The Ministry Of Agriculture with SAMAP Support Handed Over Educational Material on Food Safety and Covid-19

This is an initiative supported by SAMAP to promote food safety practices and reduce the spread of COVID-19. The agro-food sector, one of the key sectors in the country, must take additional measures to ensure the availability of sufficient food for consumers and to maintain the safety and quality of the food value chain.
District Commissioner Ricardo Bhola and Praveen Amitpersad, spokesperson on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture acknowledged the need for urgent food safety measures in the agro food sector to sustain food security in the country.
“Effective food safety practices from production to the processing and trade of agro-products are essential to reduce the incidence of COVID and to guarantee quality and safe products for consumers” stressed Erick Zeballos, Chief Technical Adviser of SAMAP, in his opening remarks.
The central market of Paramaribo where large quantities of food are sold every day was chosen to launch this important campaign. The first communication materials were hand over to the District Commissioner Bhola and the Central Market Master Aniel Kandhai. Didactic posters and videos will be widely disseminated across the country in the next weeks targeting farmers and food processors. This effort would have not been possible without the active participation of farmer’s organizations such as the Federation of Agriculture of Suriname (FSA), said Tania Liew A Soe in representation of the FSA.
This awareness campaign coincided with the World Food Day and the 75th anniversary of the Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).