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Philippine fishers face immense damage to the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in regions affected by Typhoon Haiyan, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said today, calling for prompt and sustainable actions to help rebuild livelihoods.“Even though we still only have a partial picture, it is clear that the damage caused to the fisheries sector is immense and spans the entire value chain, from catch to market,” said Rodrigue Vinet, acting...

The  global campaign against hunger launched by the Caritas confederation is an important contribution to raise awareness of the plight of millions of hungry people around the globe and to work towards the elimination of hunger, said Marcela Villarreal, Director of FAO's Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development. The campaign ‘One Human Family, Food for All’ was launched in Rome today with a video message of Pope Francis. In his message,...

Adverse weather in parts of Asia has taken a toll on rice production in a number of countries in the region, the FAO announced today.  According to FAO’s Rice Market Monitor (RMM) for November, global paddy production in 2013, while still expected to outpace 2012 production, has been revised downward by some five million tonnes to 741.4 million tonnes (494.2 million tonnes, milled basis). The predicted result by the end of...

Asia and the Pacific region is a step closer to adopting a regional rice strategy the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today after its External Rice Advisory Group (ERAG) came up with an outline to formulate a rice strategy for the Asia-Pacific region following a two-day consultation that ended Friday night. In 2012, at the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific in Hanoi, Viet Nam, FAO member...

The future of rice is under threat on many fronts, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today at the opening session of a two-day consultation by its External Rice Advisory Group (ERAG), which is advising FAO on the formulation of a rice strategy for Asia and the Pacific. Professor M S Swaminathan, known as the father of the green revolution, is chairing the ERAG meeting and R B...

Officials of UN agencies, private sector agriculture enterprises and private citizens concerned with global hunger opened today a two-day forum exploring new ways to speed up hunger reduction and achieve food security globally and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Hiroyuki Konuma, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “This forum is very important because it is an arena...

Civil society and FAO agreed on improved space for dialogue and enhanced mechanisms to foster both closer partnerships and wider balanced representation in pursuit of the shared goal for eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition in Asia and the Pacific. Despite important progress obtained over the years, today’s world continues to face serious problems of poverty, hunger and malnutrition. CSOs play a crucial role in food security and poverty reduction is several...

Small family farms have great capacity for quick production expansion and are key to sustainable food production if appropriate policies are put in place, FAO asserted during an Asia-Pacific multi-stakeholders consultation preparing for the launch of 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF).   The proclamation by the Un General Assembly of 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming is a recognition of the important role small farmers play....

Hundreds of thousands of farmers in the Philippines whose crops were destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan need urgent assistance to sow new seeds before the end of the current planting season, FAO warned today. The typhoon caused damage in the central part of the country to the 2013 main season rice crop, harvesting of which was well advanced. It also badly disrupted planting of the current 2013-2014 secondary season, which ends in late...

While undernourishment in Asia dropped from 24 to 14 percent over the past three decades, concerted efforts aim to eradicate hunger and achieve Zero Hunger by 2025.  Some 40 representatives from civil society, development partners and UN agencies are reviewing a draft Asia-Pacific guiding framework to achieve the UN’s Zero Hunger Challenge by 2025. The absolute number of hungry people in Asia-Pacific remains unacceptably high and casts a shadow on food...