12 June 2013, Rome - Thirty-eight countries have met internationally-established targets in the fight against hunger, chalking up successes ahead of a deadline set for 2015, FAO confirmed today.

“These countries are leading the way to a better future. They are proof that with strong political will, coordination and cooperation, it is possible to achieve rapid and lasting reductions in hunger,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said.

Graziano da Silva urged all countries to keep up the momentum, aiming for the complete eradication of hunger, in keeping with the Zero Hunger Challenge launched in 2012 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

11 June 2013 – The United Nations food relief agency said it remained extremely concerned by the plight of 1.5 million people in Haiti who need food assistance, following extreme weather conditions and poor harvests.

In addition to the 1.5 million people facing food insecurity, a further 6.7 million people in Haiti are struggling to meet their own food needs on a regular basis.

8 June 2013 – United Nations officials have welcomed the funds pledged and political agreements reached at the Nutrition for Growth summit, held today in London, as a new opportunity to ensure millions more infants and pregnant women have better diets, and to reduce cases of stunting and deaths from malnutrition.

In a video message to the high-level event, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reaffirmed the Organization's commitment to alleviating malnutrition in all its forms.

“No child should suffer the injustice of malnutrition. Yet one in four will be stunted by chronic malnutrition -- unless we act,” said the UN chief.

6 June 2013 – The United Nations food agency today received a boost for its efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, sustainable production and poverty eradication in rural areas, with a $7.9 million announced donation from Italy.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said in a news release that the traditional focus of cooperation with Italy has been food security, with projects ranging from support to farmer-based cooperatives and the commercialisation of agriculture to early warning to reduction of post-harvest losses.

4 June 2013, Rome - Denouncing the huge social and economic costs of malnutrition, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva today called for resolute efforts to eradicate malnutrition as well as hunger from around the world.

In a recorded statement marking the launch of FAO's flagship annual publication The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), Graziano da Silva said that although the world has registered some progress on hunger, one form of malnutrition, there was still "a long way ahead".

1 June 2013, Yokohama, Japan - The three heads of the Rome-based United Nations agencies today called for food security and nutrition to be placed at the centre of the international agenda for African development. Special attention should be given to supporting smallholder farmers to improve global food security and empowering rural women, addressing gender inequalities and enabling them to transform their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.

21 May 2013 – Poverty and food insecurity in Egypt have risen significantly over the last three years, according to a joint reports released today by the United Nations food agency and partners.

An estimated 13.7 million Egyptians or 17 per cent of the population suffered from food insecurity in 2011, compared to 14 per cent in 2009, according to the report by UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

16 May 2013, Rome - Governments, civil society and the private sector should ensure and strengthen the contributions of forests, trees and agroforestry systems to food security and nutrition, participants in the first-ever International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition (13-15 May), organized by FAO, said yesterday.

Globally, millions of people depend on forests for their livelihoods - directly through the consumption and sale of foods harvested in forests, and indirectly through forest-related employment and income generation, forest ecosystem services, and forest biodiversity.

10 May 2013 – The crops, animals and trees found in forests can play a crucial role in improving food security and nutrition around the world, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is hosting a gathering on the issue in Rome next week.

Forests cover nearly a third of the globe and provide an invaluable variety of social, economic and environmental benefits. Around 1.6 billion people – including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures – depend on forests for their livelihood.