Rabat, Morocco (PANA) - Moroccan government officials joined by UN and other donor representatives gathered Thursday to mark the inauguration of the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) new country office in Rabat. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Modern technologies that make it easier to recover lost fishing gear are giving a boost to efforts to reduce so-called "ghost fishing" and its harmful impacts on fish stocks and endangered species, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Thursday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva on Monday met Central African Republic (CAR) President Faustin-Archange Touadera for talks that focused on rebuilding the country's agriculture sector and making it an engine for peace and sustainable development. Full text...

Rome, Italy, (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Google are working together to make high-resolution satellite data an everyday tool in managing the world's natural resources in a joint effort that is changing the way the world goes about pursuing sustainable development, FAO said on a statement on Friday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The presence of recently discovered desert locust infestations in Yemen, where conflict is severely hampering control operations, poses a potential threat to crops in the region, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned. Full text...

Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) – Botswana has suspended export of beef from the country’s southern district following a raid of the area by buffaloes. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Countries in northwest Africa need to mobilize survey and control teams and to take all necessary measures to prevent the destructive locust from reaching breeding areas situated in their respective territories, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Tuesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are intensifying joint efforts to assist communities in northern Somalia coping with a severe drought exacerbated by El Nino conditions, a UN statement said on Monday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - World cereal production in 2016 is set to amount to 2,521 million tonnes, just 0.2 percent off last year's large output and the third-highest global performance on record, according to FAO's first forecast for the new season, released on Thursday. Full text...

Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana has sufficient sorghum stock to take the country through to the 2016/17 harvest season, government officials said on Tuesday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - International experts have gathered at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to focus on the most effective ways to prevent insects, bacteria, viruses and weeds from infesting fruit, vegetable and other plant and food consignments that are traded daily across the world. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Civil strife and unfavourable rains have further reduced crop production in South Sudan, contributing to a cereal deficit of 381,000 tonnes --53 percent greater than in 2015 --and aggravating the already severe food shortages, two UN agencies warned on Tuesday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Vice President Michel Mordasini will visit Algeria from 5 – 7 April for discussion with government officials on partnership for agricultural development, food and water security and rural poverty alleviation. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Improving food security can help build sustainable peace and even ward off looming conflict, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva has told members of the United Nations Security Council. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) – Relying on the unsavoury experience of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday urged South Sudan to invest more in agriculture and not to be solely dependent on oil revenues as the means to grow the nation’s economy. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN and humanitarian partners have launched a 90-day campaign to raise awareness about the food crisis in the Ethiopia and raise funds to bridge a US$700 million gap, in order to assist people affected by drought in the country. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Great use of agro-ecology, bio-technology and other creative tools can help eradicate hunger, fight malnutrition and achieve sustainable agriculture, according to UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday said it would not suspend relief operations to vulnerable people in Zimbabwe during the spring and summer seasons, and will continue food and cash assistance throughout the year. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Women in the Gambia town of Brikamaba, Lower Fulladu, west of the Central River Region (CRR), have turned to gardening to fight off food security threats after a failed rice growing season. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Thirty-four countries, 27 of them in Africa, are currently in need of external assistance for food due to drought, flooding and civil conflicts, according to a new edition of FAO's Crop Prospects and Food Situation report released here Wednesday. Full text...

Italy, Rome (PANA) - Timely agricultural assistance for the upcoming rainy season is essential to help the drought-affected people of Ethiopia, as one of the strongest El Niño events on record continues to have devastating effects on the lives and livelihoods of farmers and herders, the UN Food and Agriculture Oraganization said on Monday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Overall food prices stayed put on the month in February, as falling sugar and dairy prices offset a spike in vegetable oil prices, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Three years of conflict and ongoing displacements in the Central African Republic (CAR) continue to disrupt agriculture and severely constrain people's access to food, as they struggle with the effects of multiple poor harvests, disrupted markets and soaring prices for many staple foods, two UN agencies warned on Tuesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Three years of conflict and ongoing displacements in the Central African Republic (CAR) continue to disrupt agriculture and severely constrain people's access to food, as they struggle with the effects of multiple poor harvests, disrupted markets and soaring prices for many staple foods, two UN agencies warned on Tuesday. Full text...

