Based on the FAO data, the Islamic Republic of Iran imported only $8.3 billion worth of food products in 2020 which indicates that Iran is very self-reliant in terms of agricultural and food products, the portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) reported.

FAO statistics show that industrialized countries are the largest importers of food products in the world.

Based on the mentioned data, the United States was the second-largest importer of agricultural products among 195 countries according to the 2020 statistics.

The United States imported more than $146 billion worth of agricultural products in the mentioned year, more than any other country except China.

Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, Belgium, and Canada are also ranked third to tenth in the world in the ranking of the largest importers of agricultural products in 2020.

German agricultural imports in 2020 amounted to $95.7 billion, the Netherlands imported $69.9 billion of food products, while the United Kingdom imported $61.7 billion, Japan $56.8 billion, France $56.2 billion, Italy $42.5 billion, Belgium $38.4 billion and Canada $35.8 billion worth of such commodities.

According to FAO, Iran currently stands among the world’s top producers of agricultural products.

The Islamic Republic is the third-largest producer of dates, honey, pistachios, and walnuts in the world.

The country is also ranked third in the world in the production of walnuts with 356,000 tons of annual output, while in terms of almond and watermelon production Iran is also ranked fourth.

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Nearly eight years of fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and Houthi rebels in Yemen has created what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The food-assistance branch of the United Nations has announced that it will reduce food rations for millions of Yemeni people from next month due to funding shortage, as a protracted Saudi-led bombing campaign pushes more people into hunger in the impoverished country.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the World Food Programme (WFP), which feeds 13 million Yemenis, said eight million will receive a reduced food ration from January, while five million at immediate risk of slipping into famine conditions will remain on a full ration.

Families on reduced handouts will receive barely half of the WFP’s daily minimum ration, it added, warning that food assistance and child malnutrition programmes are also at risk of further cuts.

“Every time we reduce the amount of food, we know that more people who are already hungry and food insecure will join the ranks of the millions who are starving. But desperate times call for desperate measures and we have to stretch our limited resources and prioritize, focusing on people who are in the most critical state,” said Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

More than half of Yemen’s 30 million population (16.2 million) face acute hunger, with half of the children under five (2.3 million) at risk of malnutrition.

Earlier, UN agencies, including the WFP, had warned of programme cuts in Yemen after they received only $2.68 billion of $3.85 billion requested from donors.

“The Yemeni people are now more vulnerable than ever, reeling from relentless conflict and the deepening economic crisis that has pushed millions into destitution,” Fleischer said.

“WFP food stocks in Yemen are running dangerously low at a time when budgets for humanitarian crises around the world are stretched to the limit. We desperately need donors, who were so generous in the past, to work with us to avoid this looming hunger catastrophe.”

The WFP has estimated that it needs $813 million to continue to help the most vulnerable in Yemen through May and $1.97 billion during 2022 to keep delivering food assistance to families on the brink of famine.

Saudi Arabia launched the devastating military aggression against its southern neighbor in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states.

The aim was to return to power the former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the popular Ansarullah movement which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.

The war has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, Yemeni forces have in recent months gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in Yemen.

The post UN to cut food aid to Yemen due to lack of funds appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“The US efforts to create serious obstacles for fund transfers for the supply of medicine and food are cruel, terrorist and inhumane,” Rouhani said.

The United States on Thursday imposed fresh sanctions on Iran’s financial sector, targeting 18 Iranian banks in an effort to further shut Iran out of the global banking system as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran weeks ahead of the US election.

Rouhani said the US spared no efforts against Iran but it “cannot break the resistance of the Iranian people” through its “anti-human rights acts” which “run counter to international law”.

“These acts by Washington are completely inhumane and should be condemned by those who claim to be advocates of human rights in the global arena,” he said.

The president noted that such efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump are “politically motivated” and meant to serve “domestic propaganda”.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati also dismissed the new sanctions as propaganda linked to US domestic politics.

“Rather than having any economic effect, the American move is for US domestic propaganda and political purposes, and shows the falsity of the human rights and humanitarian claims of US leaders,” Hemmati said in a statement.

Crime against humanity

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the United States targeted Iran’s “remaining channels to pay for food and medicine” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Amid Covid19 pandemic, U.S. regime wants to blow up our remaining channels to pay for food & medicine,” Zarif said on Twitter. “But conspiring to starve a population is a crime against humanity.”

He pledged that “Iranians WILL survive this latest of cruelties,” adding, “Culprits & enablers — who block our money — WILL face justice.”

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) specified two of the targets as Iran’s Bank Maskan and Bank Keshavarzi. The former is relied on by the biggest part of the country’s 80-million-strong population for loans assisting them to buy houses, while the latter has the biggest stakes countrywide in the agricultural sector.

