World Farming Agriculture Commodity news
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has greenlighted 48 FAO-led projects worth about $2.9 billion –$294 million in project financing and $2.6 billion in co-financing– that will play a pivotal role in fostering a sustainable agrifood systems transformation to end hunger and conserve the environment.
The initiatives, benefitting 4.2 million people in five different regions globally, will restore more than 474,000 hectares of land; improve practices on over 24 million hectares of land and marine habitats; create and improve the management of over 2 million hectares of protected areas on land and sea; mitigate 133 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions; and remove 202 metric tons of hazardous agrochemicals.
“This is the largest work program of FAO projects approved by GEF Council. Working closely on the ground with partners and countries, these projects have the potential to improve millions of lives through agrifood systems transformation while helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Together with the GEF, we strive towards ensuring global food security coupled with sustainable, inclusive and resilient agriculture, benefitting people and planet,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo, welcoming the decision taken by the 66th Council Sessions of the GEF, held in Washington DC, United States, from 5-9 February.
46 countries partnered with FAO to access finance from the GEF in this work program: Angola, Argentina, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, China, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Eswatini, Grenada, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Viet Nam.
The Food Systems Integrated Program (FSIP), co-led with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will direct $252 million in project financing and $2.2 billion in co-financing to 32 countries. The FSIP focuses on transforming global agrifood systems from farm to table so that they are sustainable, nature positive, resilient, inclusive and pollution-free. The program will deliver global benefits for biodiversity, addressing land degradation and climate change, along with improved food security, nutrition, incomes, livelihood sustainability and resilience.
FAO will implement projects in 22 countries (Angola, Argentina, Benin, Bhutan, Chile, China, Ecuador, Eswatini, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Türkiye) to support National Food Systems Transformation Pathways or other government-led frameworks and meet environmental commitments, such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement.
President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, January 30, warned against blaming EU policies for the problems of farmers, as agriculture workers protested across France and elsewhere in Europe. "We did a lot in the last years to help," Macron said in Stockholm on a state visit to Sweden. "It would be too easy to blame everything on Europe." Speaking at a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Macron argued problems in the industry were sometimes "structural and cyclical," and pointed to issues such as poultry imports from Ukraine that he said should be better regulated at European Union level.
World Farming Agriculture Commodity news - Short update - February 2024 - 2nd Week
Britain’s beekeepers are backing proposed new rules to combat fraud in the supply chain, ensuring a jar of honey can be traced on its journey of up to 5,000 miles from the beehive to the shop shelf. The European parliament has agreed new labelling rules and a project to establish a traceability system for honey from harvesting to the consumer. The proposed rules are part of an overhaul of the “breakfast directives”, including the honey directive. Honey producers and sellers in the UK want the rules to be adopted in Britain. Honey is one of the most common foods targeted by fraudsters, with a European Commission investigation finding last March that 46% of sampled products were suspected of having been adulterated.
Ukraine called Monday, February 12, on Warsaw to "punish" Polish farmers who forcibly pried open Ukrainian trucks crossing into the European Union, spilling mounds of grain onto roads near their border. Poland said it had opened a probe into "breaking customs security and destroying property" after the incident. The farmers began protesting at the border last week, blocking three crossing points in anger at what they see as cheap Ukrainian grain imports. The fresh protests mark another blow to relations between Ukraine and Poland, which had only weeks before managed to quell a similar two-month blockade by Polish truckers.
The American Coalition for Ethanol will use funding from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help farmers adopt reduced tillage, nutrient management and cover crops on nearly 100,000 acres in the United States. The Regional Conservation Partnership Program, introduced in 2021, helps corn ethanol access clean fuel markets and new tax incentives based on the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. The USDA approved $25 million for expansion of the project.
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