Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from Asia and the Pacific opened a two-day Consultation today to discuss their joint concerns about the future of small farmers, landless farmers, farm workers and other concerned stakeholders.  This parallel Consultation is organized just prior to FAO’s Thirty-Second Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC), also in Ulaanbaatar, 10-14 March. Forty participants representing different CSOs and their organizations from the region and Mongolia are participating in the Consultation and their conclusions will be shared with delegates through formal interventions during the APRC. In his welcome remarks as the host organization’s president, Bayartsaikhan Nadmid, of the...

FAO and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) have joined forces towards the establishment of a Hunger Free Community of Portuguese Language Countries. FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and the Executive Secretary of the CPLP, Murade Isaac Miguigy Murargy, signed a Technical Cooperation Programme, uniting FAO and the CPLP today. With a total allocated contribution of $500,000 USD, the programme will support the CPLP and its governments, parliaments and non-governmental partners in implementing a Regional Strategy for Food and Nutrition Security approved in 2012. “The partnership between the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) and FAO represents a milestone for...

La FAO et la France vont intensifier leur coopération dans des domaines de recherche clés et aligner leurs travaux sur le cadre stratégique renouvelé de la FAO. Deux accords signés aujourd'hui couvrent un large spectre d'activités conjointes sur l'agro-écologie, la biodiversité, la santé animale, les pertes alimentaires et les réformes agraires, ce qui contribuera à la réalisation des Objectifs stratégiques de la FAO. Le Directeur général de la FAO, José Graziano da Silva, la Présidente d'Agreenium, Marion Guillou, et le Directeur général du Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), Michel Eddi, ont signé les accords lors de...

In the context of the 2014 International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), FAO has joined the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) to launch an awareness campaign targeted at farmers’ organizations and the rural population. The main objective is to use community radio as a platform to share information with the farming community and involve them further in the discussion regarding the key role that family farming plays in economic and social development. The campaign was launched in Montreal on 27 January and is set to continue throughout the entire 2014. It will consist of a series...

The  global campaign against hunger launched by the Caritas confederation is an important contribution to raise awareness of the plight of millions of hungry people around the globe and to work towards the elimination of hunger, said Marcela Villarreal, Director of FAO's Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development. The campaign ‘One Human Family, Food for All’ was launched in Rome with a video message of Pope Francis. In his message, the Pope said that “We are facing a global scandal of around one billion people who still suffer from hunger today. We cannot look the other way. The food that...