FAO Podcasts

With so many hungry and malnourished people across the globe, there’s a growing need to transform our food systems to become more nutritious, more equitable and more sustainable. But how do we do this?

FAO asks Dr Lawrence Haddad, World Food Prize Laureate (2018) and Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), where he thinks we should make a start.

interview: Charlotta Lomas, FAO.

One in nine people worldwide, or 821 million people, are hungry - according to a joint report by United Nations agencies FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO.

The annual report shows that hunger has been on the rise for the past three years, returning to levels from almost a decade ago.

The reversal in progress sends a clear warning that more must be done and urgently if the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger is to be achieved by 2030.

Kostas Stamoulis, Assistant Director-General of Economic and Social Development at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), explains.

Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 60 percent of the population under the age of 25. Many young Africans are unemployed and are increasingly migrating away from rural areas in search of employment.

Tens of millions of new jobs each year will have to be created in rural Africa just to include the new entrants into the labor market. Meanwhile, population trends suggest the demand for food across the continent will grow by 50 percent in the coming years.

Josef Kienzle, an agriculture engineer at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), says the agricultural sector must digitalize and mechanize if it's to attract young people and ensure food security for a growing population.

Interview: Charlotta Lomas

South Sudan is facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity. The civil conflict has left four million people displaced. Despite a peace agreement being signed, fighting continues to disrupt lives and access to food. Some six million people in South Sudan are severely food insecure.

Phillip Fong is an Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in South Sudan. He's involved in the Rapid Response Missions that deliver food kits to displaced people in remote parts of the country. 

Interview: Charlotta Lomas

There are 185 million indigenous women worldwide. They are fisherwomen, pastoralists, hunter-gatherers and defenders of their lands and natural resources.

Despite their economic and social contribution, indigenous women are often excluded from decision-making processes. Their work is often undervalued and unpaid, and their rights are not always respected.

Which is why we need to raise the voices of Indigenous women says Yon Fernandez de Larrinoa, FAO's Indigenous Peoples Team Leader.

3.3 million Syrians have fled across the border into Turkey as a result of the Syrian crisis. For the past year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) has been working with government and partners to develop agricultural training programs for Syrian refugees.

In this edition of TZH, we hear from Ahmed Ekzayez, an agronomist at FAO in Turkey, and some of the Syrian refugees participating in the training program.

Interview: Charlotta Lomas

For around 60 years, antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs have been used to treat and prevent diseases in livestock, aquaculture and crop production, and to make food production generally more efficient. But their overuse and misuse is causing antimicrobial resistance. So how widespread is the problem? And what can be done to stop it? Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, explains.

Interview: Charlotta Lomas, FAO.

09 July 2018 --- Globally, we’re eating more fish than ever before and that’s set to increase as we head towards a population of 10 billion people by 2050. Fishing is big business and overfishing is threatening our fish supplies. But does this mean we’re approaching a fish limit? Manuel Barange, director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) explains.

Interview: Charlotta Lomas, FAO

6 July 2018 --- Forests are essential to life on earth: they supply us with the clean air we breathe and regulate our climate. But they also offer so much more.

Eva Muller, director of Forestry Policy and Resources at FAO, talks about the state of the world's forests, their hidden value and why we need to protect them.

Interview: Charlotta Lomas, FAO

27 June 2018--- Fall Armyworm is spreading quickly across sub-Saharan Africa, devastating crops and farmer’s livelihoods. Experts fear the pest could eventually spread to the Middle East and Europe. But a new mobile phone app ‘Nuru’, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence, offers some hope in tackling the pest problem.

Allan Hruska is the Principal Technical Coordinator on the Fall Armyworm response at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

Interview: Charlotta Lomas, FAO