Bank Refah Kargaran that is favored by the country’s laborers and technical workers, Gharzolhasaneh Resalat Bank that is reputed for its small and low-interest loans, and entrepreneurship-focused Karafarin Bank were three others of the financial institutions.

The rest of the sanctioned institutions were named as Bank Pasargad, Saman Bank, Sarmayeh Bank, Tose’e Ta’avon Bank, Tourism Bank, and Amin Investment Bank, Shahr Bank, Eghtesad Novin Bank, Bank Hekmat Iranian, Iran Zamin Bank, Middle East Bank, Mehr Iran Credit Union Bank, and Islamic Regional Cooperation Bank.

The OFAC alleged that the relatively across-the-board measure was in line with the US’ general policy of targeting the Iranian entities that “may” be used to support Iran’s nuclear program, missile program or, what it called, its “terrorist” activities and “malign regional influence.”

Foreign companies that do business with those banks were given 45 days to wind down their operations before facing secondary sanctions.

The move comes as the US has stepped up efforts to kill the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump unilaterally withdrew from in 2018. Since then, Trump has steadily increased pressure on Iran by imposing sanctions on its oil sales, shipping, financial activities and blacklisting top government officials.

While they exempt food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies, many foreign banks are already deterred from doing business with Iran – including for humanitarian deals.

European nations have opposed the blanket financial services blacklisting because it will open up their biggest banks and other companies to US penalties for conducting business with Iran that had previously been allowed.

Critics say the so-called “secondary sanctions” will further cut off Iran’s ability to import humanitarian goods that are especially needed during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s like a punch in the face to the Europeans, who have gone out of their way to indicate to the Americans that they view it as being extremely threatening to humanitarian assistance or humanitarian trade going to Iran,” said Elizabeth Rosenberg of the Center for a New American Security think tank.

“They also want … to make it very difficult for any future president to be able to unwind these measures and engage in nuclear diplomacy,” Rosenberg added, alluding to the possibility that Democratic candidate Joe Biden could defeat Republican Trump in the Nov. 3 US election.

Biden, who was vice president when the administration of Barack Obama negotiated the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, has said he would rejoin the accord if Iran first resumed compliance with it.

Reuters, AP and Press TV contributed to this story.

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Here are the most important factors that affect your dinner experience in a restaurant, brought here in the order of importance.

Ingredient quality

The obvious criteria should be food. The place should serve you good food, obviously! But what does it take for a food to be perfect in every aspect? The most important factor is ingredients. Good food cannot be attained without fresh , high-quality ingredients. The place you go to eat should not be using frozen, smelly meat. A good place gets its meat on a daily basis to be able to cook it fresh. Also for vegetables, they should be used the same day they are bought in order to be fresh when served or cooked. That does make a lot of difference.

Food preparation

Another important aspect of good food is how it is cooked. Having a skilled chef who cooks their own menu, has enough experience in the kitchen, can organize the staff, and has the right people in the staff goes a long way in changing the quality of the food that comes out of the kitchen. The cooks should be trained well to have the proper skill and knowledge needed and know how to cooperate with the chef in the most efficient way.

Ambiance

Now, a lot of what makes your dinner experience happens outside of the kitchen. The place in which you dine and the atmosphere are very important. Nice décor and good background music can turn a dull, boring evening into an exciting one that you will want to recreate. The different elements of the ambiance in the place should be in accordance with each other and the main theme of the place. The volume of the music, if there is any, should be at optimum level – loud enough so that there is a background music felt; yet quiet enough for people to be able to socialize with each other without being disrupted.

Service

The service, as we say, is another criteria that has lots of different aspects to it. There should be enough people in the staff for waiting the tables without making the customers wait more than they need to – which is a really short amount of time, by the way. The staff should be properly trained e.g. the waiters should know the menus well, the bartenders should be fast and precis. The manager, also, should have enough authority on the staff to be able to organize them and get the best out of them.

Variety

The variety of foods and drinks are very important, too. This does not mean that a place should have a hundred-page menu! The menus that have too many options in them arise two problems. First, a kitchen has to be ready to prepare every option on the menu and too many options makes the kitchen inefficient. Second, the customer should not be perplexed by the menu. A menu with too many options takes a considerable amount of time and attention to go through and that could be boring for customers. The menu should have just enough options for customers to have open hands, yet short enough not to exhaust them to go through.

Price

Lastly, the place you go to should be fair with their price. Sure, a good meal is not the cheapest meal you can get but it does not have to be the most expensive either. The portions of the foods should be in accordance with the price. Customers should not have to be paying for what they do not need, either.

