In Colombia, the coastal town of Buenaventura boasts one of the country’s busiest ports. Local communities rely to a great extent on fisheries and aquaculture to make a living, and women make up a large part of the workforce. These women fish sellers – known as the Platoneras - work informally and earn low wages.  These women are not covered under any social protection scheme, making them particularly vulnerable to adverse shocks such as illness, injury, and the eventual onset of old age. FAO, and its partners including the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, NORAD, are supporting the Platoneras to strengthen their livelihoods and improve their access to social protection schemes - all the while boosting the community's food security. Sandra Gómez Montaño speaks with Heysel Calderón and Andrea Garay. Presented by Laura Quiñones.

Photo: @ FAO/Heysel Calderón

To enhance inclusive access and management of natural resources, FAO is working with local community leaders and local and regional authorities to establish peacebuilding and conflict resolution mechanisms. Through these initiatives, people are able to enhance fodder production, restore grazing lands and keep their livestock safe from drought. 

As we transform our agrifood systems to make them more sustainable and new technologies emerge new foods will appear in our markets. FAO is working with Members and partners to ensure new foods are safe for human consumption contributing to food security and economic growth.

FAO has made publicly available country-by-country indicators on healthy diets that show their cost - including by food group - and the number of individuals unable to afford them.

Choose a dish to prepare using a type of millet. Record a video of yourself preparing your recipe and tell us about it. Share it!  @FAO #IYM2023 #YearofMillets

Edible insects are an underutilized resource that can help meet our growing demands for nutritious food and animal feed while caring for our planet. FAO highlights three reasons why insects should be on the menu. 

From supporting themselves on their farm in Namande village in Mozambique, Ali’s family had no choice but to leave everything behind when insurgents attacked their village. Ali, his wife Florinda and their five children are among the more than one million people who have been displaced from their homes, and who are now relying on support from FAO and its partners to help them restart their livelihoods. Local authorities in the neighbouring Montepuez district soon allocated Ali and his family a 0.5-hectare plot of land to farm and FAO provided a farming kit to get back to prodcution.

The celebration of World Pulses Day by FAO presents a unique opportunity to raise public awareness about pulses and the fundamental role they play in the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

The world is off-track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. FAO believes that there are four goals we need to achieve to ensure a better future for all; better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

Books have the capacity to conjure up new worlds and transport you to new places. This 2023, why not add reading to your list of goals? Here are six FAO highlights to help you get started.

Globally, 149 million children under the age of 5 are too small for their age, 40 million overweight, many millions suffering from key nutrient deficiencies. Healthy diets are essential. Make healthy eating a habit!

By mainstreaming the use of digital technologies in agriculture, FAO is helping to transform rural communities, particularly for youth and aspiring farmers, to diversify incomes and unlock on- and off-farm opportunities. Digital technologies can help increase the production of sufficient nutritious food for an ever-growing population, manage our limited natural resources and reduce poverty.

Mongolia’s extreme climate bring with it many challenges – and Lkhagva Yondon’s family struggled to be self-sufficient until she decided to seek some help to break the cycle through an FAO programme.

FAO presents fashion designer Stella Jean, who works with the women of Illiary Threads4Dreams to create her newest fashion collection from natural alpaca fleece.

Food safety regulations, drawn up with the support of FAO, aim at bringing time-hallowed gastronomy – such as ajvar a gastronomic favourite in Serbia - up to date with modern food safety knowhow.