new opportunities to benefit farmers and agricultural production. Better access to weather, market and price information can have an impact on the incomes of farmers and fishermen. However, the full potential of ICTs to address food security has yet to be realized."

"In developed countries, ubiquitous sensor networks and radio-frequency identification applications are leaving the university and research labs to be deployed in the fields and food supply chains. Standards for the better design and implementation of USN using wired and wireless sensor networks could increase ICT use in agriculture. To lessen the risk of unsafe food, RFID tags and further standardization in this area can heighten compatibility between tags in different countries, which would ensure an effective global use of the tags for food tracking."

Distance learning on food security information reporting and analysis

The EC-FAO Food Security Information for Action Programme has produced some useful distance learning courses on different aspects of food security information. The courses are mainly designed for self-paced learning, with no personal instruction. They use the latest instructional methods in e-learning such as: personal learning paths, illustrative case studies, learner tracking, and interactive tests and exercises.

The module on 'Reporting Food Security Information' provides guidance in designing, writing and increasing the impact of food security reports in different contexts. The 4 lessons are:

• Understanding the User's Information Needs - how to design effective food security reports for decision makers by focusing on their information needs.
• Reporting for Results - how to write food security reports aimed at producing results by providing decision makers with actionable recommendations.
• Writing Effective Reports - organizing and presenting food security information.
• Reporting Formats for Food Security - selecting the right format and structure for a food security report based on its purpose and context.

Another module gives information on 'Food Security Information Systems and Networks.' It explains how to understand the main objectives of a food security information system, how key components of food security information systems support decision making processes, provides guidance in determining the types of organizations responsible for food security data collection, analysis and reporting, and illustrates how to identify the steps needed to assess and improve different information systems concerned with food security analysis.

Tags: agricultural information food security reporting distance learning training