FAO Report Issues Warning

Climate change bringing floods and drought, growing biofuel demand and national policies to protect domestic markets could drive up global food prices and threaten long-term food security, the United Nations said. High and volatile food prices are a growing global concern, partly fuelling the protests that toppled the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt this year.

FAO Warns On Oil As World Food Prices Hit Record

Global food prices hit a record high in February, the United Nations said March 3, warning that fresh oil price spikes and stockpiling by importers keen to head off popular unrest would hit already volatile cereal markets. Rising food prices are a growing global concern, partly fuelling the protests which toppled the rulers of Tunisia


WFP Sends Food Aid To North Africa

Food stocks are depleted and supply chains disrupted in Libya, the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) said March 2, calling for urgent humanitarian aid to the country hit by political unrest. Responding to the critical situation in North Africa, the WFP is launching a $38.7 million emergency operation to provide food assistance to 2.7

Britain Threatens To Withdraw From FAO

Britain said Feb. 26 it could leave one of the United Nations’ agencies fighting hunger unless it improves its “patchy” performance. The threat to pull out of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) follows a review of British overseas aid ordered by the nine-month- old coalition government, which administers one of the world’s biggest aid


Argentina Dissolves Agricultural Export Regulator

Argentina has dissolved the agricultural trade agency ONCCA responsible for the country’s corn and wheat export limits, and the government said it will still seek to guarantee domestic supply of grains. It was unclear what the move would mean for Argentina’s heavily regulated export policies, which have angered farmers for years. President Cristina Fernandez’s government

France Takes On Germany In Global Gastronomy Battle

France unveiled a global campaign Feb. 16 to reconquer the world’s dinner plates and regain its standing as the gastronomic yardstick four years after Germany overtook it as Europe’s top food exporter. Germany, known more as an industrial powerhouse, pushed ahead of France in the European Union’s 2007 food export ranking, as tough competition in


Climate Change Brings Stronger Storms

Witnesses to Cyclone Yasi’s destructive tear across northeastern Australia described it as a monster for its size and ferocity. It was also an omen. Climate scientists say global warming is heating up the world’s oceans and atmosphere, providing more fuel for tropical cyclones and creating ever-greater risks for crops, miners and billion-dollar beachfronts. The risks

Food Price Rises Bring Risk Of New Riots

France’s agriculture minister warned the United Nations Feb. 18 that food riots like those of three years ago could break out around the world because of steep rises in food prices. Bruno Le Maire was addressing the General Assembly after the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported earlier this month that its food price index


North Korea Confirms Foot-And-Mouth Outbreak

North Korea has confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth disease across the country and lodged the outbreak with the UN food agency. South Korean media reported that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) would dispatch a team next week to help the reclusive state contain the outbreak. The North’s KCNA state news agency said the most affected

Saudi Arabia To Import More Wheat

Saudi Arabia plans to import around two million tonnes of wheat in 2011 like last year and will boost imports to three million tonnes after 2016 as it ends local production, a source at the grains authority said Feb. 2. The top OPEC oil exporter has emerged as a major wheat buyer to feed its