News archive 2015

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Kazakhstan's Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov have signed an agreement establishing an FAO Partnership and Liaison Office in the country.

Eradicating chronic hunger and malnutrition worldwide will require the collaboration of both developed and emerging economies, and Kazakhstan is well positioned for leadership in this area, according to FAO's Director-General.

While women are estimated to make up half of all people in the fisheries sector, their work often goes unrecognized and underpaid, their access to opportunities and resources remains limited and their representation in positions of leadership trails far behind other industries.

As the main planting season here begins, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is accelerating its efforts to get vital seeds, tools and other materials to some of South Sudan’s most vulnerable farmers.

With the help of a new training guide developed by FAO and the International Labour Organization (ILO), extension workers in Africa and elsewhere are engaging with rural communities to reduce children’s exposure to toxic pesticides used in farming.

The Eleventh Meeting of Southwest Pacific Ministers of Agriculture under the theme "Climate Smart Agriculture" has begun, with Papua New Guinea Deputy Prime Minister Leo Dion and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva highlighting some of the pressing issues affecting the countries in the region.

The G20 agriculture ministers noted "with great concern the significant extent of food loss and waste throughout food value chains" describing it as "a global problem of enormous economic, environmental and societal significance".

National forest funds - publicly-managed financing mechanisms intended to support sustainable forest management - hold vast potential to catalyze greater investment in forestry, including investment aimed at addressing climate change. However, their role still remains largely unrecognized, according to a new FAO policy paper.

International prices for agricultural commodities continued to decline in April and "exceptionally high" inventories are poised to offset any pressure from the slight reduction in global harvests expected this year, according to FAO’s biannual Food Outlook. FAO’s Food Price Index declined 1.2 percent in April from March, 19.2 percent less than a year ago.

FAO, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Union for the Mediterranean co-organised the “Private Sector Forum on Food Security in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region” conference to develop initiatives to increase investment in agricultural and food systems in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region.