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Severe nutrition problems afflict more than half the world's population and food systems will need to undergo significant changes to improve people's diets and lives, speakers told country representatives and experts as they opened a meeting organized by FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO).The 13-15 November event is a preparatory technical meeting designed to lay the groundwork for the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), scheduled to take place in 2014, from 19 to 21 November. The aim is to boost coordination of international efforts to tackle the agricultural, economic, health, food system and other factors that...

Washington, DC/Rome - Global Environment Facility (GEF) CEO Naoko Ishii today approved a project coordinated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to improve the health and sustainability of tuna fisheries worldwide by reducing illegal catch and supporting related marine ecosystems and species.The GEF, an international institution uniting 183 countries to address global environmental issues and support sustainable development, approved funding for the implementation phase of the multi-partner project coordinated by FAO which aims to improve management of tuna fisheries on the high seas and conserve biodiversity of related marine ecosystems and species. It will reduce illegal catches...

Dakar, Senegal - FAO Director-General met with representatives of the Senegalese private sector and emphasized the key role that they can play in reinforcing food security and in developing sustainable agriculture. Companies present discussed their activities ad issues encountered in the areas of  distribution of agricultural inputs, production and processing of local commodities including cereals, fruits. The representatives of the Senegalese Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, and the national Employer Federation shared their global vision of how the agricultural sector could be more efficient. They proposed to develop an integrated approach from a "modern production" to locally processed and purchased food products, including...

Rome - A seminar titled “The efficiency and inclusiveness of Public Private Partnerships as a tool in the fight against hunger” was held at FAO headquarters today. The Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department (AG) and the Office of Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development (OPC) jointly held the seminar. The central theme discussed over the two-hour seminar concerned public private partnerships (PPP) as a tool in the fight against hunger. From this theme, two key questions emerged: how PPPs can be an efficient tool in eradicating hunger, and how PPPs be inclusive of local agribusiness and smallholder farmers.  Representatives from FAO, IFAD and the Standards...

Support to family farming through improved production and market access is essential in the fight against hunger. With this idea as a basis, FAO and Italian food chain Eataly signed a Memorandum of Understanding covering collaboration during the International Year of Family Farming in 2014 . The agreement signed by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Eataly CEO Nicola Farinetti establishes various initiatives, such as resource mobilization in support of family farmers in Africa and Latin America. Thus, part of the profits from the sale of certain products in the Eataly establishments will go to FAO projects in developing countries. This...