Rio4ag

By Denise Martínez Breto

No other accounts on the reality of growing crops, harvesting and selling food could ever be as genuine as those coming from the farmers themselves. In a two-hour dedicated Learning event on food losses and waste during the Agriculture and Rural Development Day farmers from Uganda, FAO members and private sector organizations zoomed in on food thrown out or squandered in both developed and developing countries.

One-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is either lost or thrown away, together with the natural resources used for its production. Although food losses occur at all stages of the food supply chain the causes and their impact around the world differ. In developing countries, food losses hit small farmers the hardest. Almost 65 percent of these food losses happen at the production, post harvest, and processing stages. In industrialized countries, food waste often occurs at the retail and consumer level due to a “throw-away” mindset.

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By Cecilia Schubert

Biofuel is hot commodity, and the private sector is looking at small-scale farms in developing countries to help produce crops to feed the industry. Understandably, this is causing controversy, with accusations of land-grabbing by private companies, and fears that farmers may swop food crops for more profitable biofuel crops, increasing their risk of hunger. But what is actually happening behind the headlines? Can farmers really benefit from the investments or will they only jeopardize food security and degrade the environment? Is it really a fair deal for everyone involved?

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By Cecilia Schubert

Food is essential for every living being. Without it, there won’t be any future at all. To achieve a world without hunger, we need to establish a new way of thinking about food and strengthen policy convergence and partnerships. These are some of the many important words given by Kanayo Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in his introduction speech at the event ‘Aiming for a Food Secure Future: Think Global, Act Local’, which took place on 19 June alongside the UN Sustainable Development negotiations in Rio.

The event, which was jointly organized by the Rome-based agricultural agencies including IFAD, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and Bioversity International, aimed to engage key stakeholders in a discussion about the actions required to help communities and countries create a food-secure tomorrow, and to ensure that the Rio+20 negotiations view food as a core priority for achieving sustainable development. Read more »

By Vanessa Meadu

In a world that is becoming increasingly food-insecure, due to population growth, climate change, volatile food prices, unequal food access, and inefficient supply chains, what solutions exist to feed 9 billion people by the year 2050?

The problem we face is by its nature very complex, so it stands to reason that solutions will need to address a range of issues, often several at once. Where do we begin?

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