FAO Regional Office for Near East and North Africa

News

News

Join us as we kick off celebrations early to build an unforgettable anniversary. Through engagements and public events, we mark the occasion by planning events throughout the year, showcasing actions and best practices that promote a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food future.

31/07/2025
New York/Rome – Gaza faces the grave risk of famine as food consumption and nutrition indicators have reached their worst levels since the conflict began, according to data shared in the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Alert.
20/07/2025

In a significant step towards rural transformation, Sudan has officially joined FAO's "One Country One Priority Product" (OCOP) global initiative as its 95th member. Its traditional crop, sorghum, has been designated as a country-specific Special Agricultural Product (SAP). This decision is se...

15/07/2025
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through its Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (FAO-RNE), actively participated in the Regional Training Workshop on International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs), held in Rabat, Morocco, on 14–15 July 2025. The workshop was organized by the Near East Plant Protection Organization (NEPPO), and in cooperation with the FAO-RNE and the FAO Subregional Office for North Africa (FAO-SNE).
15/07/2025

Africa and Asia can learn from each other to use innovation and national product branding to transform agrifood systems, improving food, nutrition and livelihood security, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) told an Africa-Asia ministerial meeting here today.

15/07/2025

A high-level delegation from the Near East Plant Protection Organization (NEPPO) has conducted its first official visit to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representation in Morocco, marking a key milestone in advancing regional collaboration on plant health and protection across the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.

09/07/2025
A two-day national workshop was held in Erbil from 8 to 9 July 2025 to evaluate progress in monitoring Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators under FAO custodianship. The event brought together national and regional experts, statisticians, and policymakers from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, the General Authority for Statistics and Geographic Information Systems (ASGIS), the Kurdistan Region Statistics Office (KRSO), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources in the Kurdistan Region. The initiative was supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under its Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP).
08/07/2025
The first cohort of Youth Action Leadership for Agrifood Awareness and Systems Transformation (YALAFAST) wrapped up this week in Rabat, marking a milestone moment for youth engagement in sustainable agrifood systems across the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.
08/07/2025
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) successfully concluded the LAC–NENA Family Farming Interregional Dialogue, held in Cairo on 7–8 July 2025. The two-day event brought together participants from the Near East and North Africa (NENA) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to exchange experiences, build partnerships, and promote policy solutions that strengthen family farming systems.
07/07/2025
Under the auspices of H.E. Mr. Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq marked a major step toward safeguarding its agricultural heritage and enhancing its food security with the laying of the foundation stone for the first-ever Gene/Seed Bank in the Region. 
03/07/2025

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a regional virtual training for Near East and North Africa (RNE) countries from 1 to 3 July 2025 to enhance national capacities in monitoring Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 2.4.1: “Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture.”

01/07/2025
With the ongoing crisis having decimated the Gaza Strip’s agrifood sector, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently supported 200 farmers in Rafah and Khan Younis to optimize the use of land that is still available to grow critically needed staple crops.
01/07/2025

Rome - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced the winners of the 2025 FAO Awards, recognizing organizations from Colombia, Egypt, and the Phili...

30/06/2025
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with regional partners, today launched the first cohort of the Youth Action Leadership for Agrifood Awareness and Systems Transformation (YALA FAST) programme in Rabat, Morocco. This is under the FAO’s Regional Leadership Development Academy (RLA). Held from 30 June to 3 July 2025, this first-of-its-kind initiative aims to cultivate the young leaders in agrifood systems of the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.
30/06/2025
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a large-scale emergency seed distribution campaign targeting 1.5 million farming households – or approximately 7.5 million people – across 17 out of Sudan’s 18 states.
28/06/2025
The Sultanate of Oman and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have formalized a groundbreaking partnership with the signing of a Host Country Agreement to establish permanent FAO representation in Oman, marking a new chapter in regional food security cooperation.
26/06/2025

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened a successful regional webinar to introduce and promote the Event Mobile Application (EMA-i+), an innovative tool designed to enhance real-time animal disease reporting across the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region...

22/06/2025

The food security situation in the Government-controlled areas of southern Yemen is dire, with nearly half of the population acutely food insecure and struggling to find their next meal. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), and UNICEF have warned that the food insecurity crisis is likely to worsen in the months ahead. 

17/06/2025

On Desertification and Drought Day (DDD) 2025, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is calling attention to the urgent need for strategic investment in land restoration to address the mounting environmental and socio-economic challenges in the Near East and North A...

17/06/2025
 A new study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has revealed concerning levels of agricultural land degradation, particularly in the Arab region, where more than 46 million hectares of agricultural land—two-thirds of the 70 million hectares affected by human-induced degradation—are at risk.  Published in the MDPI journal Agriculture, the study stresses the urgent need to restore degraded lands and improve food security.
15/06/2025

RAMALLAH –  As part of efforts to promote the agrifood sector’s resilience amid the emergency situation in the West Bank, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture recently convened more than 35 experts for a national workshop on sustainable agricultural production and responsible consumption.

Contact
Mohamed Alaidaroos
Regional Communication Officer
Tel: +20 2 3331 6000