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With ever more people to feed in the future, there is no alternative but to increase agricultural productivity in order to meet global food, feed and biofuel demands and to alleviate hunger and poverty.  This scenario for agricultural intensification and mechanization, however, poses great challenges forAsiawhere land and water resources have reached their limits for agricultural and other outputs. In addition, future crop production intensification must not only reduce the impact of...

Despite significant progress and increased prosperity, Asia has made insufficient progress in reducing hunger and malnutrition. While the number of poor has fallen dramatically—from about 1.4 billion in 1990 to about 900 million in 2005—the number of undernourished has remained close to 600 million. With underweight prevailing in around one in three children, the region has around 100 million children under the age of five suffering from stunting – in particular...

An assessment conducted by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) indicates an improvement in the main annual harvest for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) compared to 2010 but highlights ongoing concerns over the nutrition situation, particularly among young children. The joint FAO/WFP report, published today, estimates that while harvests are expected to increase by about 8.5 percent over last year, the country will still...

Participants at an international workshop on information and knowledge management (IKM) for agricultural development were urged to move beyond strategies and undertake relevant action-oriented programmes. In his opening address, Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Agriculture, Colonel Mason Smith, said that participants should implement the strategies they come up with during the workshop. He also mentioned that this workshop was very timely, given the many challenges that the agriculture sector faces, especially those...

Notwithstanding extensive floods in Asia since August, FAO has raised its July forecast of global paddy production in 2011 by 2.4 million tonnes to 721 million tonnes. The revision reflects expected improved rice harvests in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India and Viet Nam which more than outweighed a worsening of prospects in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Madagascar, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand. At the current forecast of 721 million tonnes...

A UN Food and Agriculture Organization programme that helps local communities in Mongolia to protect their own forests is being seen as a model for regional action, as an Asia-Pacific forestry meeting gets underway in Beijing. The Participatory Forest Management project has effectively stopped illegal logging and forest fires in 15 pilot districts since it began in 2007, and is set to go nationwide when the pilot programme ends in January...

Localized flooding due to typhoons and heavy rains have affected large numbers of people and caused crop damage particularly in areas of the Mekong river basin. Intense monsoon rains, typhoons and tropical storms in September and the first-half of October have caused significant localized flooding and devastation across Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, LAO People’s Democratic Republic, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, hitting areas across the Mekong river basin the hardest. The...

Today Man Ho So presented his credentials as the FAO Representative in Timor-Leste to vice-minister of foreign affairs Alberto Carlos. This agreement formalises the establishment of a permanent FAO Representation in the country and set the basis for expanded, long-term cooperation between Timor-Leste and FAO. Mr So is concurrently the FAO deputy regional representative for Asia and the Pacific based in Bangkok, Thailand. The establishment of the FAO Representation follows a formal request made by the...

Today, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented FAO awards to five farmers for outstanding achievements in the areas of horticulture (Japan), aquaculture (Lao PDR), small island agriculture (Maldives), forestry (Papua New Guinea) and rice farming (Thailand) during the Asia-Pacific observance of World Food Day in Bangkok. A model horticulturist from JapanMs Satoko Anzai Coming from a silk farming family, Ms Satoko Anzai graduated from high school and fell in love...