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Today, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented FAO awards to four Asian farmers from Afghanistan, China, Viet Nam and Thailand.Haji Aminullah from Afghanistan was honoured as a model cooperative farmer.From the time he was about eight years old, Haji Aminullah and his farming family in Afghanistan experienced hardship. First, the communists invaded. Then came the Taliban. Both would descend upon his village of Nahrin in northeastern Baghlan province....

The Asian Conference on Food and Nutrition Safety (ACFNS), held once every four years since 1991, is recognized as a regional scientific forum to review, discuss and address the science that ensures safety of food and water supply. The 5th in the series, under the them "Science-based Solutions - Sustainable Actions", will be held from 5 to 7 November 2008 in Cebu, Philippines. The Conference will focus on the latest...

Nadi, Fiji – The deepening global financial turmoil and soaring energy and commodity prices have serious adverse effects on poorer households, women and children. Rapid action is needed to avert increased child malnutrition and increase the availability of affordable food on local markets, said the Chairperson of FAO’s South West Pacific Ministers for Agriculture today.Speaking at the opening session of a worskshop in Nadi, minister Pokotoa Sipeli from Niue expressed...

Apia - Pacific island countries will benefit from US$2.5 million emergency assistance from FAO for increased agricultural and livestock production, targeting small farmers and poor consumers in 14 Pacific islands.Under this short-term assistance – part of the Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP) launched by FAO late last year - vulnerable households are empowered with necessary basic resources to improve farm production and increase the supply of food on local...

Colombo - In response to the Sri Lankan government’s request for assistance in the context of soaring food prices, FAO has approved the project "Input supply to vulnerable populations under Initiative on Soaring Food Prices" and allocated US$ 500 000 to finance it.The project will provide immediate support to enhance rice production in conflict and flood affected districts through the provision of agricultural inputs and small implements.Six hundred metric tons...

Phnom Penh (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation) – MAFF and FAO announced today that they are launching an emergency project to help impoverished farmers boost agricultural production immediately. The project – funded from FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) – is part of the Organization’s Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP) launched by the FAO Director-General in December 2007 aimed at boosting local...

Geneva/Bangkok/Dhaka (WMO/FAO/UNESCAP) – "Large populations in South Asian countries depend on semi-subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods and future projections of climate change impacts indicate that substantial reductions in crop yields from rainfed agriculture could occur. Hence urgent steps must be taken to mainstream climate change adaptation into national development planning," HE Iajuddin Ahmed, president of the People's Republic of Bangladesh stated while opening a workshop at the University of Dhaka...

Bangkok - In Bangladesh, after several months with outbreaks reported all over the country, no outbreak was reported in the month of June 2008. As of 30 June 2008, a total of 287 outbreaks had been recorded in 47 out of 64 districts. These included outbreaks in 245 commercial farms and 42 outbreaks in backyard poultry production systems. The total number of birds culled as of 30 June 2008 is...

Bangkok - Barring any major setback in the next few months, global rice production in 2008 is forecast to rise by 1.5 percent to 668 million tonnes. Much of the expansion is expected in Asian countries, now forecast to gather some 605 million tonnes, 1.1 percent above the excellent 2007 production results. Sizable gains are foreseen in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, while Japan and, especially, Myanmar...

Yangon/Bangkok – The distribution in late-July of 600 buffaloes to farming households in Myanmar’s cyclone-affected delta has greatly assisted small-scale rice farmers to prepare their paddy fields in time for the planting season and will serve as an important asset for upcoming cultivations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said today. On 20 July, 300 households in Ayeyarwady and Yangon Divisions each received one pair of...