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While meat-alternative, plant-based, processed foods are now well established in supermarkets in many countries in Asia and the Pacific, cell-based food production, derived directly from cells of animals, though not as widely known, could be for sale to consumers in the near future, experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said today. Also known as cellular agriculture, the process involves culturing cells isolated from animals, followed...

Five new sites - a mushroom-growing area in China, a traditional Maya agroforestry system in Mexico, an ancient community linking pastoralists and farmers in Morocco, a diverse mountain agrifood system in Spain and a landscape centred on the buffalo in Thailand - have been formally recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). The sites were designated during a meeting of the GIAHS Scientific Advisory Group taking place in Rome this week...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) flagship programme of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)   today celebrated its 20th anniversary, highlighting its role in promoting sustainable agriculture and revitalizing the rural communities who are responsible for feeding a significant proportion of the earth’s population. The virtual celebrations were addressed by Ministers from Japan, Peru, United Republic of Tanzania and Tunisia, as well as senior officials and Ambassadors...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are scaling up efforts to strengthen global animal food security with the aim of protecting human lives and livelihoods while improving agrifood systems and safeguarding the environment.  USAID has reaffirmed once again its strong commitment to a longstanding and impactful partnership with FAO by granting $250 million to fund the FAO Global...

Global conflicts, a lingering pandemic, inflation, erratic swings in the price of energy, fertilizers and basic foods – these are just some of the major challenges facing countries and people in the Asia-Pacific region as it marked World Food Day on 16 October, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported today. The world’s biggest region – home to most of the planet’s hungry – has been backsliding...

With an aim to share knowledge and improve regional coordination and partnerships for scaling up forest and landscape restoration (FLR), delegates from several countries in the region and experts joined the hybrid FLR Days event starting from 10 October, in Bangkok, Thailand.  Government representatives from Bangladesh, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nepal and Timor-Leste have joined the meeting in-person along with the global experts in FLR with a number of participants joining...

Countries in Asia and the Pacific have highlighted an urgency to move forward with transformation of their agrifood systems, following a three-day symposium convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The need to transform the region’s agrifood system was identified following the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which enormously disrupted the agricultural value chain systems globally as well as in Asia and the Pacific region....

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region have launched an online platform to showcase their priority agricultural products and raise international awareness of their unique qualities to upscale their marketability, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced today. The Regional Knowledge Platform on FAO’s One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative to support the transformation of agrifood systems in Asia and the Pacific was launched during the FAO Asia-Pacific...

At a symposium convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on agrifood systems transformation in Asia-Pacific, governments, the private sector and other stakeholders are being urged to massively accelerate transformation of their agrifood systems, or risk worsening malnutrition and environmental degradation in the world’s most populous region. Rising food prices, floods, drought, water scarcity, increasing climate-related disasters, the global pandemic and conflicts, are driving food insecurity across...

Digitalization has great potential to drive progress towards an inclusive future for the world’s smallholder farmers, and can help galvanize greater productivity and sustainability of agrifood systems, as well as improve livelihoods and options for women and youth, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said today at a side event ahead of the G-20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting in Bali.“Digital transformation opens an important opportunity...