Agriculture is part of the solution to the world's environmental challenge and must play a key role at next June's Rio summit on sustainable development, the Brazilian head of the UN food agency said this week.
Food prices fell in December 2011 with the FAO Food Price Index dropping 2.4%, or five points from November, FAO said on Thursday. At its new level of 211 points, the Index was 11.3% (27 points) below its peak in February 2011.
Food prices may ease in 2012 due to a slowing global economy, though no drastic drop from high levels is expected, the new director-general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Tuesday.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, and Transparency International have detected serious corruption problems in the access to land in at least 61 countries, among which some in Latinamerica.
Aquaculture is the world's fastest-growing source of animal protein and currently provides nearly half of all fish consumed globally, according to a report published here by FAO.
The FAO Food price index dropped to an 11-month low in October, declining 4%, or nine points, to 216 points from September. Nonetheless prices still remain generally higher than last year and very volatile, FAO said.
With nearly one billion people still suffering from food shortages around the globe, the world must take a united stand against hunger, the United Nations said on Sunday 16 October, marking World Food Day.
Food price volatility featuring high prices is likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity, the United Nations' three Rome-based agencies said in the global hunger report published Monday.
Despite improved production prospects, world cereal markets are likely to remain fairly tight in 2011/2012, FAO announced this week. Prices on the other hand will tend to decline as a result of softer demand because of worsening economic conditions.
Focused policies and investments aimed at protecting and managing forest and trees in and around cities are needed to strengthen urban livelihoods and improve city environments, as the world becomes increasingly urbanized.