Food Situation - globally

Abu Dhabi: Although hunger rate has been decreased globally, it is still increasing in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region recently due to high food prices, global economic crisis and increasing natural disasters and conflict, Ashraf Hamouda, head of partnership and business development at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in the MENA region, Central Asia and Eastern, Europe, told Gulf News.

Demand for food is set to surge within the region. Can productivity growth keep pace? Is it a Malthusianism catastrophe, or the stuff of farmers’ dreams? With forecasts of Asian food demand doubling by 2050, will the Asia-Pacific’s expanding middle class make agriculture the new oil?

Among those answering in the affirmative are commodities traders like Jim Rogers, who has warned of food riots and told investors to buy storable produce.

Investing in agriculture is essential if the fight against world poverty is to succeed, according to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who spoke at an International Agriculture and Food Security Briefing sponsored by Farmers Feeding the World, a Farm...

ROME, April 11 (Reuters) - Global food prices rose 1 percent in March, the United Nations' food agency said on Thursday, pointing to a surge in dairy costs, while cereals prices were little changed and seen facing downward pressure in coming months.

Global warming is exacerbating political instability as tensions brought on by food insecurity rise. With research suggesting the issue can only get worse we examine the risks around the world

LONDON — Millions of people could become destitute in Africa and Asia as staple foods more than double in price by 2050 as a result of extreme temperatures, floods and droughts that will transform the way the world farms.

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, has warned that the food crisis in the Arab world is getting bigger and it is expected to reach $89 billion in 2020.

Twenty African countries will benefit from the African Development Bank- funded initiative known as the Support for Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops (SARD-SC), but the multiplier effect of the project is expected to affect other regional member countries in the continent.

Climate change is creating warmer growing conditions in parts of the Earth's northern regions, a new study has found, but experts warn that drought and heat wil soon cancel out the agricultural benefits.

The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Thursday China has become a major ally of the UN agency in many of its priorities, praising the country's role in fighting hunger and tackling food price volatility.

Another session of Parliament has been adjourned without the passage of the Food Security Bill. Held up for long because of differences within the government on coverage and quantum of support, the Bill is now floundering because much else that has happened under the government’s dispensation precludes the smooth functioning of the lower and upper houses. However, in the process of formulating the draft Bill, among the concerns that were expressed by some government functionaries, including the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, was that the country would have inadequate food to sustain a near-universal food security system offering food for all at the same subsidised price.

Identifying genes that control how plants absorb and transport nutrients can be a "key" to improving food security by increasing crop tolerance to poor soils and disease, enriching food with nutrients and reducing fertiliser use, says a paper published today in Nature.

In a major development, President Barack Obama has proposed an end to the sale of US food aid in developing countries, with options for buying food locally and cash transfers, among other radical reforms to the system.

World is unprepared for changes that will see parts of Africa turned into disaster areas, say food experts

Despite recent agricultural advancements, chronic hunger remains pervasive, particularly in developing countries.

Crippling costs, bad weather and disease have hit the countryside hard – and left the future of British food in jeopardy. Jay Rayner meets the farmers fighting for survival

CAIRO (Reuters) - With croissants, baguettes and bagels spilling off metal trolleys at the bakery where Mohammed Alif works in central Cairo, food is not scarce, but profits certainly are.The Egyptian...