News archive 2015

Healthy soils are the foundation of the food system. Our soils are the basis for agriculture and the medium in which nearly all food-producing plants grow. Healthy soils produce healthy crops that in turn nourish people and animals. Indeed, soil quality is directly linked to food quality and quantity. With a global population that is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, compounded by competition for land and water resources and the impact of climate change, our current and future food security hinges on our ability to increase yields and food quality using the soils that are already under production today.

The government of Mali and FAO have launched the implementation phase of a $5 million project aimed at restoring the livelihoods of households affected by the armed conflicts and climate change in the northern part of the country.

FAO and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) will outline a strategy for the total eradication of Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) by 2030 at a an international conference starting today in Abidjan, the capital of Cote d'Ivoire, where so-called goat plague was first diagnosed in the 1940s.

Some $121 million are urgently needed to prevent further deterioration of the food security situation and the collapse of regional food chains amidst the ongoing crisis in Syria, which has severely disrupted agricultural production and trade and left some 9.8 million people food insecure.

The budget recommended by the Council for full delivery of FAO's programme of work for 2016-2017 amounts to $1,035.7 million dollars. The recommended programme of work and budget level will be presented for formal approval by all members in June at the FAO Conference, the highest governing body of the Organization.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva expressed hope that FAO's member countries would reach consensus this week on the agency's programme of work and budget prior to formal approval by the entire membership at the FAO Conference in June. The budget proposed for FAO's programme of work for 2016-2017 is $1.044 billion dollars.

Farmers in the Central African Republic are in urgent need of seeds and tools for the upcoming planting season in April to prevent further deterioration of the livelihoods of vulnerable populations in the conflict-stricken country, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.

Soil is a finite resource, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan. As a core component of land resources, agricultural development and ecological sustainability, soil is the basis for food, feed, fuel and fibre production and for many critical ecosystem services.

Strong winds, heavy rains and floods resulting from Tropical Cyclone Pam have caused extensive damage to agriculture throughout Vanuatu, including the main food and export crops, livestock, and fisheries infrastructure, FAO said today.

Total carbon emissions from forests decreased by more than 25 percent between 2001 and 2015, mainly due to a slowdown in global deforestation rates, according to new estimates published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization today.