The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has organized a panel discussion “Food Security, Nutrition and Rural Development” to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the FAO presence in the country with the participation of key partners and the officials of concerned counterpart Departments from the Government of Myanmar.

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar became a member of FAO on 18 October 1947 and the signature of a Host Country Agreement with the FAO Representative took place in 1977.

The event took place on 27^th October at Chatrium Hotel in Yangon and was attended by approximately 150 participants, including representatives of the Government, civil society, representatives of local municipality of Yangon, donor community, FAO retirees, and beneficiaries of the FAO interventions in the country.

Dr. Tin Htut, Permanent Secretary of the MoALI opened the ceremony. He expressed his congratulations to FAO for successful work over the last 40 years to support the people of Myanmar. He extended his appreciation to FAO for organizing commemoration and for the participation of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Sports.   

In the opening remarks Ms Xiaojie Fan, FAO Representative in Myanmar expressed her gratitude to the Government of Myanmar and all ou partners who have been supporting FAO over the past four decades. “Without your great support, today’s progress would not be possible,” said Ms Fan.

The first part of the event included presentation of the “Promoting an Integrated Home Garden and School Garden Approach for Food and Nutrition Security in Myanmar” project, of which beneficiaries have shared their experience with the audience. The project is being implemented with the aim to improve food and nutrition security among school children and households, through the establishment of school and home gardens and enhancement of knowledge and good nutritional practices in peri-urban areas of Yangon - Hlegu and Dala Townships. Through this intervention, FAO responds to challenges posed by high level of rural-urban migration flows and their implications on food and nutrition security, particularly associated with shifting towards higher consumption of processed food and decreased use of diverse, nutritious foods in urban and peri-urban areas.

A performance show of the 3^rd and 4^th grade school children from selected primary schools involved in the project activities, followed the first session. The event continued with the winner price awarding ceremony for drawing competition related to nutrition knowledge and best costume design of school children performance show organized earlier this month in the schools of project areas.

The first part carried on into a Panel Discussion with the participation of experts from the food and nutrition security field, among which FAO, UN Network for Nutrition and Food Security, National Nutrition Centre, Department of Public Health under Ministry of Health and Sports, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and private sector.  

The theme of panel discussion was of the particular importance for Myanmar as food security is one of the country’s key priorities which have been highlighted in the Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS), and key focus area included in FAO’s new Country Programming Framework for years 2017 – 2022.

To conclude the event, Ms Fan once again reaffirmed FAO’s readiness to continue work towards sustainable food and nutrition security and rural development in Myanmar for the benefit of the country and its people.