Nutrition-sensitive, food-based approaches towards hunger and malnutrition are effective, sustainable and long-term solutions. This book discusses the policy, strategic, methodological, technical and programmatic issues associated with such approaches, proposes “best practices” for the design, targeting, implementation and evaluation of specific nutrition-sensitive, food-based interventions and for improved methodologies for evaluating their efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and provides practical lessons for advancing nutrition-sensitive food-based approaches for improving nutrition at policy and programme level.

The fishing industry benefits the people and economies of the Pacific in various ways but the full value of these benefits is not reflected in the region's statistics. Records may be maintained but they are not complete, or accurate, or comparable. The research summarized in this report reaffirms the importance of this sector to the economies and societies of the Pacific island countries. The research reveals that the full value of fisheries is likely to have eluded statisticians, and therefore fisheries authorities, government decision makers, and donors. But its value has never escaped the fisher, fish trader, and fish processor. The difference in appreciation between public and private individuals must raise the question of whether fisheries are receiving adequate attention from the public sector---including the necessary management and protection, appropriate research, development, extension and training, and sufficient investment.

FAO has supported member countries to carry out their national agricultural censuses since 1945, through the development and dissemination of international standards, concepts, definitions and methodologies as well as technical assistance. In 2015, FAO published Volume 1 of the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020 (WCA 2020) “Programme, concepts and definitions”, the tenth decennial programme that provides guidelines for implementation of national agricultural censuses in the 2016-2025 decade. Volume 1 deals with the methodological and conceptual aspects of the census of agriculture. In addition to the use of international standards, the proper conduct of an agricultural census also depends on adequate planning, implementation, use of resources and quality assurance throughout all stages of the census. In light of this, Volume 2 of WCA 2020 “Operational guidelines” has been designed to guide national census practitioners responsible for conducting the agricultural census. It deals with the practical steps involved in actually conducting an agricultural census in the field. Volume 2 is a revised and updated edition of “Conducting Agricultural Censuses and Surveys”, published by FAO in 1996. The revision is opportune not only in view of the recent publication of the new census programme and methodology but also in view of the substantial changes witnessed in the census technological environment over the last two decades. The availability of digital, mobile and more affordable tools for data capture, geo-positioning, remote sensing imaging, digital archiving and online dissemination have provided new cost-effective alternatives to traditional ways of conducting the agricultural census.

The population and housing census is part of an integrated national statistical system, which may include other censuses (for example, agriculture), surveys, registers and administrative files. It provides, at regular intervals, the benchmark for population count at national and local levels. For small geographical areas or sub-populations, it may represent the only source of information for certain social, demographic and economic characteristics. For many countries the census also provides a solid framework to develop sampling frames. This publication represents one of the pillars for data collection on the number and characteristics of the population of a country.

This book examines the political and economic dimensions of food security in Bangladesh and assesses the role of the state in meeting the challenges of food security. The key concern, which is at the heart of this study, is to explore how Bangladesh responds, when its people go hungry. There are no detailed empirical studies that examine the Bangladesh’s role by providing an historical cum political analysis; however conventional approaches are primarily concerned with a partial diagnosis of the economic or nutritional problems of food security. The book then provides a detailed picture of the missing dimensions of state that include the strength of institutions, the scope of state functions, and other important attributes. In doing so, it uses the concept of neo-patrimonialism to explore the political system of Bangladesh. This book explicates the various impediments to food security, ranging from the process of policy formulation to their implementation mechanisms. It unpacks the structural weaknesses of the Bangladesh's institutional capacity in promoting food security, and, in the process, argues that the root cause of food insecurity is deeply embedded in the nature of the government itself, and the political institutions that link the state and society.