FAO 'Tea Mark' on intergovernmental tea meeting
agenda
On 27 September, the Intergovernmental Group (IGG) on Tea
opens its thirteenth session in Ottawa, Canada. During the
three-day session, FAO will encourage the tea industry to
take part in a new black tea promotional campaign that the
Organization has developed with financial assistance from
the Common Fund for Commodities.
The campaign, which centres on a new international tea
trademark, called Tea Mark, is intended to increase demand
for black tea by informing consumers about its potential
health benefits. Some data have indicated that black tea,
when consumed as part of a balanced diet, can help control
obesity and curb smoking as well as reduce the risk of
cardio-vascular diseases, strokes, and certain types of
cancer. An increase in consumer demand would also benefit
growers of black tea, by reducing the threat of production
surpluses and protecting them from a decline in prices.
The Tea Mark campaign also recognizes however, that some
compounds in tea can prevent absorption of iron in the diet
and may lead to anemia in some vulnerable groups. More
research is needed, and is ongoing, to determine the
specific components in tea that have beneficial or harmful
effects on human health.
Press
release
Intergovernmental
Group on Tea (13th Session)
27 September 1999
Rural Women and Information subject of high-level
consultation
A High-level Consulation on Rural Women and Information
will take place at FAO Headquarters 4 to 6 October 1999.
Ways of better informing decision-makers, media and the
general public on the essential role of rural women in
agricultural development and their contribution to food
security will be discussed.
Organized by FAO, the Consultation will bring together
some 300 participants, including Ministers for Agriculture
and for Equal Opportunity from Africa, Asia, the Near East,
Latin America, Europe and North America, as well as
non-governmental organizations, communication experts and
journalists. The Consultation will feature two panel
discussions, on Gender Equality in Policies and Planning and
on the Generation and Dissemination of Gender Specific
Information for Rural Development. Panelists will include
personalities from the development community, academia and
the media. A Strategy for Action will also be reviewed
during the Consultation.
For more information, email rural-women-info@fao.org
or go to Rural
Women and Information
14 September 1999
New forum on post-harvest management established
Every year, millions of tonnes of food are lost as a
result of problems with pest control, handling, storage,
transportation and marketing - all post-harvest activities.
To reduce these losses, FAO has announced the formation of a
new forum on post-harvest technologies: PhAction.
PhAction is made up of ten organizations: the five
members of the Group for Assistance on Systems relating to
Grain After Harvest (GASGA) and five international
agricultural research centres. The ten founding institutions
of PhAction will share and distribute information on the
latest post-harvest research and cooperate on designing and
applying innovative new post-harvest technologies. PhAction
will work with a range of public and private sector partners
in developing countries.
PhAction's member organizations will be linked together
and to the entire world through INPhO, the Internet-based
information network designed and launched last year by FAO's
Agro-Industries and Post-Harvest Management Service (AGSI).
Each month INPhO receives more than10 000 visitors who are
able to access, databases, documents and newsletters on
developments in post-harvest research and technology.
Post-harvest information is also available on CD-ROM. The
first edition of the INPhO CD-ROM was released last year and
the second edition is due out in October 1999.
Go to INPhO information
network
9 August 1999
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