News archive 2016

All cities, big and small, can and must help build the sustainable, resilient food systems of the future, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva stressed during the second meeting of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, a collaboration between mayors of 130 cities from around the world.

The Italian Ministry for Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies and FAO will work closely together to identify and increase the number of ecosystems that play an important role as repositories of agricultural biodiversity, traditional knowledge, cultural heritage and landscapes.

Building strong alliances among legislators across the world is vital to making headway on hunger eradication, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said on Monday, as he underscored the agency's continued support to fostering global exchanges between lawmakers.

Indigenous Peoples’ right to give or withhold consent to development projects that affect their natural resources and ways of life has become stronger thanks to a new manual that guides development actors in designing and implementing such projects.

Ethiopia is about to complete one of the largest and most successful seed distribution campaigns in the country’s history, aimed at helping farmers to stay on their feet in the face of a blistering drought caused by El Niño, FAO said today.

Global food markets will likely remain “generally well balanced” in the year ahead, as wheat and rice harvests are on course for record harvests, FAO said in its Food Outlook report.

FAO and the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) will work together in a new partnership to improve the state of natural resources in the wetlands of Africa’s Sahel region, in particular the sustainable management of migratory water birds.

Globally, food prices are believed to be back to their long-term downward trend in real terms, as supply growth outpaces demand, Graziano da Silva told a high-level meeting on agricultural commodity prices.

FAO’s Mountain Partnership and Slow Food have launched a voluntary product label for mountain goods that’s meant to improve market access for small highland producers from developing countries and highlight mountain products as distinct and sustainable.

Feeding the burgeoning world population will require significant improvements in agricultural productivity, above all in Africa, and mechanization and appropriate mechanization strategies have a large role to play, according to a new report from FAO.