News archive 2016

Having made major strides in reducing the prevalence of hunger, many countries in Europe and Central Asia are now looking to improve the quality of people’s diets and transform their food systems in order to adapt to climate change, optimize the use of natural resources, and cut waste.

With just six weeks left before the start of the main cropping season in Ethiopia, FAO is calling for urgent funding to help farmers sow their fields and prevent drought-hit areas of the country from falling deeper into hunger and food insecurity. If seeds are not delivered in time, help will be too late to secure a decent harvest from the imminent meher season, which produces 85 percent of the nation's food supply, the UN agency said today.

Georgia recently reported its first-ever case of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a viral disease which decimates goats and sheep, while a new outbreak has occurred in the Maldives, showing that even island states are vulnerable to the plague.

Last year, total food production in North Korea (officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is estimated to have been about 5.4 million tonnes compared to 5.9 million tonnes in 2014, marking a 9 percent decrease, the update said.

In a bid to stay ahead of the negative impacts of climate change, floods and typhoons on food security, the Government of the Philippines and FAO have started using unmanned aerial drones to assess where farmlands are most at risk from natural disasters and quickly assess damages after they strike.

n addition to reducing poverty and hunger, agriculture can play a crucial role in making the response to climate change responsible and more effective, Maria-Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General for Natural Resources said today.

Faced with rising levels of hunger in mountainous regions across the developing world, FAO today launched a special funding-and-planning mechanism to ensure sustainable development and food security in highland regions, home to some 329 million people at high risk for hunger.

Modern technologies that make it easier to recover lost fishing gear are giving a boost to efforts to reduce so-called “ghost fishing" and its harmful impacts on fish stocks and endangered species.

The event “Soils and pulses: Symbiosis for life” was sponsored by Italy’s permanent representation to FAO and led by Ambassador Pierfrancesco Sacco, along with Bioversity International and FAO, drawing a strong link between the International Year of Pulses and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

President Touadera, who took office last month, has made boosting agriculture and the rural economy one of his policy priorities. The President warmly thanked FAO for its continuous support during the crisis and acknowledged the current programmes and projects being implemented by the Organization in his country.