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Gyeongju - Volatile food prices and market uncertainties are urgent topics high on the minds of agriculture ministers and senior officials from forty-four Asia-Pacific countries when they will be meeting at an FAO conference in Gyeongju next week.While there is no indication of an impending world food crisis, FAO is warning that unexpected price hikes are a major threat to food security for the poor in the Asia-Pacific region.Exploring new...

New York/Rome/Manila – The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) have joined forces to tackle widespread hunger and build food security throughout the Asia and Pacific region.Signed by the heads of the three organizations on the occasion of the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the three-year Asia Pacific Regional Food...

TEN YEAR REVIEW AND LOOK AHEAD AT FAST GROWING SECTORAquaculture has grown over the past decade to where it now provides nearly 50 percent of global supplies of fish as human food. A Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 will take place in Phuket, Thailand, with more than 700 participants from 60 countries, to evaluate where the sector stands today and face upcoming challenges and opportunities.Important issues to be discussed will...

Vientiane - The chef of Vientiane's Sticky Fingers restaurant, Sisouphanh Ocampo, who won the cooking competition "Seap laai laai! 2010 – A Celebration of delicious Lao insects” with his insects tacos, will showcase the dish at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 from 19 to 22 September 2010.The chef and a Laotian singer, two local celebrities, will promote Lao PDR and FAO’s project “Sustainable insect farming and harvesting for better nutrition,...

The 30th FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific will be held at Hotel Hyundai in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea from 27 September to 01 October 2010. This major biennial event is convened by FAO to review and make recommendations on key food and agricultural issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region.The conference brings together 43 Asia-Pacific FAO member nations and a wide range of observers such as representatives of United...

Jeju - The Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) has stressed the need for fisheries and aquaculture to be fully incorporated into national climate change strategies due to the likelihood of climate change impacts on these sectors in the Asia Pacific region being greater than elsewhere in the world. In addition, the Commission encouraged members to develop alternative aquaculture feeds that contain or utilize less wild fish while also stressing the need...

Flooded country risks losing a year’s crop, further threatening nutrition of poor.Islamabad/Rome - FAO today called for more international funds to save the upcoming wheat planting season in Pakistan where floods covering land half the size of Italy have wiped out much of the country's household wheat seed stocks.Wheat, the staple food of the rural poor in Pakistan, is due to be planted in September through to November. More than...

Rome - Millions of livestock have been affected by the floods in Pakistan and are badly in need of food and medicine, FAO said today.Around 200 000 cows, sheep, buffalo, goats and donkeys have already been confirmed as dead or missing but the final numbers will be much higher, possibly into the millions. If you count poultry losses, then millions of animals have already died with the entire poultry stock...

Millions affected, numbers rising --- Rome - As efforts continue to save the lives of Pakistanis stricken by monsoon floodwaters, FAO today warned of serious threats to the livelihoods and food security of millions.As of today, 13.8 million people are reported to have been directly affected by the disaster and numbers are rising. The devastation left by flood waters in the north and centre of the country may worsen as...

Rome - Climate change temperature increases will affect rice yieldsProduction of rice — the world's most important crop for ensuring food security and addressing poverty — will be thwarted as temperatures increase in rice-growing areas with continued climate change, according to a new study by an international team of scientists.The research team found evidence that the net impact of projected temperature increases will be to slow the growth of rice...