Based on the variables that were mentioned, we looked through the most popular places in Richmond Hill and evaluated every aspect of their work. Many places had good food, but bad service, overall. Some had a nice ambiance, but the food would disappoint you. Most places used good ingredients but the preparation and presentation of the food was not up there with the best in many of them. Some others were average in every aspect and a few were, let’ say, below average. A handful were good in all categories, but the unnecessarily expensive prices ruled them out. But one place came up at or near the top in every criteria we managed to look into.

We Found the Best Place

Haida Sandwich is arguably the best place you can have dinner in Richmond Hill. Their prices are the best we saw all over Richmond Hill compared to the food and service. The huge portions they offer, paired with very affordable prices makes Haida the place that you can get the most out of your money’s worth.

And to top it off, as the bonus, they have one of the best deliveries. They manage to deliver all these great foods right to your door while still warm and at their best.

So, the next time you want to have a lovely dinner in Richmond Hill, take our advice and give Haida a try if you have not. You will not be disappointed.

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According To Iran News, A hunger crisis is rapidly developing among British people in lockdown, as millions report having to go without meals, food charities and local government warned.

Just three weeks into the lockdown, the Food Foundation said that 1.5 million Britons reported not eating for a whole day because they had no money or access to food. Some 3 million people in total were in households where someone had been forced to skip some meals. More than 1 million people reported losing all their income because of the pandemic, with over a third of them believing they would not be entitled to any government help.

The foundation’s findings are based on a YouGov poll carried out across England, Scotland and Wales this week. Its director, Anna Taylor, said the crisis was too big to be left to food banks and local authorities without funding. “This needs urgent and substantial investment from central government which needs to put money directly into the pockets of families who can’t afford food.”

Charities running food banks are also struggling to cope with a huge rise in people coming to them for emergency parcels. Sabine Goodwin, coordinator of the Independent Food Aid Network, said she feared the government was being too slow to respond and the situation was “spiraling out of control”. She said: “Food banks in our network are seeing as much as a 300% increase in footfall compared to this time last year but are still struggling to source enough appropriate food.”

Local authorities told the Guardian that the Food Foundation findings reflected what they are seeing on the ground. In Liverpool, for example, there has been a 150% increase in emergency grants from the council to people who have no food or money for electricity since the lockdown.

The city has a highly developed network of food banks and food distribution charities which have increased their operations rapidly in the last few weeks.

FareShare, the nationwide distributor of surplus food, is now open longer hours in Liverpool – from 7am to 10pm – and has distributed £380,000 worth of goods to families in need in the last five days.

Football fans supporting food banks have also raised £150,000 to buy more stock but the city’s assistant mayor, Jane Corbett, said families were being hit by “the double whammy of austerity and Covid-19” and charity was not enough on its own.

She warned that the local authority could not pay for the impact of the pandemic without funding from government. “The fragility of our current social security system is now being seen in stark relief; extreme pressure on food banks is just one clear example. Our budget has been cut by 63% since 2013.”

The numbers reporting going hungry in the last three weeks are 1.5 to two times higher than those experiencing hunger over a whole year in recent times, according to Dr. Rachel Loopstra, lecturer in nutrition at King’s College London. “They suggest the Covid-19 lockdown has had a swift and devastating impact on the population’s ability to access sufficient food, both for economic reasons and because of self-isolation,” she said. YouGov polled 4,343 adults from 7-9 April and weighted its figures to represent all British adults.

A government spokesperson said: “Public safety and making sure that those most at risk from the virus get the support they need is our top priority. People should stay at home, to help protect our NHS and save lives.

“We’re working with the groceries industry, local government, local resilience and emergency partners to ensure essential items are delivered as soon as possible to the most vulnerable.”

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According To Iran News, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said a Swiss humanitarian channel recently launched for exporting food and medicine to Iran proves that the products have been sanctioned by the US.

“In spite of the US’ false claims that medicines and foodstuffs are not sanctioned, they (US officials) have practically blocked all ways to make bank transactions in this area,” Mousavi said on his Twitter account on Wednesday.

“With the launch of the so-called humanitarian channel for the supply of pharmaceuticals, they have officially confirmed that the claim is empty and in violation of the International Criminal Court ruling and that medicine and food are sanctioned while it should not be,” the spokesman added.

The humanitarian channel to bring food and medicine to Iran has started trial operations, the Swiss and US governments said on Thursday.

The Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA) seeks to ensure that Swiss-based exporters and trading companies in the food, pharmaceutical, and medical sectors have a secure payment channel with a Swiss bank through which payments for their exports to Iran are guaranteed, a government statement said.

The remarks come against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and the US with Washington imposing new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The US has ratcheted up pressure on Iran since May 2018 after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

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