©FAO/ FAO delegation with the Secretary General of Souhag Governorate

Cairo, 27 April 2017 -- A delegation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headed by Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt, undertook visits to a number of governorates and cities including Beni Suef, Assiut, Sohag, Aswan and Edfu. The purpose of this tour was to follow up on the FAO activities in these governorates.

The delegation was led by Hussein Gadain and included Mohamed Yacoub, assistant Egypt representative; Zahra Ahmed, Improving Household Food and Nutrition Security in Egypt by Targeting Women and Youth Project Manager; Ahmed Saad, Deputy Team Leader of the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), FAO Egypt. The FAO delegation was accompanied by Dr. Mohamed Attia, Head of the Central Administration for Preventive Medicine, General Organization of Veterinary Services at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.

During the four-days tour, the delegation met General Major Magdy Hegazy, Governor of Aswan; General Major Issam El-Ellakani, Secretary General of Sohag Governorate; Eng. Mohamed Abdel Galil, Secretary General of Assiut Governorate; in the presence of officials from the directorates of agriculture and directorates of veterinary medicine in the said governorates, in addition to the beneficiaries of the project namely the young farmers and women.

During the visit, all FAO activities were monitored and discussed with beneficiaries. In the case of the Improving Household Food and Nutrition Security Project, it trained women on the preparation of highly nutritious, low cost, meals by using food from their surroundings, and also trained them on simple food processing techniques that can be performed at home and by which they can earn some revenue.

Moreover, young farmers are trained on good agricultural practices and the use of modern mechanisms in agriculture via Junior Farmers Field and Life Schools, in addition to encouraging them to cultivate surfaces in the vicinity of their houses to ensure food and nutrition security for families.

Regarding “ECTAD”, the project supported institutional capacities to strengthen the Livestock Early Warning System both at central locations and in the field.

The tour also included two meetings with beneficiaries of the Project entitled “Support to the Reform of the Law Governing Agricultural Cooperatives in Egypt,” to know how much knowledge and experience they gained from Project activities such as the study tour that FAO organized for them to Kenya with the purpose of getting exposed to Kenya’s success story in the field of agricultural cooperatives; as well as from the various capacity building workshops that they participated in.

Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt said that the Nutrition Project aims at economic and social empowerment whereby it is implemented in five Egyptian Governorates namely: Asuit, Aswan, Beni Sueif, Fayoum and Souhag. This objective is achieved through the implementation of food processing activities at home, micro nutrition projects supported by a revolving fund, and capacity building interventions for women and young farmers who are members in civil and non-governmental organizations.

Gadain, added “the Project started in 2012 and ends in 2017 with a component on animal husbandry which links up with work that FAO Egypt is implementing in partnership with the Institute of Animal and Veterinary Research Institute, and the National Research Centre in terms of investigating and responding to infectious and epidemic diseases via the ECTAD Project. Moreover, the Nutrition Project activities are in line with the agricultural development activities with which FAO aims to support the Government in its 1.5 million feddan initiative.

From her side, Zahra Ahmed, the Project Manager said: “The Project targets women and young farmers by helping them to gain skills in running micro-projects that ensure job opportunities, assist in overcoming the problem of unemployment, and support small-holder farmers in better utilizing land and cultivating crops that generate profit and increase the standard of living. It is implemented in several Egyptian villages, and discussions are underway to upscale the Project’s interventions.”

Dr. Ahmed Saad, Deputy ECTAD Team Leader added that “FAO-Egypt office through its Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD); has built strong and enduring ties with MoALR since 2007. ECTAD provided diverse institutional capacity strengthening support (skilled manpower, hard-/software, infrastructure, network…etc.) to strengthen epidemio-surveillance, disease outbreak investigation and diagnostic capacities both at central and governorate levels. All project activities achieved or going to be implemented (for controlling of emerging pandemic threats (e.g. endemic HPAI, MERS-CoV…etc.) are in line with the current government policies and strategies and integrated into the on-going development actions to ensure the sustainability of the process beyond the project duration.”