FAO, ACP Group become strategic partners in fight against hunger, poverty
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states have signed a pact to become strategic partners in the fight against hunger and poverty.
The pact is also for the sustainable management of natural resources in the 79-member bloc of ACP countries.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Mohamed Ibn Chambas, ACP Group Secretary General, the FAO’s Director General, José Graziano da Silva at the just-ended 7th Summit of ACP Leaders in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea from December 13-14.
According to a joint statement, specific areas for collaboration under the FAO-ACP agreement will include promotion of food security; promotion of sustainable intensification of crop and livestock; promotion of fisheries and aquaculture production; food crisis early warning systems; detection and prevention of transboundary plant and animal diseases; disaster risk management; development of improved food products, standards and marketing; food and nutrition education; and promotion of sustainable forest management.
It adds that financial resources for projects under the agreement will be identified and mobilized through funding sources including the European Development Fund, Trust Funds, the Global Environment Facility and other international and national partners.
Under an agreement signed, “FAO and the Secretariat of the ACP Group shall strengthen their collaboration to better address continuing food insecurity and malnutrition, hunger, natural resources management and climate change challenges,” said FAO’s Graziano da Silva.
On behalf of the ACP Group, Secretary General Mohamed Ibn Chambas said “Building on existing cooperation, we shall be acting as strategic partners on priority areas for action to bring about freedom from hunger and poverty.”
By Ekow Quandzie