As global debates on food, equity and resilience accelerate, one story highlights who must be at the center. This episode of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Work We Do podcast highlights why women and youth are essential to transforming agrifood systems.

Lauren Phillips, FAO’s Director of Partnerships and UN Collaboration, discusses findings from FAO flagship reports on women’s central roles, persistent gaps in land, finance and opportunities, and why progress remains uneven. The conversation explores the International Year of the Woman Farmer, youth participation amid high global youth unemployment, and the financing gap. It makes the case for investing in women and youth as drivers of inclusive growth, resilience and food security.

Sonya Kirgizova, a respected farmer in Tajikistan’s Tojikobod region, has become a key leader in efforts to revive traditional crops and strengthen local agriculture. As more men migrate for work, women like Sonya now manage farms but often lack resources. Sonya partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to train women in gardening, greenhouses and beekeeping, and helped establish community seed banks that store climate‑resilient seeds. Women are now accessing seeds, earning income, reviving local varieties and seeing themselves as producers and decision‑makers.

At dawn, Maryam Gholam Alizadeh moves through her pistachio trees, reading the soil and leaves for signs in a landscape strained by heat and dwindling water. Though experienced, she sought new skills through trainings offered by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture, learning practical methods to use water more efficiently and prevent aflatoxin. Applying these techniques brought steadier harvests and renewed confidence. Today, she shares her knowledge with fellow growers, contributing to a broader effort that has strengthened hundreds of farmers across Iran’s pistachio heartlands.

Rural young people are vital to global development, with nearly half of the world’s 1.3 billion youth living in rural areas and brimming with entrepreneurial potential. Yet they often lack access to opportunities that enable them to thrive. Targeted investments, through IFAD’s youth-sensitive programmes, are unlocking that potential — creating jobs, fostering agribusiness leadership and strengthening rural economies. By nurturing skills, providing access to finance and connecting youth with markets, initiatives like Agribusiness Hubs empower young people to build sustainable futures in their communities rather than migrating elsewhere. These success stories underscore why investing in rural youth is essential for food security, economic growth and lasting stability.

In Georgia’s Kakheti region, 25-year-old viticulturist and winemaker Sophio Khutitdze is reshaping how grapes — and wine — are made. Trained in science and driven by a love of nature, she manages 40 hectares of vineyards, where quality starts with the grape, not the bottle. Through a UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project funded by the European Union and Sweden, she is using pheromone-based “mating disruption” to control the destructive European grapevine moth, cutting pesticide use while protecting yields and food safety. As a newly trained trainer, she now shares integrated vineyard management techniques with others, joining 23 wineries across four regions that are adopting sustainable practices. Discover how Sophio and her peers are transforming Georgia’s wine sector.

Marie Therese Zeidan, a farmer in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, symbolizes renewed hope for the future of chickpea production, a staple in Lebanese cuisine. While local production struggles to meet demand, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) One Country One Priority Product initiative aims to revive the sector through improved seed access, farmer training, and improved agronomic practices. Farmers are learning sustainable techniques, including winter chickpea varieties that boost yields. The initiative has trained over 520 farmers and created new chickpea products to enhance market potential, reinforcing local production's role in food security.

In Kyrgyzstan’s rugged Batken Province, 70-year-old farmer Urinisa Tillabaeva is proving that tough land can still grow bright futures. With a new greenhouse, drip irrigation, and hands-on training, she no longer waits out the long winter months—she harvests beyond the traditional season, boosting yields and turning tomatoes into steady income for her family. As a leader in a local women’s farming group, Urinisa Tillabaevais helping her community trade uncertainty for resilience—growing more and wasting less. She is among 4,500 farmers participating in a new World Food Programme (WFP) project aimed at boosting incomes and diets and adapting to deepening weather extremes in one of Central Asia’s most climate-vulnerable countries. 

In eastern Cameroon, the Baka people have traditionally relied on hunting and gathering, but recent climate shocks, economic instability, and conflicts have strained their resources. In Mayos, a village in Dimako district, many have faced food scarcity, forcing children to miss school to search for food. To address this crisis, from April 2024 to June 2025, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with the Cameroonian government and World Bank support, launched the Emergency Project to Combat the Food Crisis (PULCCA). This initiative provided training in modern agricultural techniques and distributed production kits, blending traditional knowledge with new practices to enhance food security for the Baka community.

Communities in Tajikistan are reviving ancestral seeds and protecting agrobiodiversity, with FAO support helping farmers and women’s groups restore traditional crops, boost livelihoods, and strengthen resilience.

In southern Brazil, a drink symbolizes connection; the cuia, a traditional vessel for chimarrão (erva-mate), fosters conversation and community. This drink carries not just warmth but also cultural memory and environmental wisdom. In Parana State, erva-mate is sustainably cultivated within native forests, supporting local livelihoods over generations. This approach allows agriculture to coexist with the forest rather than clear it. Brazil, alongside Argentina and Paraguay, stands as a major global producer and exporter of erva-mate, linking cultural heritage with international markets.

This video features submissions to the “Global Call for Stories: Family farmers at the heart of climate-resilient and sustainable agrifood systems,” organized by FAO’s Family Farming Knowledge Platform and Engagement Units, in collaboration with allies including Access Agriculture, Access Agriculture, Agricultural Extension in South Asia (AESA), Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), CIRAD, EncontrAR, Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), Platform of Latin America and the Caribbean for Climate Action on Agriculture (PLACA), Schola Campesina, and the World Rural Forum.

Land, soil, and water are essential for agriculture and food security, but they face severe pressure due to human activities. Over 60% of human-induced land degradation occurs on agricultural lands, while agriculture utilizes over 70% of global freshwater withdrawal. The new edition of The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources highlights the urgent issues of land degradation, water scarcity, and climate change, and their effects on agricultural productivity and ecosystems. It explores sustainable solutions and integrated approaches for sustainable land, soil and water use and management emphasizing the importance of our current choices to ensure resource protection and meet future demands.

As dawn breaks over the Ororubá Mountains in Pernambuco, Brazil, Indigenous youth from the Xukuru do Ororubá people work in a nursery, reviving native plant species, especially those with medicinal value. Led by Ângela Neves Pereira (“Bella”), they aim to restore not just the land but their cosmogony, identity, culture and balance. Since 2023, the Xukuru people and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have collaborated on Indigenous Peoples' biocentric restoration, a method that prioritizes the well-being of all living things within an ecosystem. Supported by Brazil’s government and FAO’s AIM4Forests programme, this initiative enhances Indigenous knowledge and aims to restore at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030.