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FAO seeks US$33.5 million to help small farmers and fishers restore livelihoodsRome – With the clock ticking on Myanmar’s main planting season, agricultural support is urgently needed to restore food production in the country’s cyclone-hit rice bowl, FAO said today. Currently, 75 percent of farmers in the country’s main food-producing region lack sufficient seed, with little time left before the end of the planting season in August. FAO is appealing...

The link below provides great coverage of Pacific islanders' participation at Asia-Pacific Forestry Week – held in Hanoi from 21 to 26 April 2008 – and some useful feedback of their impressions. This portal was created by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), and FAO has been granted permission by SPC to link to their home page. Click here to read all about it: http://www.spc.int/lrd/index.htm - the full interviews...

Bangkok - This week a new e-newsletter was launched by FAO aimed at providing facts and information on soaring food prices in Asia and the Pacific.Food markets in the region have been volatile for close to a year now, and stakeholders are closely monitoring the dynamic changes, in particular policy actions and price movements. Timely and sound information on food markets and trade trends are needed for policy making and...

New FAO website offers access to Digital Agricultural AtlasBangkok – FAO has launched a new website offering a wide range of data and information tools on agriculture in Myanmar. The site contains downloadable digital and printed atlases, maps from the FAO-maintained GeoNetwork digital library, agroclimatic charts and crop calendars, and related agriculture, forestry and fisheries publications. The site also includes the recently released 120-page Digital Agricultural Atlas of the Union...

Bangkok - The already severe food security situation in cyclone-hit Myanmar is further worsening due to food shortages and high food prices, FAO said today.Out of 2.4 million affected people, hundreds of thousands in the remote areas of the Ayeyarwaddy Delta still do not have sufficient food to eat.With regular access to food disrupted after cyclone Nargis hit the delta, sharply rising food prices in the other parts of the...

Destruction of mangroves has exposed coastal communities to cycloneRome - Mangrove forests could have reduced damage resulting from the waves caused by cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.Parts of Myanmar's coast have been largely cleared of mangrove forests in recent decades and coastal communities are now more exposed to cyclone damage. "Mangroves have been converted to agricultural land and fish ponds. Settlements have...

In parallel to ongoing priority humanitarian aid assistance, we need to start looking at the longer term, in particular as time is running out to secure planting in June of rice seeds for the main 2008 rice harvest. If were are not able to do that in a timely fashion, then the food and nutrition problems in the medium term will not go away.Each US$1 spent on agriculture between now...

FAO/UNDP launches a year-long campaign against hunger in Asia PacificBangkok – Hunger remains one of the biggest challenges facing Asia and the Pacific. Against the backdrop of soaring prices for food – in particular rice – a new hunger campaign aims to create a groundswell for policy and structural reforms together with action, FAO and UNDP said today.In Asia and the Pacific, chronic hunger is not an issue of food...

Poor farming and fishing communities need urgent assistance. Bangkok - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is mounting this week the first damage and needs assessment mission into Myanmar's fishing sector, believed to be hit worse by cyclone Nargis than during the 2004 tsunami.The five most affected states are considered the country's food basket, producing surpluses of fish, rice and pork for other parts of Myanmar, and overall food...

Cyclone Nargis has affected the same areas in the Ayeyarwady division which were hit by the 2004 tsunami claiming lives and resulting in the displacement of thousands of people. This time around, the impact is believed to be far more severe.The population of the Ayeyarwady division (approximately 6.5 million or 12 percent of the national population) basically live from exploiting the rich natural resources both within the delta areas and...