The agricultural sector in China’s Sichuan province has suffered enormous damage estimated at around $6 billion caused by last month’s devastating earthquake, the FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) said overnight.According to an FAO assessment mission that recently visited Sichuan province, over 30 million people in rural communities have been severely hit, losing most of their assets. Thousands of hectares of farmland were destroyed, millions of farm animals died, houses and... ...Read more »
An unprecedented partnership among key players in agricultural development aims to significantly boost food production in Africa’s “breadbasket regions,” link local food production to food needs, and work across Africa’s major agricultural growing areas-or agro-ecological zones-to create opportunities for smallholder farmers. The agreement marks a significant transformation in the way major global agencies work with smallholder farmers to assist them in solving Africa’s... ...Read more »
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf yesterday appealed to world leaders for US$30 billion a year to re-launch agriculture and avert future threats of conflicts over food. In an impassioned speech at the opening of the Rome Summit, called to de-fuse the current world food crisis, Dr Diouf noted that in 2006 the world spent US$1,200 billion on arms while food wasted in a single country could cost US$100 billion and excess consumption by the world’s obese amounted to US$20 billion. “Against... ...Read more »
Agricultural commodity prices should ease from recent record peaks but over the next 10 years they are expected to average well above their mean levels of the past decade, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook from OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, is pleading for the breaking down of trade barriers with restrictive trade practices likely to cause greater distress. “The way to address rising food prices is not through protectionism... ...Read more »
International prices of most agricultural commodities have started to decline, but they are unlikely to return to the low price levels of previous years, according to Food Outlook - a production by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. “Food is no longer the cheap commodity that it once was. Rising food prices are bound to worsen the already unacceptable level of food deprivation suffered by 854 million people,” said FAO Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem. Despite a favourable... ...Read more »
Just twelve crops and fourteen animal species now provide most of the world’s food; and a lack of diversity means fewer opportunities for the growth and innovation needed to boost agriculture at a time of soaring food prices. This is the growing concern of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). “Our planet abounds with biological richness and this great diversity is key to face the worst food crisis in modern history,” UN FAO Assistant Director, General Alexander Müller,... ...Read more »
The price of rice, a staple food commodity, is set to remain at or near record highs for the remainder of the year, but optimism about a fall next year is growing. The news, from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is welcome as fear of a food shortage grips the world, leading to panic buying and protests in some countries. It also is great news for food retailers who are currently being stung by the rapid rise in food price inflation (particularly for wheat, corn, rice and dairy products). Rice... ...Read more »
The humble potato could prove to be a vital ingredient in the quest for a solution to the food crisis. With their ability to be grown in many different locations and climates, coupled with their wide number of potential uses, they may prove pivotal in overcoming a potential global food shortage. Some potato varieties are able to mature within 50 days, many do not require great amounts of water to grow and they can potentially yield up to four times more food per hectare than wheat or rice; thus... ...Read more »