BASSETERRE St. Kitts – WITH the aim of eradicating hunger and poverty, several South America and Caribbean countries have adopted a common plan of action designed with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
This initiative was recently revealed by the FAO of the United Nation.
The FAO stated that the agreement was announced during the Second Extraordinary Summit of the Petrocaribe oil bloc and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP).
The plan aims to strengthen food and nutrition security in the Petrocaribe economic region and in ALBA countries through national and regional hunger eradication projects, and the FAO would be providing advice to governments in developing interventions.
Speaking during the summit, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro said that "the Action Plan ALBA-Petrocaribe to free our territories from hunger seems fundamental for the future".
The plan reflects the priority that hunger reduction has been given by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and under the Hunger-Free Latin America and the Caribbean Initiative, a commitment by the 33 countries of the region to eradicate malnutrition by 2025.
Also speaking at the summit, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said: "Latin America and the Caribbean are showing that across the entire region there is political will for and commitment to achieving hunger eradication."
The FAO and Venezuela's government also signed an agreement to implement a Venezuelan-led regional food and nutrition security and poverty eradication programme within the framework of the Hunger-Free Latin America and the Caribbean Initiative.
The Venezuelan programme will work on three tracks: strengthening leaders, producers and social organisations in rural areas, facilitating the commercialisation and trade of products from family farms, and supporting hunger eradication efforts in various economic integration zones in Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular in the Petrocaribe region.
The agreement between the FAO and the Government of Venezuela was signed by the Vice President for Social Matters of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hector Rodriguez, and Director-General of the FAO.
This agreement involves some $12 million.
The $7.8 million project will be funded by the Venezuela's Ministry of Popular Power for Agriculture and Lands and will support more than 8 000 fishing families.
Several years ago, Venezuela had banned industrial trawling in its waters; a measure aimed at maximising fishing's benefits to local communities and minimise its environmental impacts.
It is said that the ALBA-Petrocaribe Action Plan represents the most ambitious attempt to eradicate hunger in the history of the region.
