FAO Food & Agriculture Organization [to 8 March 2014]
http://www.fao.org/home/en/

Closing the gender gap in agriculture  
7 March 2014, Rome – Tomorrow will mark International Women’s day, and with that, high-level experts from the UN and partner organizations met today at FAO Headquarters in Rome to discuss the theme “Closing the gender gap in agriculture”. Women play a remarkably strong role in Agriculture while facing an equally remarkable array of challenges. In this dialogue – jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the World Farmers’ (…)

FAO Food Price Index  
6 March 2014, Rome – Weather-related trends and increased demand came into play as the FAO Food Price Index registered its sharpest increase since mid-2012, averaging 208.1 points in February 2014. The new level was 5.2 points, or 2.6 percent, above a slightly revised index for January, but was still 2.1 percent lower than last year at the same time. The figures were released amid news reports of spikes in wheat and corn prices in response to recent developments in Ukraine, but the February increase in the Index cannot be attributed to those events. Changing conditions in Ukraine and Russia, (…)

Zimbabwe: smallholder farmers receive support  
6 March 2014, Harare – The European Union (EU) has given $19 million USD to help smallholder farmers in communal and old resettlement areas of Zimbabwe. The funds, channelled through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will enable smallholder farmers to receive support through two programs: Irrigation Support and livestock assistance. According to FAO, the programmes will be rolled out over a 48 month period, with the goal of sustainably increasing production and productivity in the targeted areas, as well as, assisting smallholders to engage in commercial agriculture through integrated farming approaches.