FAO and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) have joined forces towards the establishment of a Hunger Free Community of Portuguese Language Countries.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and the Executive Secretary of the CPLP, Murade Isaac Miguigy Murargy, signed a Technical Cooperation Programme, uniting FAO and the CPLP today.

With a total allocated contribution of $500,000 USD, the programme will support the CPLP and its governments, parliaments and non-governmental partners in implementing a Regional Strategy for Food and Nutrition Security approved in 2012.

“The partnership between the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) and FAO represents a milestone for the establishment of a Hunger Free Community of Portuguese Language Countries. Its implementation, as outlined by the ongoing initiatives in the CPLP countries, such as in Angola and Cabo Verde, is in keeping with the commitments taken on by FAO in the presence of the CPLP Governments during the Maputo Summit, in July 2012,” said Graziano da Silva.

“It also contributes to the global Food and Nutritional Security strategies which are already in place, such as the Zero Hunger Challenge; the new unified approaches to end hunger in Africa; and the regional strategies foreseen by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme Compact (CAADP), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” he added.

The CPLP – composed of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste- has approximately 250 million inhabitants.

Angola, Brasil and São Tomé e Princípe have already met the Millennium Development Goal target for halving the proportion of chronically undernourished people since 1990 before the target date of 2015. Despite significant advances in some countries within the community, however, approximately 28 million undernourished people are still in need of support within the CPLP.

The main objective of the Regional Strategy approved by the CPLP is to strengthen coordination between Member States on the governance of their sectorial policies and programs that impact on food and nutrition security. The strategy is based on the Human Right to Adequate Food (HRAF) and gives priority to small farmers.

The implementation of the Strategy will be coordinated by the CPLP Council for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSAN), a multi-stakeholder platform at Ministerial level with the participation of several actors, including civil society, private sector, academia and parliamentarians.

“The fact that we come from different regions around the world should not be seen an obstacle for our cooperation in food and nutrition security, but rather should be seen as an advantage as it enables us to make the most out of each country’s and region’s unique potential. It is key to use all our capacities in order to produce quality food and develop more sustanaible food systems”, said Miguigy Murargy during the event.

“To do so, we must take into consideration the views and potential contributions of all stakeholders working in agriculture, health, education, environment, and other sectors in order to implement this strategy and raise awaraness about the fact that food and nutrition security must be a national priority for each Member State.”

FAO has expressed commitment to support governments in key areas: establishing and strengthening National Councils for Food and Nutrition Security; coordinating mechanisms for food and nutrition security with the participation of civil society organizations, private sector and other key stakeholders; developing family farming and aquaculture; facilitating channels of information for food and nutrition education and helping updating current national strategies, policies and investment plan for food and nutrition security.

The Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP)

The community of Portuguese-speaking countries is an inter-governmental and multi-regional organization established in 1996, composed of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste, where a common history and a structurally divergent evolution have conditioned their levels of food and nutrition security and the consolidation of a class of small farmers.