The United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have signed a $15 million Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) to boost the capacity of developing countries to track
key agricultural data -information that is essential to good policy making,
reports NaijaAgroNet.
This MoU, NaijaAgroNet gathered will assist in tracking
progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly
considering the second goal of SDGs which is to end hunger, achieve
food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
Director-General at FAO, José Graziano da Silva, said that in the decades to come, humanity will need to produce more food for a growing population using natural resources such as water, land and biodiversity in a sustainable way, while coping with the challenges imposed by climate change.
"Our ability to boost food yields sustainably and meet the SDG hunger eradication target will hinge on the availability of better, cost-effective and timely statistical data for agriculture and rural areas" he said.
The Assistant to the Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for
Food Security and Deputy Coordinator for Development for the U.S. Government’s
Feed the Future initiative, Beth Dunford, said that they are pleased to have
the opportunity to collaborate with the FAO on this important endeavor that
will help build sustainable agricultural and food systems.
“Strong national data systems are critical for governments
and private sector actors to make informed and smart decisions that foster food
security and economic prosperity. Our work with FAO under the Feed the Future
initiative builds on years of success and lessons learned, and is essential to
bring about the types of data systems to support the more catalytic investments
needed to achieve a food-secure world by 2030” she said.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
