Forests, trees on farms and agroforestry are critical in the fight against hunger and should be better integrated into food security and land use policies, Jose Graziano da Silva, head of UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.

"Forests contribute to the livelihoods of more than a billion people, including many of the world's neediest," Graziano da Silva said at the International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition in Rome, "But forests and agroforestry systems are rarely considered in food security and land use policies."

Graziano da Silva said that the lack of secure access rights to forests and trees for rural people has put their food security in danger.

He suggested that the important contributions forests can make to the food security and nutrition of rural people should be better recognized.

Moreover, according to a new study FAO launched at the conference, one major and readily available source of nutritious and protein-rich food that comes from forests are insects. Insect gathering and farming can offer employment and cash income, for now mostly at the household level but also potentially in industrial operations.

"We are not saying that people should be eating bugs," said Eva Muller, Director of FAO's Forest Economic Policy and Products Division, "We are saying that insects are just one resource provided by forests, and insects are pretty much untapped for their potential for food, and especially for feed."

FAO said farming insects sustainably could help avoid over-harvesting, which could affect more prized species. Some species, such as meal worms, are already produced at commercial levels, since they are used in niche markets such as pet food, for zoos and in recreational fishing.

According to FAO, if production were to be further automated, this would eventually bring costs down to a level where industry would profit from substituting fishmeal, for example, with insect meal in livestock feed. The advantage would be an increase in fish supplies available for human consumption. Endi

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