News archive 2013

Photo: ©FAO/Alessia Pierdomenico
Urbanization, economic growth and other transformations are causing changes in lifestyles and diets in many parts of the world and countries are not coping as well as they could, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told professors and students at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands today.
15-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano
A top-level UN conference has, for the first time, laid the foundations for practical and proactive national drought policies to increase resilience to the world’s most destructive natural hazard, which is being aggravated by climate change.
15-03-2013
Photo: ©AFP/ImageForum/Biosphere/Yves Lefèvre
Shark populations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have dropped dramatically over the last two centuries and now risk extinction, with serious implications for the region's entire marine ecosystem and food chains, according to a new FAO study.
14-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/Ami Vitale
A new, faster and more precise way of measuring hunger and food insecurity across the world is soon to be field-tested by FAO in several pilot countries. The new approach relies on gathering information on the extent and severity of hunger from food-insecure people through a carefully-designed annual survey.
13-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/Marco Salustro
You want to know more about the fish you are eating or going to buy? Is it maybe an endangered species? AppliFish is a free mobile application developed by the fisheries and biodiversity knowledge platform i-Marine. It makes aquatic-related information available to anyone, anytime, anywhere.
12-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/Kennedy Oryema
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva met with Ugandan Vice-President Edward Sekandi to discuss ways to ensure food security for all Ugandans and reduce poverty by supporting rural smallholders in the country's agriculture sector. The agriculture sector employs more than 80 percent of Uganda's population.
8-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/©FAO/Giuseppe Bizzarri
On International Women's Day this year, the global community is focusing on how to eliminate and prevent all forms of violence against women and girls. In spite of the major role played by women in producing food and feeding their families, little attention has been paid to the connection between gender, violence and food security.
8-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/Ivo Balderi
Droughts cause the deaths and displacement of more people than cyclones, floods and earthquakes combined, making them the world’s most destructive natural hazard. Yet while droughts are expected to increase in frequency, area and intensity due to climate change, effective drought management policies are missing in most parts of the world. Three UN institutions have now joined forces to promote proactive policies at the national level to make drought-prone countries more resilient.
8-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano
First forecasts for the 2013 wheat harvest point to production increasing to 690 million tonnes – 4.3 percent up on 2012. This would be the second largest crop on record. Meanwhile the FAO Food Price Index remains unchanged at 210 points for the second consecutive month in February.
7-03-2013
Photo: ©FAO/Bennie Khanyizira
Crop diversification, increasing the productivity and production of farmers through small-scale irrigation projects, improving local market systems, and other actions being implemented by the government could give a strong push to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition in Malawi, Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today.
6-03-2013