FAO marked World Pulses Day 2023 with a virtual global gathering on 10 February, which featured opening remarks by the FAO director-general
Agriculture
IMF reaches staff-level agreement with Burkina Faso for million dollar emergency financing
International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff and the Burkinabé authorities have reached a staff-level agreement for about US$80mn – comprising 50% of Burkina Faso’s IMF quota – in emergency financing through the IMF’s Food Shock Window of the Rapid Credit Facility
New fund established to unlock potential of agricultural SMEs in Africa
Global experts meeting during a panel session at the second international summit on food production in Dakar called for accelerated avenues to close the financial gap in agriculture and address barriers to the growing finance market for agricultural Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
FAO and Somaliland government open desert locust monitoring and pest control centre in Hargeisa
The Vice President of Somaliland, along with Ezana Kassa, head of programme of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), has officially opened the first pest control centre in Hargeisa, Somaliland, which will act as desert locust early warning and control base
Genome boost for nature-friendly pest control
A new database of 19 insect genomes encompassing some of the most damaging crop pests such as wireworm, cabbage stem flea beetle and pollen beetle has been made publicly available