Educating Rural People is Essential for Achieving the = Millennium Goals

Press Release

Source: Food and Agriculture = Organization=20 of the United Nations

Educating Rural People is Essential for = Achieving the=20 Millennium Goals
Tuesday April 26, = 10:16 am=20 ET=20

- A = New Online=20 Education Tool Kit on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries=20

WASHINGTON and ROME, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- For = the first=20 time, a tool kit including a wide range of teaching and learning = tools for=20 the education of rural people is available on the Internet. It = will=20 provide governments, NGOs, international organizations, rural = school=20 teachers, extension agents and the public at large with the latest = knowledge on how to help rural communities ameliorate their = livelihoods.

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The=20 Education for Rural People Tool Kit Web page was launched today by = the UN=20 Food and Agriculture Organization.

The tool kit is a valuable resource for all those whose daily = work=20 consists in training the rural poor in the fields of food and = nutrition,=20 local knowledge systems, agrobiodiversity, food quality and = safety, rural=20 finance, marketing, forestry, fisheries, communication and other = related=20 issues.

"The tool kit will help policy-makers to implement education = programs=20 and improve the quality level of education in rural areas," said = Lavinia=20 Gasperini, an FAO expert who works in close collaboration with = UNESCO and=20 several other organizations on the Education for Rural People = initiative,=20 launched at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable = Development in=20 2002.

Illiteracy and hunger

"You cannot promote agriculture if you fail to educate rural = people,"=20 stressed Ms. Gasperini. "The first Millennium Development Goal -- = reducing=20 hunger and poverty -- will not be achieved unless we give a higher = priority to improving education in rural areas, where the majority = of the=20 people live."

Hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity reduce school = attendance and=20 erode cognitive abilities. Conversely, illiteracy and lack of = education=20 reduce earning capacity and contribute to hunger and poverty.

Education plays a fundamental role in improving the food = security,=20 incomes and productivity of rural people. It also helps to promote = new=20 technologies, as literate people are more inclined to adopt these=20 technologies and to protect their environment.

According to latest estimates, "in the so-called global = village, about=20 130 million children, the majority of whom are rural, do not have = a pencil=20 or a pen, nor a book, nor a teacher, and do not go to school," Ms. = Gasperini said. These children will become illiterate adults who = will join=20 the 880 million illiterates in the world, the majority of whom are = rural=20 adults.

For more information on FAO visit http://www.fao.org/