The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) marked the official closure of the International Year of Millets 2023 with a ceremony that celebrated the Year’s achievements and committed to continuing the momentum. Over 200 people attended the hybrid event which was held at FAO ‘s headquarters in Rome and on Zoom.

Millets were a vital means of survival for chef Fatmata Binta and her family during Sierra Leone’s civil war. As the International Year of Millets 2023 drew to a close, Binta shared her personal story during a panel discussion held by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to discuss the impact of the Year.

The project is designed to provide specialized training to approximately 100 women involved in fonio cultivation, enhancing their skills and boosting their productivity and income. Funded by FAO under a Technical Cooperation Project, the training will include hands-on sessions on fonio product...

Advances in plant breeding technologies and value chains have enormous potential to boost sustainable millet production and consumer demand but must be backed by investment and policy support.

That was one of the key messages from researchers and other experts at the roundtable discussio...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has called for ‘’robust coordination’’ between countries and regions in efforts to prevent and combat the scourge of desert locusts. “Desert locusts – as migratory pests – cannot be controlled by one single country or one single entity,” FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol told participants at a high-level webinar today.

The potato, an important crop that is consumed by over one billion people around the world, will be celebrated on 30 May 2024, the first-ever International Day of Potato. The theme will be: ‘Harvesting diversity, feeding hope’. A newly published ‘get involved guide’ has more on the theme and also features key messages. There are suggestions for government bodies, food business operators, NGOs, educators and parents who wish to organize events and activities to engage their local and regional communities.

FAO recognizes women’s need to access agricultural mechanization in plant production to conduct their farming practices profitably and efficiently. Sustainable agricultural mechanization covers all levels of farming and processing technologies, from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated and motorized equipment. 

During a handover event in Tanzania, from the Capacity Building Related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements in African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries - Phase III (ACP MEAs 3) programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) delivered modern equipment to 300 small-scale beekeepers across six districts. The beehives, honey storage tanks, protective gear, and honey pressers will help improve livelihood of the communities and contribute to biodiversity conservation.

Urban and city region food systems (CRFS) are critical to sustain their fast-growing populations, yet securing funding to support and improve themrepresents a significant challenge. In view of often constrained public sector budgets,external, ideally long-term, funds must be secured to fully i...

Over the last three years, under the ACP-MEAS 3 project, a European Union-funded initiative that seeks to strengthen environmental governance and implement Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), Zimbabwe has made significant progress in policy development, sustainable agriculture research and development, mitigation of the impact of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs), and promotion of ecosystems-based agricultural practices through farmer field schools.