News archive 2017

War and a collapsing economy have left some 100,000 people facing starvation in parts of South Sudan where famine was declared today, three UN agencies warned. A further 1 million people are classified as being on the brink of famine.

FAO is assisting Bolivia in its effort to access financial support for improved water management programs in those areas of the Andean nation that have been hardest hit by prolonged drought.

Drought throughout East Africa has curbed harvests and pushed food prices to unusually high levels, posing special risks for pastoralists. Prices are at record levels in swathes of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, according to the latest Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Bulletin.

Failure to act now to make our food systems more resilient to climate change will "seriously compromise" food production in many regions and could doom to failure international efforts to end hunger and extreme poverty by 2030, according to FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

The preliminary results of the Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (EFSNA) show that food security and nutrition conditions are deteriorating rapidly due to the ongoing conflict. More than two-thirds of Yemen's population of 27.4 million people now lack access to food and consume an inadequate diet.

As awareness-raising International Year of Pulses officially closes, beans, lentils and chickpeas are recognised as the small but powerful allies that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

Wheat rust, a family of fungal diseases that can cause crop losses of up to 100 percent in untreated susceptible wheats, is making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, according to new studies produced by scientists in collaboration with FAO.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 173.8 percent in January, its highest value in almost two years, marking a 2.1 percent increase from its revised December value and 16.4 percent above its 2016 January level.

To address the rising number of transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases, FAO has published “Averting risks to the food chain”, a set of proven emergency prevention methods and tools. They show how prevention, early warning, preparedness, good food chain crisis management and good practices can improve food security and safety, save lives and livelihoods.

FAO estimates that over 12 million people are currently in crisis and emergency food insecurity levels in the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, which are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.