FAO
World hunger climbs for third year, as many hungry now as in 2010
Some 821 million people—1 in 9 of the world's population—suffer from hunger, said a UN report on Tuesday, the third year in a row that hunger increased globally. The upturn jeopardizes the UN goal of eradicating hunger by 2030. Hunger was on the decline for years, dropping below 784 million in 2014 before starting to creep upward. Now there are as many hungry people as in 2010, said the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report.
FAO food index at lowest level this year
Sharp declines in the dairy and sugar prices, dropping by 6 percent or more in a month, pulled down the monthly Food Price Index to its lowest level this year, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The index, which measures international prices for a basket of commodities, had been rising steadily until June.
UN report says global fish production will slow but aquaculture will grow
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in its 2018 report on The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture, says that fish consumption and fishing is expected to increase in the coming 15 years, though at a slower rate than in prior decades.
Scanty rainfall a threat to food supply in eastern and southern Africa
High temperature and inadequate rainfall are adversely affecting crop development in southern Africa, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. They result may be poor yields and heavier than usual infestations of the fall armyworm, which spreads in dry weather. In a special alert, the FAO said small harvests are "foreseen to intensify food insecurity in 2018, increasing the number of people in need of assistance."
World grain output sets record, global stockpile to be largest ever
The world’s farmers harvested a record 2.64 billion tonnes of wheat, rice, and feed grains in 2017, estimated the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. It was the group’s second sharp upward adjustment of its global production figure in two months.
An unlikely climate push in rural America
Hog giant Smithfield Foods has launched a program to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2025, but it is doing so largely by focusing on the fertilizer applications of its grain farmers. While that’s an important step, it also sidesteps the biggest source of the company’s emissions — its 19 million hogs, FERN’s latest story, in partnership with The WorldPost, reported. (No paywall)
FAO chief says ‘brain revolution’ will succeed Green Revolution
The Green Revolution of high-yielding wheat, rice and maize varieties, boosted by synthetic fertilizers, is credited with averting famine in the developing world. In a speech at a London think tank, FAO director general Jose Graziano de Silva said, "The future of agriculture is not input-intensive, but knowledge-intensive."
War and weather end decade-long decline in world hunger
The report on global hunger was the first since the UN set a goal of eradicating hunger by 2030. UN agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, have cited the role of warfare in hunger. According to the new UN report, 60 percent of the world's hungry people "live in countries affected by conflict," some 489 million people. But even in regions that are more peaceful, droughts or floods linked in part to the El Niño weather phenomenon, as well as the global economic slowdown, have also seen food security and nutrition deteriorate, said the report.
World food prices hit 2-1/2-year high
On the rise for the third month in a row, the Food Price Index is now the highest since January 2015, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The latest increase in the index is due to higher prices for cereal grains, sugar and dairy. In early 2015, prices were declining from the peak in 2011, when drought affected global food supplies.
After a respite, world food prices are on par with February 2015
The FAO Food Price Index, based on prices of five groups of commodities - meat, dairy, grains, sugar and vegetable oil - has been on an upward trajectory since the start of 2016. Pushed by higher wheat and dairy prices, the index now has a reading of 175.2, the second time this year that it is on par with prices in February 2015, said the UN agency.
Large supplies will keep a lid on food prices, says FAO report
In August 2015, U.S. district judge Ralph Erickson blocked the Obama administration's Waters of the United States rule from taking effect, the first injunction against the clean water rule. Now the North Dakota judge would be elevated to the U.S. appellate court under a nomination announced by the White House.
For third month, world food prices decline in FAO index
The FAO Food Price Index dropped by 1.8 percent in April, pulled down by lower sugar, cereal, dairy, and vegetable oil prices. Those drops were offset in part by higher meat prices.
Record world corn production forecast despite U.S. retreat
A surge in corn production in Brazil and Argentina will power the world to a record harvest in 2017/18, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in forecasting bin-busting output of cereal crops in the upcoming season. "Combined with prospects of relatively weak growth in utilization, another large output is set to keep world cereal stocks at near-record level."
Hunger rises in Yemen, along with risk of famine
Some 17 million people in Yemen, 60 percent of the population, "are now facing hunger," due to armed conflict and a rapid rise in food insecurity since last summer, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. "Without additional humanitarian and livelihoods support, Taiz and Al Hudaydah, two governorates accounting for almost a quarter of Yemen's population, risk slipping into famine."
‘Unprecedented’ threat of four famines at same time, says FAO
Although global food supplies are robust, the world faces "an unprecedented situation" of four threats of famine in multiple countries simultaneously, says the assistant director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
World food prices highest in nearly two years
The FAO Food Price Index surged by 2 percent during January to its highest level in almost two years, fueled by fears of tightening sugar supplies, a downturn in U.S. wheat plantings and uncertain prospects for grain crops in South America. The index fell for five years in a row through 2016 but now has risen for six consecutive months.
Food prices down for fifth year in a row, more uncertainty this year
Bumper 2016 grain harvests were a leading factor in the decline of the global Food Price Index for the fifth year in a row, said the Food and Agriculture Organization. The UN agency was less sanguine about the outlook for this year.
FAO project restores irrigation to farmland near Mosul
Some 225,000 hectares (556,000 acres) of farmland near Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, will regain irrigation water for the first time in two years under a project run by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The project includes clearing obstructions from the main irrigation canal, repairing a pumping station and clearing mines from fields.