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A high-level consultation on gender, food security and nutrition got underway today, hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), FAO and Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN). The three-day regional meeting brings together more than 60 representatives from some 18 Asia-Pacific countries, including four ministers, in an effort to boost food security by improving the economic lot of women, particularly in agriculture and food production. According...

At his monthly media briefing today, Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific announced that total global cereal production is forecast to increase by about 7 percent in 2013 compared to 2012, helping to replenish global inventories and raise expectations for more stable markets in 2013/14. 
The increase would bring world cereal production to 2 479 million tonnes, a new record level which would...

The FAO governing Conference has voted to accept two Asian countries, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore as new FAO member countries, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific announced today. The Organization also admitted South Sudan, raising FAO members to 197 comprising 194 member countries, one member organization (European Union) and two Associate Members (Faroe Islands and Tokelau). Awards The European Union (EU) together with Indian NGO, Self Employed Women's Association...

Indonesia and FAO will strengthen cooperation in the field of marine affairs and fisheries under an agreement signed here today.   The three-year Memorandum of Agreement, which sets up a framework for future joint activities in those sectors, was signed by Indonesian Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sharif C. Sutardjo and by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, paying a three-day official visit to Indonesia. Under the agreement, specific...

FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific joins hands with the Department of Livestock Development (DLD), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Dairy Farming Promotion Organization of Thailand (DPO) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in co-organizing the 2013 World Milk Day Celebration in Thailand with the main theme: "Milk for Health and Prosperity of Southeast Asian region".  The event of the 2013 World Milk Day Celebration will...

Thailand is leading the world in a promising area for improved food security and nutrition, according to a new book launched today by FAO covering all aspects of edible insects in Thailand.  Six-legged livestock: edible insect farming, collecting and marketing in Thailand, launched at a book signing ceremony at the Foreign Press Club of Thailand, covers technical and management aspects of edible insect farming and harvesting as well as market...

FAO and Thailand today signed agreements to work together on two new technical cooperation projects that will enhance the country’s quality livestock product and strengthen its capacity to address issues of land use planning, including management of the use of national resources by agro-economics zoning. The first project will develop an effective animal identification and traceability system that will improve all aspects of livestock and beef marketing, including production, slaughter and...

What:    Launch a new FAO book: Six-legged livestock: edible insect farming, collecting and marketing in Thailand. The event will be a lunch-time book launch and signing ceremony with two of the authors of a book that explores Thailand’s thriving edible insect sector. More than 20 000 insect farming enterprises are registered in the country; most are small-scale household operations. Insect farming and collecting has become is a significant economic activity...

As a response to a request from the countries in Asia and the Pacific, and to meet the growing demands for rice, FAO set up an External Rice Advisory Group (ERAG) to help hammer out a rice strategy for Asia to bring first class rice specialists and partners to work together for the formulation of a regional rice strategy for Asia and the Pacific to define a medium-term strategic actions...

Speaking at his monthly briefing for the media, Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific announced that the Organization’s  Food Price Index, released today from FAO Headquarters in Rome “averaged nearly 216 points in April 2013, up more than 2 points (1.0 percent) from its revised March value of 213 points and from April last year.” “At that level,” said Konuma, “ the index is...