News archive 2012

The United Nations has declared an end to famine conditions in Somalia but with recurrent droughts in the Horn of Africa hunger remains a threat unless long-term measures are taken to restore food security. The number of people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance in Somalia has dropped from 4 million to 2.34 million, 31 percent of the population.

Healthy seas and coasts would pay healthy dividends in a green economy, according to new report by the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, FAO and other partners. The report, "Green Economy in a Blue World," highlights the huge potential for economic growth and poverty eradication from well-managed marine sectors.

Cooperatives and producer organizations will be increasingly important in efforts to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty around the world, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told participants at the 2012 Thematic Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

FAO and the European Commission announced today a new €5.3 million project aimed at helping Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia transition to a "climate-smart" approach to agriculture. The project will look closely at three countries and identify challenges and opportunities for climate-smart agriculture and produce strategic plans tailored to each country's own reality.

Food prices fell in December 2011 with the FAO Food Price Index dropping 2.4 percent, or five points, from November. At its new level of 211 points, the Index was 11.3 percent (27 points) below its peak in February 2011. However the Index averaged 228 points in 2011 - the highest average since FAO started measuring international food prices in 1990.

Two days after taking over, FAO's new Director-General José Graziano da Silva told his inaugural press conference that there was no time to lose and that working towards the total elimination of hunger and undernourishment from the world will be his top priority.

José Graziano da Silva has formally taken the helm of the Food and Agriculture Organization. The new Director-General is pushing for a renewed focus on food security, offering to scale up FAO support available to low-income and food deficit countries - especially those facing protracted crises. He will hold his first press conference as Director-General on 3 January.