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Rome - Grameen Foundation and FAO will work closely to enhance small-holder farmer access to knowledge and technologies for sustainable production and food security through the use of mobile agriculture supported services. The two organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) also aimed at improving farming innovation exchange, strengthening small-holder households to gain better access to agricultural and rural financial services and competitive value chains. Both organizations agreed that this is a great step forward in their efforts to improve food security. During his visit to FAO headquarters, Alex Counts, Chief Executive Officer and President of Grameen Foundation,...

Rome –The President and CEO of Grameen Foundation USA, Mr. Alex Counts, visited FAO headquarters today and gave a seminar for FAO staff titled “Grameen Model Towards Achieving Food Security,” which marked the beginning of the FAO Private Sector Seminar Series. The seminar took place after FAO and Grameen Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which includes goals to increase farming innovation exchange, strengthen smallholders’ access to agricultural and financial services, and increase rural access to competitive value chains.  Mr. Counts first witnessed extreme poverty in 1988 when he was a Fulbright Scholar working with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. He returned to...

26 June 2013, Rome -Unlocking Egypt’s agricultural potential was the focus of a two-day, high-level forum “Private Sector for Food Security: Improving the Investment Climate in Egypt’s Agribusiness Sector” which ended in Cairo today.Organised by FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in collaboration with Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, the forum brought together policy-makers, investors and representatives of international financial institutions to discuss ways to increase the efficiency of Egypt’s agricultural sector and reduce its food trade deficit.All participants agreed that the private sector – bolstered by cooperation with the...

London/Rome - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva welcomed the new funding pledges, commitments and targets for action on nutrition announced by governments, the private sector and civil society at the high-level Nutrition for Growth meeting held in London today."I welcome the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact agreed at the meeting. FAO will work with all committed governments to realize their food security and nutrition goals," Graziano da Silva said."The cost of inaction is too high," the Director-General stressed. "Malnutrition kills millions every year, and damages billions of lives. It costs up to 5 percent of global GDP...

Rome - FAO's  governing Council today approved two new Strategies aimed at strengthening FAO's partnerships with civil society organizations on the one hand and the private sector on the other. The Strategies provide a framework for FAO's work with private and civil society partners in pursuit of the Organization's Strategic Objectives and the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.Thanking the Council for its approval, Director-General José Graziano da Silva said, "We have repeated many times that it is possible to end hunger only if we work together. These strategies show that we are committed to working with...