Understanding the value of natural fibres:
Interview with FAO economist Brian Moir

22 January, Rome - FAO today officially launched International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF) 2009 to celebrate the virtues of cotton, flax, sisal and hemp, but also of wool, alpaca, camel hair and angora. Production of animal and vegetable fibres is a major agricultural sector, worth some $40 billion annually to the world’s farmers. Fibres can in some cases account for up to 50 percent of a developing country’s exports.