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Growing food without soil or natural light is not something many Rwandans had seen or heard about. Agriculture – growing crop in soil and relying on natural rain and sun is embedded in the culture of the people of Rwanda.Currently, about 67 percent of Rwandans – of 12 million population–are employed in agriculture, with arable land covering over 1.56 million hectares at national level.According to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), Rwanda’s population will grow to 16.9 million by 2032. The rise is expected to increase the demand for food yet the arable land...

23 April 2020 - What exactly is the Bioeconomy and what is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) doing to promote its sustainable and circular implementation? Bioeconomy is generally understood as “the production, utilization and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology and innovation, to provide information, products, processes and services across all economic sectors aiming towards a sustainable economy”. Bioeconomy, if done sustainably, can comprehensively address interconnected societal challenges such as food security, fossil-resource dependence, natural resource scarcity and climate change, while achieving sustainable economic development, and supporting the achievement of many Sustainable Development Goals...

Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu has welcomed a $10 million donation from Mastercard Foundation to step up the fight against the Desert Locust outbreak in East Africa amid concern about an imminent upsurge in numbers. The Desert Locust upsurge continues to be alarming, particularly in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, where it threatens food security and livelihoods. In the six East African...

Since 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has joined forces with the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) to implement the ‘Mesoamerica hunger free’ South-South cooperation programme. Thanks to the Mesoamerica hunger free programme, FAO has provided technical assistance to lawmakers, the Ministries of Agriculture, Social Welfare and Education in nine countries: Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic, in preparing legal instruments and developing and implementing public policies and programmes, focused on achieving food security and nutrition and reducing rural poverty. A specialized, demand-driven component of the programme...

Fall Armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda), is an insect pest affecting more than 80 plant species, causing damage to economically important cultivated cereals such as maize, rice, sorghum, as well as vegetable crops and cotton. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. It is the larval stage of the insect that causes the damage. FAW reproduces at a rate of several generations per year, and the moth can fly up to 100 km per night. Over the past three years, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), has led 63 Fall Armyworm-related projects, mostly...