The Sustainable Food and Agriculture approach: Farmers working at the maize field. Rwanda. ©FAO/Ny You

19 August 2015, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – It is widely recognised that ending hunger and malnutrition in Africa requires joint efforts and that partnerships are at the heart of FAO’s mission to help build consensus for a food secure world.

This was said as Mr. Patrick Kormawa, the Sub-regional Coordinator for Eastern Africa and FAO Representative to AU and UNECA was being welcomed by Mr. Giuseppe Mistretta, the Ambassador of Italy to Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan and Representative to UNECA, AU as well as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, from 12 to 13 August 2015, to agree on a new framework to intensify efforts to eradicate hunger in East Africa and the Horn of Africa by 2025. The meeting was of high importance due to the ever present issue of vulnerability and the need for improved resilience in the Horn of Africa.

During the meeting, agricultural mechanization and innovative solutions to youth employment in the agriculture sector were presented and agreed as part of the solution to address the continuous massive flow of Young African migrants to Europe, Ambassador Mistretta said that the matter is more important for the Italian Government given that Italy is one of the destinations and main entry points into Europe for young African migrants.

On July 16^th 2015, FAO and the government of Ethiopia signed a partnership agreement which aims at reducing youth mobility caused by poverty, through innovative policies that will create employment and business opportunities for young people in the agricultural sector and in rural areas as a whole. In this new partnership, FAO committed to support the government of Ethiopia in addressing rural out migration.

FAO and the Italian Development Cooperation/Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also agreed to the need to integrate and harmonize their common strategic priorities for the sub-region through institutional capacity building aimed at supporting family farmers and small scale producers. One of such tangible benefits of this cooperation today is the Eataly-FAO collaboration bears fruit project.

Jars of cactus pear jam produced in Ethiopia have reached the shelves of the Eataly store in Rome; a success story of the powerful role that such creative partnerships can make in empowering family farmers, facilitating their access to global markets and thus supporting them to rise out of poverty.

 More information

http://www.fao.org/africa/eastern-africa

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/284367/icode/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/faooftheun/sets/72157650737233378/

Contact:

Eddy Patrick Donkeng

SFE Communication

Email: [email protected]