9 July 2012, Rome - FAO opened a new liaison office for cooperatives and producer organizations today in order to revitalize the Organization's collaboration with these organizations worldwide.

The opening comes a few days after the International Day of Cooperatives, celebrated on Saturday, July 7.

"We are confident that this liaison office will allow cooperatives and producer organizations to have a stronger voice as FAO's key [...]

6 July 2012, Rome - The world needs to take a hard look at speculation on the financial markets and its potential impact on food price volatility, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today at a high-level debate on the issue at FAO Headquarters in Rome.

"While there has been much analysis of food price volatility, including at FAO, more understanding is still needed, especially concerning the impacts [...]

5 July 2012, Rome - The FAO Food Price Index fell for the third consecutive month in June 2012, dipping 1.8 percent from May to its lowest level since September 2010. The four-point drop in June brought the index to 201 points from a revised level of 205 points in May 2012.

The index now stands at 15.4 percent below its peak in February 2011. The average prices of [...]

29th June 2012 , Colón, El Salvador - Salvador’s Secretary of Social Inclusion (SIS) and First Lady, Vanda Pignato, and the Director-General of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, inaugurated the programme Ciudad Mujer (Women’s City): Growing Future and Hope.

The representatives of both institutions signed a cooperation agreement that establishes that FAO will give technical assistance to start up the farming programme for Ciudad Mujer users, in Colón, [...]

21 June 2012, Rio de Janeiro - FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva today warmly welcomed the “Zero Hunger Challenge” announced by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

“Big problems call for bold goals. The Zero Hunger Challenge can help us mobilize political commitment, the first step to eradicate hunger,” Graziano da Silva said at a high-level meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

“This is a personal challenge from the [...]

21 June 2012, Rio de Janeiro - The European Union is contributing €5 million (6.5 million dollars) towards the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, FAO announced today, at a high-level ministerial meeting on the plant treaty at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

The Benefit-sharing Fund helps farmers in developing countries manage crop diversity for food security and climate [...]

Rio de Janeiro, 21 June 2012 - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that countries were seizing the moment to transform our goals of sustainable development into action at the Rio+20 Conference.
 
"The common vision that is emerging from the Rio+20 document that countries are negotiating reflects the urgencies we have today: the urgency to end hunger and extreme poverty, while preserving the environment and our natural resources. [...]

San José del Cabo, México, 19 de junio 2012 - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva urged world leaders to maintain food and nutritional security as a priority on the G20 agenda in the years to come.

Speaking during the plenary of the G20 Leaders' Summit, Graziano da Silva said: "Hunger is a persistent problem affecting over 900 million human beings worldwide", adding: "The efforts of all G20 [...]

20 June 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Rome - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and Bioversity International have issued the following statement on the occasion of the Rio+20 conference.

FAO, IFAD, WFP and Bioversity- Joint statement on Rio+20

We stand at a crossroads: it lies within our reach to eliminate hunger and poverty, using methods that do [...]

19 June 2012, Rome - The UN food agencies based in Rome have expressed the wish that G20 leaders meeting in Mexico redouble their efforts to fight hunger. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have issued the following statement on the occasion of the G20 Summit in Mexico:

"FAO-IFAD-WFP - Joint Statement at the outset of [...]