23 June 2017, Cairo – The Government of Egypt and FAO renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on South-South Cooperation (SSC) for an additional three years to boost agricultural development of African countries through transfer of knowledge and innovative approaches.  “The renewal of this MoU not only represents a milestone in further strengthening the cooperation between FAO and the Government of Egypt, but will also make Egyptian expertise better known across African countries” Mr Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt, said.  This updated commitment will mainly support sustainable agriculture of the Nile Basin countries, by focusing on “farmer to farmer” exchanges through...

22 June 2017, Rome. The Government of Uganda committed to continue South-South Cooperation activities with China, facilitated by FAO, in light of the excellent results achieved so far. In a letter addressed to the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, wished “to recognize the significant cooperation between our two sister nations”. “I highly appreciate the recent cordial cooperation under the framework of FAO South-South Cooperation Activities aimed at fostering agricultural development for the mutual benefit of our people,” stated the President of Uganda in the letter to his Chinese counterpart. The Government...

29 May 2017, Niger - Niger plans to modernize its livestock farming in the image of the Tunisian model. To achieve this, Mr Albadé Abouba, Minister of State, of Agriculture and Livestock, thanks to the support of FAO Niger, headed a strong delegation of experts and producers that travelled to Tunisia from 16 to 20 May 2017, where the producers, experts and researchers of the visited country were asked to back Niger in transposing its successful experiences. Exchanges with Tunisian officials, experts, researchers and producers enabled the Nigerian delegation to obtain as much information as possible on livestock research, livestock feed production,...

26 May 2017, Republic of Guinea: An FAO delegation, accompanied by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, undertook a supervisory mission to the Republic of Guinea from 22 to 26 May 2017, to ensure the technical follow-up of the activities carried out in the framework of the Regional Partnership for Sustainable Rice Development in Sub-Saharan Africa project (GCP/RAF/489/VEN), funded by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The project, which targets 10 African countries (Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda), aims to promote efficient and more productive rice systems for the enhancement of...

16 May 2017, Vientiane (Lao PDR) – Contract farming can be an attractive option to farmers who want to assure market access and support production. The agroindustry and buyers can guarantee supply through contracts under specific conditions that suit them. CF often also leads to economies of scale, which can be of potential benefit for national economies. For this reason, 25 provincial and district agricultural officers and farmers, from four target provinces of Lao PDR, received training this week on CF practices from Dr Carlos A. da Silva,...