News and Press Releases
FAO helps rebuild pride in Agriculture
'I am proud of my garden and also proud of 'agriculture' for helping me to have such a productive garden.'- Melina Lamai, farmer
05.10.2015 Port Villa, Vanuatu
Melina Lamai is a subsistence farmer from Blacksands in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Tropical Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu on March 13 2015, causing widespread damage and destruction throughout the country. Melina was one of many affected.
Melina lives with her husband, two children and six grandchildren. Her busy lifestyle means she spends most days at home meeting the needs of the three generations in the household; cooking, cleaning and gardening are high...
FAO and Samoa work together on tackling Financing Agriculture
05.10.2015 Apia, Samoa
The Samoa Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc and FAO are partnering to address risk to agricultural lending.
Rural finance is an important element and catalyst to rural development. Yet the lack of capacity and structures to adequately deal with both the business and financial system risks has led to underwhelming results. Millions of dollars has been invested into rural finance, especially agricultural credit and yet rural communities have little to...
Ecotourism moves forward in Fiji
05.10.2015 Suva, Fiji
The Global Environment Facility - Pacific Alliance for Sustainability Program 4 (GEF PAS 4) Forest and Protected Area Management Fiji Project is supporting the development of the Nabalasere ecotourism venture in Fiji.
Villagers from Nabalasere have established an ecotourism venture with a magnificent waterfall as its main attraction. Nabalasere waterfall is an extension of the water system that begins from Mount Tomaniivi, which is the highest peak in Fiji.
Nabalasere is one...
Papua New Guinea begins “stock-take” of its forests
05.10.2015 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is embarking on its first national forest inventory (NFI) under the understanding to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)+. PNG introduced the concept of REDD+ into international negotiations at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 13), in Bali in 2007.
PNG has taken a global lead in seeking to combat climate change, particularly by proposing measures...
Nepal enshrines the Right to Food in new constitution
01.10.2015 Kathmandu
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization welcomes the promulgation of Nepal’s new constitution which has enshrined the Right to Food as a fundamental right for its citizens, FAO’s Representative in Nepal said today. ...
Better Pacific fisheries and agriculture statistics to help improve livelihoods of millions
30.09.2015 Nadi, Fiji
Planners, statisticians and policy makers from 13 Pacific Island countries are gathering in Nadi, Fiji, today to improve the collection and use of agricultural and fisheries statistics in the Pacific.
Timely and accurate statistics will help governments make evidence-based policy decisions and monitor the successful implementation of policy objectives.
The workshop on "Strategic Planning for Agriculture and Fisheries Statistics for Pacific Island Countries" is organised by the European Union supported Pacific Agriculture...
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations have today launched a “National Strategy on Women in Agriculture Development”.
The Strategy document was signed by H. E. Assadullah Zamir, Minister for MAIL and Tomio Shichiri, FAO Representative in Afghanistan. It was developed as part of the project, “Strengthening the Role of Women in Agriculture Development,” funded by the Government of...
FAO and China announce second phase of programme to boost agribusiness in Uganda
South-South sharing of knowledge and best-practices in food production and agribusiness to expand
26.09.2015 Rome
FAO, China and Uganda have signed a two year agreement worth almost $2.5 million to support small-scale farmers in Uganda in boosting their production, including through sustainable technologies. The agreement marks the second phase of a partnership initially established in 2012 to make training and technical advice available to the Ugandan agriculture sector. The agreement was developed in the context of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation (SSC) Programme, which was established in 2009...
Asia-Pacific countries intensify training in statistical analysis for food security data
22.09.2015 Bangkok, Thailand
Countries with high incidence of under-nourishment in Asia and the Pacific have taken another step forward in a determined effort to improve their ability to collect and analyze food security statistics, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization announced today.
Food and agricultural statistics are diverse and complex subjects which cover a variety of data on crops, livestock, fish and forestry sub-sectors.
Hosted by the Royal Thai Government, FAO has convened a five-day...
Severe food insecurity on the rise in Afghanistan – “extremely alarming trend” -- UN and partner agencies release new assessment
10.09.2015 Kabul, Afghanistan
The number of people in Afghanistan resorting to selling land or turning to friends or family for help because of food insecurity has doubled in the last year, according to a joint report released today by UN and partner agencies.
The 2015 Seasonal Food Security Assessment in Afghanistan (SFSA), published by the country’s Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), found that at the peak of the lean season the number of Afghans facing severe food...