News archive 2018

FAO has launched a mobile application to enable farmers, agricultural workers and other partners at the frontline of the fight against Fall Armyworm in Africa to identify, report the level of infestation, and map the spread of this destructive insect, as well as to describe its natural enemies and the measures that are most effective in managing it.

A United States-FAO partnership working to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to manage outbreaks of diseases in farm animals has in just 12 months trained over 4,700 veterinary health professionals in 25 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as part of an ongoing effort to deal with diseases at their source - in animals.

IFAD, together with FAO and the WFP, will highlight the role that innovations in information and communications technologies (ICTs) can play in expanding rural women's opportunities in value chains and enterprise development, while increasing their access to education and information.

FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva urged governments around Latin America and the Caribbean to keep the fight against hunger at the top of their policy agendas, calling also for a “radical transformation” of food systems to combat the spreading scourge of overweight and obesity.

A big regional effort to bolster social protection policies in Latin America and the Caribbean is essential to lower rural poverty and reverse the recent uptick in hunger, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said today.

High levels of food insecurity persist in the world, due largely to conflicts and to adverse climatic shocks that are taking a toll, particularly in East Africa and the Near East, the new FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation report notes. 37 countries are in need of external assistance for food.

FAO has launched today a new online platform for reporting on the status and trends of the world’s forest resources. The platform enables countries to increase the efficiency of their reporting process and improve the consistency, reliability and transparency of forest data.

Rising world prices for staple grains and dairy products more than offset lower prices for vegetable oils, leading global food commodity prices up in February. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 170.8 points in February, up 1.1 percent from the previous month and now just 2.7 percent below its year-ago level.

The project, "Poverty, Reforestation, Energy and Climate Change (Pobreza, Reforestación, Energía y Cambio Climático - PROEZA)" consists of three components to be implemented over five years. Funding will stem from a $25 million GCF grant and $ 65.2 million of co-financing from the Government of Paraguay.

Reduced harvests in Southern Africa are “foreseen to intensify food insecurity in 2018, increasing the number of people in need of assistance,” according to a new special Alert issued by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS).