FAO's monthly food price index was stable in November, as vegetable oil and grain prices inched up and offset ongoing declines in dairy prices. The Food Price Index averaged 192.6 points, marking the third consecutive month of stability. The Index now stands 13 points, 6.4 percent below its level in November 2013.
Fish farming will likely grow more than expected in the coming decade, offering a chance for improved nutrition for millions of people, especially in Asia and Africa, according to a new report, from FAO.
FAO's monthly food price index was stable in October, as sugar and vegetable oil prices rose to offset declines in dairy and meat prices. The Food Price Index dipped to 192.3, technically, its seventh consecutive monthly decline, but a marginal 0.2% drop from the revised September figure.
FAO Food Price Index dropped for the fourth month in a row in August reaching its lowest level since June 2012. The index, which measures the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 201.8 points in August 2013, nearly 4 points (1.9%) below its July value and 11 points (5.1% less than in August 2012.
United Nation agencies launched Tuesday a campaign to reduce global food loss and waste, which currently amounts to 1.3 billion tons a year, more than four times what would be needed to solve the world’s hunger crisis.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 211 points in November 2012, down 3 points (1.5%) from October and the lowest since June 2012. Except for dairy, international prices of all the commodity groups included in the Index fell in November, with sugar undergoing the sharpest dip, followed by oils and cereals. The decline puts the November index value nearly 3% below one year ago.
The FAO Food Price Index fell 1% in October 2012, and for the first ten months of the year food prices were on average 8% lower than in the same period in 2011. The Index dipped two points to 213 points from September's revised level of 215 points. The decline was largely due to lower international prices of cereals and oils and fats, which more than offset increases in dairy and sugar prices.
A 20 million dollars agreement signed Wednesday by the United Nations and Brazil will seek to transfer the expertise of the South American country to support cotton farmers in developing economies.
One in eight people worldwide still suffers from chronic hunger, the UN's food agency said on Tuesday, describing the figure as unacceptable and warning that the fight against hunger was slowing down.
By Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Achieving the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the prevalence of hunger in the world by 2015 is still within reach, but a strong, sustained acceleration of efforts is needed. Progress made in the fight against hunger since the middle of the last decade has lost steam, and it is time to regain momentum.