News archive 2017

Five traditional farming systems in China, Korea and Spain and have been designated by FAO as "Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems". These include two sites in Spain which are the first such sites ever to be recognized in Europe– the Malaga Raisin Production System in La Axarquía and the Salt Production System in Añana.

The fight against hunger is at an “inflection point” today and supporting family farmers is critical to its success. “The main cause of hunger nowadays is not the lack of food, but the lack of access to it,” FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva told British lawmakers today.

Agriculture is poised for another major transformation as gains from the Green Revolution come up against natural resource limits. “The future of agriculture is not input-intensive, but knowledge-intensive. This is the new paradigm,” FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said in a speech at Chatham House.

A new FAO online data tool launched today will improve understanding of Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding flows in food and agriculture-related sectors – including thematic areas as diverse as the environment, education and women’s equality.

FAO is introducing new fish-smoking ovens to Sri Lanka under a program funded by the European Union to improve health, nutrition and incomes.

The closing plenary requested that the two subsidiary bodies of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change work together on addressing issues related to agriculture, taking into consideration the vulnerabilities of agriculture to climate change and approaches towards food security.

Efforts to confront the spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens on farms and in food systems are gathering momentum, thanks to strong backing by governments and technical support that is boosting national capacities to respond to the problem, FAO said today.

The prevalence of chronic undernourishment appears to have risen from 20.8 to 22.7 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to FAO's Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition report (2017).

“Low carbon livestock is possible,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said on the margins of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He hailed the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Bonn Comunique for making agriculture a priority area.

"Climate change puts millions of people in a vicious cycle of food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty. Yet, we must confront the harsh reality: we are not doing enough to deal with this immense threat," Graziano da Silva said. He stressed that Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States are "particularly vulnerable" to climate change.