Rome - It is fundamental to support smallholder and family farmers by enhancing their access to innovation for sustainable food systems and to foster sustainable development, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said today. He made the remarks during a discussion on Enhancing access to innovation in agriculture to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at FAO headquarters in Rome. "Innovation in agriculture is a way to enhance...

Rome – During the Future of Food Symposium, FAO and the University of Nottingham signed a partnership agreement, formalizing their intentions to work together across several areas related to FAO’s mandate. The partnership will tackle policy issues related to the urban food agenda and physical access to healthy food, and will look for opportunities to strengthen governance and institutional empowerment in order to promote healthy eating for urban populations.  The collaboration envisions dialogues both with the private sector, to create solutions for building balanced food systems and supplying healthy and sustainable foods, and between farmers and consumers, to establish short circuits for...

Rome – FAO and the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) have signed a formal partnership agreement with the aim of promoting rural development in the Philippines, focusing on developing tools, methodologies and knowledge products to make agricultural systems more inclusive and efficient. The partnership envisions, among other activities, strengthening national policies, strategies and regulatory frameworks on food loss and waste throughout the value chain; facilitating an enabling environment for inclusive rural development and poverty reduction; and identifying and undertaking actions to protect and manage natural resources and ensure sustainable production. FAO and UPLB also plan to develop and disseminate...

Rome – FAO and the American University of Beirut (AUB) have agreed to work in partnership to promote food security and nutrition, particularly in Lebanon and the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, through sustainable agriculture and improved management of natural resources.    The American University of Beirut, a private teaching-centered research university, was founded in 1866 and is recognized as one of the leading universities in the region. FAO and AUB have a history of close collaboration, with AUB’s Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science contributing to a regional FAO project on enhancing the Mediterranean Diet. The formal partnership...

Rome – On the opening day of the Future of Food Symposium, FAO and the Johns Hopkins University have formalized their agreement to work together to support evidence-based policy for improving nutrition, health, and well-being, particularly for the world’s most vulnerable and under-served populations. FAO will work closely with Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Berman Institute of Bioethics to promote interdisciplinary and policy-focused research on systems thinking for nutrition, and to raise awareness about malnutrition in all its forms, including undernutrition, inadequate nutrition, overweight and obesity. The partnership also foresees greater engagement with global policy mechanisms...