Ramiro ‘Ram’ Cabrera, 75, an award-winning graphic designer at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for more than three decades, passed away in Antipolo, Manila on 1 September. Mr. Cabrera was among the first group of communicators hired in the early 1960s by Robert F. Chandler, IRRI’s first director general, to begin getting the message out about the new Institute’s mandate to fight hunger in the world. He retired in 1997 after 31 years of service to the Institute.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who devoted her life to assisting the poorest of the poor, stands as an inspiration to all to work together to eradicate hunger and poverty worldwide, Pope Francis told FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva and WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin in a short meeting yesterday.

Tuber crops are considered as important staple food after rice and maize in Vietnam. Because Vietnam is the origin of “taro”. Cultivated tuber crops as sweet potato, cassava, yam, taro, edible canna (Canna edulis), zinger,  ... have become popular in Vietnam. Tuber crop germplasm conservation has significantly expressed an important work in agriculture. In 2011-2015, Vietnam PGRC has collected 3,459 accessions of 19 tuber crop nurseries, then ex-situ preserved under field condition and green house.

With fisheries and aquaculture emerging as transformational forces for African economies, more needs to be done to mitigate the impacts of climate change and illegal fishing on oceans and coastal communities. This was the key message FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva delivered to leaders at the African Ministerial Conference on Ocean Economies and Climate Change in Mauritius today. The conference will identify opportunities to enhance Africa's ability to build climate-resilient ocean economies.

The Plant Protection Research Institute, in collaboration with Syngenta Vietnam Company Ltd., conducted large scale field trial of GM maize MIR 162 event for Lepidoptera insect resistance in Son La on June 2, 2016.

Several Kenyan County Executive Committee members (county ministers) for health, environment and agriculture expressed their support for crop biotechnology and called for lifting of the 2012 GM foods import ban. Dr. Andrew Mulwa, Chair of the 47 County Executives of Health, expressed concern that the country was still holding onto a ban that was informed by a flawed study.

“There is a marked improvement in our health and stamina after we reverted to a millet diet from rice a few years back,” says Mallika of Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu. “The demand for millets has steadily increased in the last three years,” says Jayakumar, a retailer of organic products. Minor millets — foxtail millet, little millet, kodo millet, proso millet and barnyard millet —as well as the major millets sorghum (great millet),

The government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, have asked FAO to collaborate in the implementation of the first point of the peace agreement they recently signed, which centres on fighting hunger and promoting rural reforms and development. The peace agreement is the result of a four-year negotiation ending five decades of armed conflict. Its first point – Towards a New Colombian Countryside: Comprehensive Rural Reform – seeks to transform rural areas of Colombia hard hit by the armed conflict.
 

The biggest emergency yellow fever vaccination campaign ever held in Africa is underway in Democratic Republic of the Congo. With high risk of transmission of the mosquito-borne disease in the densely populated capital city of Kinshasa, the vaccination campaign aims to protect as many people at risk as possible and stop the outbreak before the rainy season begins in late September.

A focus group discussion with key stakeholders was recently held to introduce the prototype of a seasonal climate prediction-based decision support system. The app, called WeRise-RR, is designed to improve rice-based cropping systems in Indonesia’s rainfed areas. The focus was on how to effectively disseminate the new technology by considering the viewpoint of farmers.