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10 December, 2013 - "Many of the companies that are here today are present in many countries. This is important because what you do locally against hunger can quickly become global", said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva in a private sector partnerships meeting held today. At the meeting, Graziano da Silva announced that FAO has set up a multi-donor trust fund to allow private sector companies to financially contribute to the organization's work and support FAO projects and programmes. "I welcome and encourage you to join this partnership and kick start this newly established fund",he said.

Rome - The Committee on World Food Security, the world’s most important intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder platform for food security and nutrition, opened its 40th session (CFS 40) at FAO headquarters, amid urgent calls to build more effective links between international policies and the daily needs of millions of the world’s most vulnerable people. “The latest estimates signal there are nearly 30 million less hungry people in the world in 2013, compared to last year,” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. “And we continue to progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal hunger target of reducing by half the proportion of the undernourished...

Rome - Greenhouse gas emissions by the livestock sector could be cut by as much as 30 percent through the wider use of existing best practices and technologies, according to a new study released today by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).The report, Tackling climate change through livestock: A global assessment of emissions and mitigation opportunities, represents the most comprehensive estimate made to-date of livestock's contribution to global warming – as well as the sector's potential to help tackle the problem.All told, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with livestock supply chains add up to 7.1 gigatonnes (GT) of...

The Rabobank Foundation and FAO will share knowledge, innovation and financial resources in a broad strategy to make a difference in the lives of small-holder farmers and the rural poor in Africa. An agreement signed at FAO headquarters sets out how the organizations will work together on development projects in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The projects will improve the income of small-holder farmers through support to small rural businesses, as well as through the identification of productive, competitive and sustainable agri-businesses along the whole value chain. Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that "this agreement is more than...

20 September 2013, Rome – The managing director of Rabobank Foundation, Mr. Pierre van Hedel, visited FAO headquarters today and gave a seminar for FAO staff titled “The Value of Cooperative Banking in Supporting Smallholders” as part of the Private Sector Seminar Series.
 
Rabobank Foundation was created in 1973 by Rabobank Group, a Dutch multinational bank and global leader in Food and Agribusiness. Building upon Rabobank Group’s collaborative and sustainable banking strategies, Rabobank Foundation seeks to support smallholder farmers around the world through agricultural cooperatives and microfinance mechanisms. Mr. Van Hedel explained that Rabobank Foundation believes in empowering smallholder farmers through financial,...