News archive 2015

Agricultural commodities are going through a period of lower and less volatile prices, according to the FAO Food Outlook released today. Meanwhile, the FAO Food Price Index inched up 0.6 percent in September to 165.3 points, still 18.9 percent less than a year earlier.

The Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Treaty (ITPGRFA) made the announcement at the 6th session of the Governing Body of the FAO-based 136-member nation plant treaty that is being held in Rome this week.

The 5-6 October Our Ocean conference saw the participation of over 400 people representing governments, civil society and academia, mainly focused on the search for solutions to address marine pollution, acidification of the seas and other problems related to climate change.

FAO’s rapid response operation in conflict-torn South Sudan has delivered livelihood assistance to 60,000 food-insecure households in hard-to-reach areas of northern Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile States, where food stocks are running out and most families have been unable to produce food this year.

FAO and the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association CEMA, an international non-profit organisation, today forged a new partnership that aims to promote wider use of sustainable agricultural mechanization in developing countries.

Permesso! (Pardon me!) a man yells as he pushes a large cart with stacked boxes of fresh seafood through a crowd gathered on the dock of the Fiumicino fish harbor, half an hour outside of Rome. One trawler after another dock in quick succession to unload the spoils of the day's fishing expedition - a choreographed ballet of men passing crates of shrimp, soles, sardines and squid from the boat onto shore.

President Ram Baran Yadav unveiled the long-awaited new constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal on 20 September 2015, which recognizes the Right to Food as a fundamental right of the citizens of Nepal.

In the framework of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, FAO’s Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, and the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena met with members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC, in Spanish) Quartet, to review the state of food and nutrition security in the region and discuss how to address the challenges ahead.

FAO welcomed the launch of a new Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) aimed at supporting the implementation of essential reforms and enhance investments to effectively address the drivers of deforestation in Central Africa.

Oceans are an essential component of the Earth's ecosystem -- a source of biodiversity, food, and life -- FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva said here on Monday during a high-level event on the importance of healthy oceans for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).