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The Government of Nepal, with the collaboration and support of the United Nations, today launched a national Zero Hunger Challenge, a major initiative to eradicate hunger in the Himalayan country by 2025. The National Zero Hunger Challenge (NZHC) was launched today, on behalf of the  Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, in the nation’s capital, by Minister for Urban Development Dr. Narayan Khadka.  Also participating in the launch was Hari Prasad Parajuli, the...

Bumper crops and a surge in demand for rice, particularly in the Far East, have resulted in 2014 recording the highest rice export figures ever, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today. While final figures won’t be confirmed until early next year, FAO’s last quarterly report for 2014, the Rice Market Monitor, indicates much of the forecast growth in 2014 global trade in rice is likely to be due...

Nearly 300 of Asia’s brightest, newly graduated university students and doctoral candidates could one day find the answers to feeding an ever growing world, a senior official with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today. Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific made the remarks during his graduation address as key graduation speaker at the 122nd Graduation Ceremony of the Asian Institute of Technology...

A new network designed to share the latest agricultural knowledge among Asia-Pacific governments and other stakeholders and extend that knowledge to front line farmers, fishers and other land users was launched today in Bangkok, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced. The joint launch involved FAO, the Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institute (APAARI) and the Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA) of ESCAP. “The joint launch of...

Connecting agricultural production with food processing and value chain, creating jobs for women and income generating opportunities, encouraging more young people to work in agriculture and the production of more nutritious foods are critical steps for the economic and social advancement of Asia-Pacific’s least developed countries, a senior official of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today. Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the...

Philippine farmers and fishers have felt the full force of typhoon Hagupit (locally known as Ruby) which has now swept through seven regions of the country, including the Visayas and MIMAROPA areas that were severely affected by Typhoon Haiyan 12 months ago. FAO-Representative in the Philippines, José Luis Fernandez praised the Government for its quick and timely early warnings and response to Hagupit, which included relocating livestock, pre-positioning seed stocks and...

The ten members of ASEAN have come a step closer to the establishment of a social protection floor that would benefit farmers and rural workers, a UN-sponsored ASEAN meeting heard today. During the course of the last two days, ASEAN members have been considering a plan of action to implement the ASEAN Declaration on Strengthening Social Protection which was adopted at the 23rd ASEAN Summit in 2013. The action plan aims...

Rapid economic growth and structural transformation of the economies of East and Southeast Asia have left a giant monsoon-like cloud hanging over the future of the regions’ signature rice crops, as policy-makers grapple with emerging challenges facing the region’s rice producers, according to a series of new policy notes. Rice in the Shadow of Skyscrapers: Policy choices in a dynamic East and Southeast Asian setting points out that the rice-related policies...