Agri. Minister-led delegation to virtually attend FAO’s regional conference next week

Oct 14, 2020 News

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As Guyana pursues sustainable development agenda…

Kaieteur News – The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations will be hosting its biennial Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC) next week. The event, which will span the period October 19 – 21, 2020 from 09:00hrs – 14:30hrs, will for the first time be held virtually.
According to a press release issued yesterday, the Regional Conference is notably the most important decision-making body for FAO’s 33 Member States in Latin America and the Caribbean. During the meetings, the delegation headed by the Minister of Agriculture for each country, deliberates on and guides FAO’s work for the next two years.
This year, recently appointed Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, will head a delegation comprising of senior members of his Ministry.
“COVID-19 and the ongoing impact of Climate Change provide an urgent context for the priority areas that are on the agenda for deliberation. With up to 22 million persons expected to be in a condition of hunger by 2030, tackling the various dimensions of food insecurity is critical to ensuring that FAO can support the countries of the region in achieving sustainable development,” the release stated.
Moreover, the key discussion areas, the release added, are also of importance to Guyana, as it pursues its sustainable development agenda and continues to evolve its position in the Region.
Among the key areas of discussion will be: Transforming food systems for healthy diets for all in the Region. The Caribbean is facing a rapid nutritional transition, with a significant decrease in hunger rates, but also with a significant increase in overweight and obesity. This is largely explained by the adoption of inadequate food consumption patterns and a change in lifestyle, with a higher percentage of the population living in urban areas, with sedentary habits and less time dedicated to practicing healthy diets. Today, food systems need to be transformed in order to enable future generations to feed themselves in a healthy and sustainable way. This constitutes an opportunity to introduce new forms of sustainable production and technological and policy innovations.
Another topic up for discussion is: ‘Hand-in-Hand’ towards prosperous and inclusive rural societies. Rural-urban territories have enormous potential based on their population, Gross Domestic Products (GDP), employment generation, food production, market supply and access to natural resources. Despite this, half of the rural inhabitants of the Region live in poverty and 20.4 percent in extreme poverty. Considering that 78 percent of the 169 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depend exclusively or mainly on actions undertaken in rural areas. Therefore, promoting prosperous and inclusive rural territories is essential.
To remain economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sustainable, rural-urban territories must be transformed. The ‘Hand-in-Hand’ Initiative is an FAO approach that seeks to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs, especially SDGs one and two, focusing efforts and supporting countries to implement efficient and effective actions in the fight against hunger and extreme rural poverty, through cooperation between different actors. Focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable areas in each country, the conference, it is hoped, will discuss ways to increase levels of productivity, competitiveness and innovation which can give new impetus to rural development, strengthening investments and capitalizing on the opportunities offered by the drivers of change in rural areas. In this regard, FAO will continue to support agriculture in Guyana and a broad range of rural activities to take advantage of these opportunities.
Also high on the agenda will be: Sustainable and climate resilient agriculture in a context of climate change and accelerated deterioration of natural resources. Currently, Latin America and the Caribbean Region face the challenge of transforming its agriculture and food systems towards more sustainable and resilient production. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly vulnerable to climate change and deserve special support from the FAO. Agriculture must be able to facilitate the increase in production based on technological and institutional innovations that promote the efficient use of natural resources and the conservation of biodiversity while helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the release added.
It went on to note that Innovation and Digital Agriculture will be another issue to be discussed. The global food system, according to the release, continues to face considerable challenges in being able to provide enough food of adequate quality to feed an ever-growing population. The world is also changing at a fast pace with the emergence of an array of technologies. “Digital technologies and other forms of innovation offer unique opportunities for improving food systems and rural societies. This can provide improvement opportunities for Guyana in the areas of; (a) food, nutrition and health; (b) climate resilience; (c) agro ecosystems and landscape management; (d) productivity of farm and non-farm employment; (e) inclusive financial services and agriculture insurance,” the release stated.

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