Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet
Less than two years before the deadline set to achieve
international development goals, the European Union (EU) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have teamed up to reduce world
hunger by assisting two million people in six countries with agricultural
development activities worth nearly €60 million about N15.6 billion.
The funding comes from a €1 billion, about N259.4 billion EU
initiative that aims to foster speedier progress towards the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
During a special event on the Millennium Development Goals
at the UN General Assembly, FAO’s Director-General José Graziano da Silva said
"So close to the deadline, when there is still so much to do, this good
investment in agriculture will enable FAO to increase its efforts to eradicate
hunger and do even more to help countries halve the proportion of hungry people
by 2015."
Commenting on the development the EU Development
Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said "I find it unacceptable in the 21st
century that some 870 million people are still going hungry and malnutrition is
responsible for over 3 million child deaths annually. This funding underlines
our commitment to stepping up our work on hunger and to meeting the MDGs.”
NaijaAgroNet
gathered that the MDG-initiative promotes strong partnerships with the UN
agencies, while the EU and FAO focus on agricultural development involving
smallholder farmers and their families on improved nutrition in Burudi, Burkina
Faso,Gambia , Haiti, Madagascar and Mozambique.