From 1–4 March 2010 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations will host an international technical conference on Agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries: Options and opportunities in crops, forestry, livestock, fisheries and agro-industry to face the challenges of food insecurity and climate change (ABDC-10).

The conference has been arranged in response to growing food insecurity in the developing world, compounded by both climate change and recent increases in food prices, and in the understanding that boosting productivity of smallholders’ farms through appropriate application of good practices and improved technologies must be a key ingredient of developing countries’ development policies. It is in this context that FAO is organising this international conference that encompasses the crop, forestry, livestock, fishery and agro-industry sectors, as well as the entire range of agricultural biotechnologies currently available.

The conference programme will be organised around both plenary and parallel sessions, with the latter to be sector-specific, regional or dealing with cross-cutting issues, with a ‘knowledge share fair ‘ (including information booths, videos, posters, etc) also scheduled for one of the evenings.

Participation in the conference will be by invitation only, with the audience expected to comprise delegations of Member States of FAO, intergovernmental organisations, international non-governmental organisations and international civil society organisations, amongst others.

For further details on the conference, including a draft agenda, see the FAO ABDC-10 website.