World food prices that rose 37% in a year, driving 44 million more people into poverty, are a “plague” that needs action from world leaders now, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy during the two-day Group of 20 agriculture ministers in Paris.
Brazil is poised to overtake the United States for the first time ever, as the world’s leading exporter of chicken, with a third of global trade, according to the latest statistics from FAO released this week.
Citing dwindling stocks and only small production increases for the majority of crops, a new United Nations report released Wednesday world food prices are likely to remain high for the rest of this year and into 2012.
The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) declared rinderpest, one of the deadliest diseases of cattle and of several other animal species, eradicated from the surface of the earth.
Food inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean decreased to 1.9% during the first quarter of this year according to a report from the regional office from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, released Monday.
Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tons — gets lost or wasted, according to an FAO-commissioned study.
Food prices remained virtually steady in April after falling in March following eight months of successive increases, FAO announced Thursday.
Rice production is expected to rise to 480 million tons in 2011, which is 3% higher than a year earlier, due to improved weather conditions, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday.
The FAO Food Price Index has dropped for the first time after eight months of continuous price spikes, FAO announced Thursday. The Index averaged 230 points in March 2011, down 2.9% from its peak in February, but still 37% above March 2010.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO called for veterinary and border control authorities in Asia to be on alert for animals showing signs of Foot and Mouth Disease, FMD. The request follows on South Korea’s culling millions of livestock and vaccinating millions more to stop the spread of FMD, while North Korea also is responding to an outbreak of the disease.