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Chengdu – Farmers, experts and development partners agree that training and capacity building are urgently needed to support efforts for improved rural production and raising livelihoods of families affected by the May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province, FAO said today.Damage caused by the earthquake to rural production is estimated at close to USD 50 billion, and the immediate and medium-term needs of the affected population are considerable: hundreds of...

Jakarta - Established talents and rising stars from Indonesia’s media celebrated the opening of an exhibition of their work at the national launch of the FAO and Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture 'Media Partnership Project: Human Faces of Avian Influenza'.Well-known novelist/singer Dewi Lestari hosted the event at a packed Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara (Antara Gallery) in Jakarta. She was joined by the 13 successful media partners and an enthusiastic crowd of...

Kabul - The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) with collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is hosting the 26th session of the Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in Southwest Asia (SWAC) which will be held in Kabul on 15-17 December 2008. The SWAC was established on 15 December 1964 and has four member countries - Afghanistan, India, Iran and Pakistan.Representatives from...

Low yields because of lack of fertilizer and fuelRome - Around 40 percent of the population of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), an estimated 8.7 million people, mostly young children, pregnant and nursing women and the elderly, will urgently need food assistance because of an expected cereals deficit in the coming months, FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a joint report today.Despite favourable climate conditions...

Rome - The United States will provide an additional $44.4 million in support of FAO's avian influenza control and prevention campaign, FAO announced today.With the new funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), US support to the FAO avian influenza programme has reached a total of $112.8 million. The United States remains the largest donor to FAO's bird flu control activities implemented in more than 96 countries.The...

Yangon - Funded through a generous donation from PriceWaterhouseCoopers Charitable Foundation, 353 farm families received buffalos to restock animals lost when cyclone Nargis struck the delta last June. This donation will help hard hit families recover their livelihoods and resume household food production, an FAO statement said today.Each of the 353 families received a pair of buffalos. The project beneficiaries will use the draught animals to prepare their lands for...

Five pick-up cars, equipped for bird flu investigations, were handed over today by FAO to the department of livestock development (DLD). The mobile veterinary units were provided through a generous contribution from the government of Japan. The cost of the five mobile veterinary units amounts to Baht 6.6 million.Dr Sackchai Sriboonsue, DLD director-general, symbolically accepted the car keys during a small ceremony at the National Institute for Animal Health in...

Today, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented FAO awards to four Asian farmers from Afghanistan, China, Viet Nam and Thailand.Rong Wenxi from China was honoured as a model farmer for rural biogas development.Despite the rapidly increasing energy consumption of China, if one travels to the countryside one will find rural areas where power is still in short supply. But if one travels to the right areas, one will...

Today, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented FAO awards to four Asian farmers from Afghanistan, China, Viet Nam and Thailand.Somjit Praisimuang from Thailand was honoured as model farmer for organic horticulture.Somjit Praisimuang is a woman who was ahead of her time. Growing rice and a few vegetables on her five-hectare farm in the central Thai province of Nakhon Pathom, Somjit had always resisted using chemical fertilizers and pesticides....

Today, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented FAO awards to four Asian farmers from Afghanistan, China, Viet Nam and Thailand.Mrs Nguyen Thi Thu from Viet Nam was honoured as model farmer in the field of integrated agriculture.People often look to government for answers. But sometimes, government finds answers among the people. An excellent example of precisely that can be found in Viet Nam where Mrs Nguyen Thi Thu...