At the World Food Summit hosted by FAO in 1996, Heads of States and other participants committed to eradicating hunger in all countries and reducing the number of undernourished people (estimated to be roughly 800 million at the time) to half by 2015, made hunger and poverty eradication a priority that was later included in the first UN Millennium Declaration.

In the Preamble, the WFS Plan of Action states (Para 4): “It is necessary to target those people and areas suffering most from hunger and malnutrition and identify causes and take remedial action to improve the situation. A more complete, user-friendly source of information at all levels would enable this.” Specific areas of priority intervention are identified in the Plan of Action:

• national food insecurity and vulnerability information and mapping systems;



• exchange of agricultural technology information; and



• early warning and forecast information systems for natural disasters.

The Programme on Bridging the Rural Digital Divide was developed by FAO in response to the WFS agenda of enhancing the role of knowledge exchange and access to information in achieving the goal of food security for all. The Programme is facilitating these actions by:

• increasing the availability of information content in digital form;



• developing innovative mechanisms and processes for information exchange and communication; and



• establishing or enhancing networks for exchange of information related to agriculture and other development issues.