PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Brazil to fund food purchasing in 5 African countries
Nairobi, Kenya(PANA) - The Brazilian government is providing US$2,375,000 for a new local food purchase programme to be set up by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to benefit farmers and vulnerable populations in five African countries – Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Senegal.
Under an agreement signed here, Brazil will fund the project as well as share expertise drawn from its own national Food Purchase Programme (PAA), the UN agency said in a news dispatch Tuesday.
Brazil's PAA buys agricultural products from smallholders and delivers them to at-risk categories, including children and youth through school feeding programmes. The PAA is a cornerstone of the country's Zero Hunger strategy.
Under Tuesday's agreement, FAO, which is to receive US$1.55 million, will look after the production side of the new project, providing seeds and fertilizer and boosting the capacity of small-scale farmers and farmers’ associations to grow, process and sell their produce.
FAO will also mobilize Brazilian expertise in support of local purchase initiatives.
WFP, which is receiving US$800 000, will be responsible for organizing the purchase and delivery of the food to schools and vulnerable groups.
WFP already purchases food locally for its programmes and is running a pilot called “Purchase for Progress (P4P)" to find ways to buy more directly from smallholders.
The Brazilian-funded programme will bring a new impetus to purchases from local farmers and home-grown school feeding.
Besides helping supplement the diets of hungry people, the project is designed to strengthen local food markets, ultimately helping to improve food security and preventing future food crises.
Food purchase programmes provide a new perspective on agricultural development and food interventions. The traditional emphasis on technology transfer, aid and assistance is replaced with an effort to secure the social and institutional conditions required to ensure that populations at risk of food insecurity have access to quality food which is generated through the participation of smallholders in the market.
This can be accomplished by building on and strengthening existing institutions, production systems and local community and social networks.
The agreement was signed by Antonino Marques Porto e Santos, Permanent Representative of Brazil at the FAO; Laurent Thomas, the FAO Assistant Director-General, Technical Cooperation Department, and Amir Abdulla, WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer.
-0- PANA DJ/VAO 21Feb2012
Under an agreement signed here, Brazil will fund the project as well as share expertise drawn from its own national Food Purchase Programme (PAA), the UN agency said in a news dispatch Tuesday.
Brazil's PAA buys agricultural products from smallholders and delivers them to at-risk categories, including children and youth through school feeding programmes. The PAA is a cornerstone of the country's Zero Hunger strategy.
Under Tuesday's agreement, FAO, which is to receive US$1.55 million, will look after the production side of the new project, providing seeds and fertilizer and boosting the capacity of small-scale farmers and farmers’ associations to grow, process and sell their produce.
FAO will also mobilize Brazilian expertise in support of local purchase initiatives.
WFP, which is receiving US$800 000, will be responsible for organizing the purchase and delivery of the food to schools and vulnerable groups.
WFP already purchases food locally for its programmes and is running a pilot called “Purchase for Progress (P4P)" to find ways to buy more directly from smallholders.
The Brazilian-funded programme will bring a new impetus to purchases from local farmers and home-grown school feeding.
Besides helping supplement the diets of hungry people, the project is designed to strengthen local food markets, ultimately helping to improve food security and preventing future food crises.
Food purchase programmes provide a new perspective on agricultural development and food interventions. The traditional emphasis on technology transfer, aid and assistance is replaced with an effort to secure the social and institutional conditions required to ensure that populations at risk of food insecurity have access to quality food which is generated through the participation of smallholders in the market.
This can be accomplished by building on and strengthening existing institutions, production systems and local community and social networks.
The agreement was signed by Antonino Marques Porto e Santos, Permanent Representative of Brazil at the FAO; Laurent Thomas, the FAO Assistant Director-General, Technical Cooperation Department, and Amir Abdulla, WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer.
-0- PANA DJ/VAO 21Feb2012