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a global leader in research on food, nutrition, and agriculture, will launch a new programme office in Cairo, Egypt on 1 March 2016, the US-based institute said Monday. Full text...

Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana has announced it intends to find alternative markets for beef apart from its European Union niche. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Community-based forestry has shown itself to be a potent vehicle for promoting sustainable forest management, reducing poverty and generating jobs and income for rural communities. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Liberia and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have signed two agreements to finance initiatives that will boost farmers’ income, generate much needed foreign exchange, and contribute more broadly to the country’s post-Ebola recovery. Full text...

Agadir, Morocco (PANA) - High-level delegations of fisheries ministries from more than 50 countries are gathering in Agadir for a summit with industry players to discuss emerging governance needs in a sector that provides the world with 17 per cent of its animal protein and developing countries with more export revenue than meat, tobacco, rice and sugar combined. Full text...

Rome, Ital (PANA) - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Friday highlighted the publication of a new study that quantifies, for the first time, how much crop yields depend on the work of bees that unknowingly fertilize plants as they move from flower to flower. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Recognizing that rural development plays a fundamental role in stabilizing communities and reducing migration and conflict, senior government officials have renewed their commitment at a United Nations conference in Rome to invest in smallholder agriculture and reduce poverty in developing countries. Full text...

Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana is likely to face the most severe drought ever faced in years, officials have said. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Development leaders, heads of state and government representatives on Wednesday gathered in Rome, Italy, for the opening of the 39th Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to explore ways of boosting investments in smallholder agriculture that are essential to achieving the Global Goals of ending poverty and hunger. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) – Swaziland and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed an agreement on Tuesday to finance an initiative that will improve food and nutrition security and increase the incomes of 10,900 households, in particular smallholder farmers living in Lubombo and Shiselweni regions of the southern Africa country where drought has been most severe. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The Kingdom of Swaziland and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have signed an agreement to finance the Smallholder Market-led Project (SMLP), the UN Agency said in a press statement Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Grupo PRISA, publishers of Madrid-based daily EL PAÍS, have agreed to collaborate to improve public awareness of critical issues related to hunger, agriculture and food systems, the UN body has said in a news dispatch from Rome on Tuesday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Much more must be done to ensure that family farmers, especially those in developing countries, have access to agricultural biotechnologies that can make their activities more productive and sustainable in the face of major challenges such as climate change and population growth, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said here Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Over the coming year, humanitarian partners should prepare for food insecurity levels as food insecure population numbers in southern Africa can be at their highest levels since the 2002-2003 food crisis, the United Nations agriculture agency warned Friday, citing an 'intense' drought as the main cause. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - The Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture on Thursday night launched its 'Smart Agriculture' project in a bid to reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture, PANA has learned from official sources in the Mauritian capital. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents is impacting Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A new UN food security and nutrition assessment report on Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - South Sudan faces unprecedented levels of food insecurity, with 2.8 million people, nearly 25 per cent of the population, in urgent need of aid, and at least 40,000 of them on the brink of catastrophe, UN agencies warned on Monday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The FAO Food Price Index fell in January, slipping 1.9 percent below its level in the last month of 2015, as prices of all the commodities it tracks fell, sugar in particular, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Thursday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) – Benin and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed an agreement Monday to finance the Market Gardening Development Support Project (PADMAR), an initiative that will create some 3,000 new jobs, particularly for young women and men in the West African country. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Over 300 small enterprises will be established in Cameroon’s fish farming sector under a funding support agreement signed Friday in Rome, Italy, between the west-central African country and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Infectious animal-borne disease threats such as Ebola and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) are here to stay, and further painful outbreaks are likely to flare up or new disease threats will definitely emerge in the near future. Full text...

Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana government has started rolling animal ear tags across the country to enhance traceability of animals, following a test-trail in 2014. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Poor farmers and women-headed households in DR Congo's North Kivu province will benefit from a project aimed at raising incomes while boosting the country’s food security under an agreement signed Thursday between the DRC government and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is hosting an international symposium on “The Role of Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition” from 15-17 February 2016. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Livestock keepers and policy makers worldwide are increasingly interested in harnessing animal biodiversity to improve production and food security on a warmer, more crowded planet, according to a new Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report issued on Wednesday. Full text...