Venezuela and FAO create SANA, a new cooperation programme to eliminate hunger
SANA will support the Hugo Chávez Action Plan for the Eradication of Hunger and Poverty, strengthen social movements and create the complementary exchange of food and food products.
16 April 2015, Santiago de Chile – SANA, a new cooperation programme created by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), aims to strengthen the fight against hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean.
With an initial budget of US $12 million provided by the Government of Venezuela, the triangular cooperation programme on Food and Nutritional Security and Sovereignty for Latin America and the Caribbean, SANA, will operate with special emphasis in the member countries of the ALBA Alliance as well as the 21 member countries of the Petrocaribe Agreement.
“Venezuela is not only implementing high-impact initiatives on food security for its own people but it is also a key partner in various South-South cooperation initiatives that seek to achieve the dream of a hunger-free Latin America and Caribbean region”, noted the FAO Regional Representative Raúl Benítez.
According to the FAO, the Latin American and Caribbean region (LAC) has made the most advances in the fight against hunger. This is a result of the enormous political commitment expressed by the region’s countries and integration bodies. “This year in January, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States launched its Plan for the Eradication of Hunger, demonstrating the high priority of this issue on the region’s political agenda”, said Benítez.
Not only has Venezuela achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on hunger but it has also been able to completely eliminate hunger in the region and maintain the rate of undernourishment at below 5% by increasing its national interventions and its level of international cooperation. “Venezuela and FAO believe deeply in the Zero Hunger Goal and are joining forces to achieve it through SANA”, explained Marcelo Resende, the FAO Representative in Venezuela.
SANA will focus on three main components. The first is the provision of technical support to the main regional initiatives to eliminate hunger, such as the Hugo Chávez Action Plan for the Eradication of Hunger and Poverty and the CELAC Plan for Food and Nutrition Security and the Eradication of Hunger. “FAO has lent support to these plans since their inception and we hope to continue fostering their potential together with Venezuela through SANA”, said Resende.
According to FAO, the number of hungry people has fallen by more than 30 million in the last 25 years in the LAC region, making it the only region in the world to have already achieved the MDG Goal on the Eradication of Hunger.
The second component of SANA aims to strengthen social movements by training leaders and rural organisations to enable them to participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and plans on food security.
The third component of SANA will work with rural and family-based organisations and governments to create exchange spaces and complementary marketing of food and food products.
Raúl Benítez highlighted that SANA could further contribute to the advancements made in the fight against hunger, explaining that although hunger has already been reduced, “we will seek to eliminate it completely, because we want a prosperous and fair region”.