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A regional workshop opened today to promote disability-inclusive agribusiness. The 2-day workshop brought together the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Nippon Foundation in a joint effort to work towards a disability-inclusive private sector engagement. According to the World Report on Disability, a joint publication of the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, disabled people comprise 15 percent...

A consultation with development partners and donors in support of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), today called for more focused efforts to reduce poverty and hunger in South Asia. The consultation was jointly organized by FAO and the SAARC Secretariat in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank. South Asia, despite continued efforts to reduce hunger, remains home to more than half of the total hungry population in Asia....

FAO and TABLE FOR TWO (TFT) International today announced the signing of a 3-year agreement aimed at jointly improving nutrition in Asia while reducing hunger in the region with the long term goal of building a world without hunger and poverty. The total number of people who suffer from chronic hunger in the Asia-Pacific region was 563 million in 2010-12, or 65 percent of the world total. Hunger in Asia...

Ensuring adequate, safe and nutritious food for all is a high priority and long-standing goal of ASEAN and FAO. This goal aims to contribute significantly to achieving the Millennium Development Goal 1 and the World food Summit targets to cut global hunger by at least half by 2015 as well as fulfilling the aspirations set forth by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Food security, as defined by the World Food...

Fisheries experts from more than 13 countries opened the first of two consultations today that could herald new ways of reducing hunger and poverty by cataloguing and improving aquatic genetic resources for food and agriculture. Most farmed fish have not been domesticated the way that farmed crops and livestock have been, so farmed fish remain very similar to their wild relatives. The meeting will consider the benefits of genetic improvement...

FAO and P.N. Agricultural Science Foundation of Bangalore, India today opened a regional workshop to strengthen urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Asia. Some 50 participants from more than 11 countries, including national and provincial government officials, food and agriculture experts, university professors and representatives from the private sector gathered for the 3-day meeting Bangkok’s Plaza Athenee Hotel. By 2050 two-thirds of the world’s population is expected to live in urban...

Asian farmers and consumers of Asian agricultural and food products in countries around the world stand to benefit from discussions at be held at the FAO Regional Food Safety Consultation Workshop that opened today. More than 45 people working in the field food safety from 13 Asian countries are attending the Consultation representing different governmental and non-governmental groups. Food safety is a multidisciplinary subject and has to be addressed while...

The risk reduction of pesticides and reduction of highly toxic pesticides for promotion of food safety and sustainable development of crop production through implementation of code of conduct on distribution and use of pesticides and relevant international treaties is one of FAO main working area. The improvement of regulatory pesticide management is of key context of the code of conduct. The workshop on enhancement of regional collaboration in regulatory management...

In recognition of the crucial role played by soils in promoting food security and particularly in light of the enormous challenges that soils face when it comes to sustainable management and protection, FAO will observe World Soil Day on 5 December 2012 for the first time, which is also the 85th birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. Earlier this year, His Majesty the King was honoured as...

Some 70 participants took part in a regional consultation on groundwater governance in East and South Asia and the Pacific, opening today in Shijiazhuang, China. From 3 to 5 December, high-level experts and key stakeholders from 17 countries in the region will be gathering at the Chinese Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology (IHEG) to discuss how to effectively manage groundwater as well as how to raise awareness of its...