FAO

Growing numbers of people in Asia lack enough to eat as food insecurity rises with higher prices and worsening poverty, according to a report released Tuesday by the Food and Agricultural Organisation and other United Nations agencies. Nearly a half-billion people, more than eight in 10 of them in South Asia, were undernourished in 2021 and more than 1 billion faced moderate to severe food insecurity, the report said. For the world, the prevalence of food insecurity rose to more than 29 per cent in 2021 from 21 per cent in 2014. The COVID-19 pandemic was a huge setback, causing mass job losses and disruptions, and the war in Ukraine has pushed up prices for food, energy and fertiliser, putting an adequate diet out of the reach of many millions, it said. The report is the fifth annual stocktaking on food insecurity and hunger by UN agencies including the FAO, UNICEF, World Health Organisation and World Food Programme. Over those years, progress toward alleviating hunger and ...

Global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oils were the highest on record last year even after falling for nine months in a row, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said, as Russia's war in Ukraine, drought and other factors drove up inflation and worsened hunger worldwide. The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, dipped by 1.9% in December from a month earlier, the Rome-based organization said Friday. For the whole year, it averaged 143.7 points, more than 14% above the 2021 average, which also saw large increases. The December decline was led by a drop in the price of vegetable oils amid shrinking import demand, expectations of increased soy oil production in South America and lower crude oil prices. Grain and meat were also down, while dairy and sugar rose slightly. Calmer food commodity prices are welcome after two very volatile years, FAO chief economist Maximo Torero said in

UN's FAO said humanitarian access and the delivery of urgently needed assistance to conflict-affected parts of northern Ethiopia remain a key priority to ensure people's recovery from conflict

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has affected access to food on a global level and could deal a blow to the crop harvest in 2023, which is a "major concern" of the Rome-based UN FAO has said

Exception to India's wheat export ban are expected to support an export forecast of 7 million tonnes in 2022/23, remaining well above India's export average over the past five years

The price of wheat has jumped in the international markets after India announced a ban on the export of the staple cereal and due to the reduced production prospects in Ukraine following the invasion

A study by FAO has found that 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in India originate from its agri-food systems

'Wheat warehouses were destroyed in the Beirut port blasts in 2020, and the war in Ukraine further impacted our access to this commodity,' Aoun was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency

The UN agency says access to food worsened in 2020 and deteriorated further this year as governments struggled to keep outbreaks at bay by restricting travel and other activities

Agricultural commodity prices have risen steeply in the past year, driven by harvest setbacks and strong demand

The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index averaged 133.2 points last month compared with a revised 129.2 for September

Surging commodity prices and robust demand during the Covid-19 crisis are key factors

World food prices increased for an 11th consecutive month in April, hitting their highest level since May 2014, with sugar leading a rise in all the main indices, says the United Nations food agency

World food prices rose for the seventh consecutive month in December, led by dairy products and vegetable oils, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.The FAO Food Price Index averaged 107.5 points in December, 2.2 per cent higher than in November. Over the whole of 2020, the benchmark index -- which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities -- averaged 97.9 points, a three-year high and a 3.1 per cent increase from 2019 although still more than 25 per cent below its historical 2011 peak.The FAO Cereal Price Index rose 1.1 per cent from November and for all of 2020 averaged 6.6 per cent above the level of 2019. Export prices for wheat, maize, sorghum and rice all rose in December, moving higher in part due to concerns over growing conditions and crop prospects in North and South America as well as the Russian Federation.On an annual basis, rice export prices were 8.6 per cent higher in 2020 than in 2019, while .

The Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation 17 recently developed biofortified varieties of 8 crops

UN FAO representative in Angola Gherda Barreto said here on Tuesday that the country must lift the 5.5 million people still underfed to zero hunger to accomplish the 2030 agenda

WMO finds direct correlation between increased locusts attack and climate change

These movements will cease as swarms begin to breed and become less mobile, it said. "Swarms are less likely to reach south India" and also to Nepal and Bangladesh, the FAO said

Pests engulf 18 districts in state, apart from infesting large parts of UP and MP; Young juveniles will become voracious adults in June just as farmers begin to harvest, warns FAO

Select agri and agri-based commodities like meat, milk and fruits, among others, present export opportunity worth over USD 97 billion (about Rs 6.9 lakh crore) for India, as per data from the Food & Agriculture Organisation. India's export share in agri items such as bananas, oranges, chicken, meat, and milk products like cheese and butter milk is miniscule at present, the data showed. The country's share in the global market for 19 commodities was a miniscule 1.5 per cent, or around USD 1.5 billion (about Rs 10,650 crore), in 2017 against a potential of USD 97 billion, the World Trade Centre said in a statement on Thursday quoting the FAO data released recently. While global market for meat and chicken is a whopping USD 20.6 billion, the country's export share is only 4.04 per cent of this. Similarly, global market for bananas is close to USD 15 billion wherein India's share is a paltry USD 480 million, the statement said. Butter and cow milk provide a USD 8 billion opportunity,