China lifts 138m citizens out of chronic hunger

 NaijaAgroNet

The Republic of China has said the country effectively lifted 138 million citizens out of chronic hunger since 1990 and have reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the prevalence of hunger ahead of the 2015 deadline, NaijaAgroNet reports.

This revelation, NaijaAgroNet reports, was made during the signing of a $50 million, about N9.94 billion agreement between China and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to support developing countries in building sustainable food systems including agricultural value chains, recognizing the growing importance of collaboration between Southern countries in the fight against extreme hunger and poverty. 

Mr. Wang Yang, Vice Premier, China, NaijaAgroNet learnt, said, "China is the leading agricultural producer among the developing countries; FAO is the world's top agricultural organization. We are ready to enhance our cooperation with FAO, which will not only benefit agricultural development and progress toward hunger reduction targets, but also the poor and hungry people of the world."

NaijaAgroNet reports that China's new contribution to the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Trust Fund will support the exchange of Chinese agricultural experts with countries in the global South, particularly in low-income food-deficit areas of Central Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa and Latin America, over a period of five years.

The Trust Fund has supported knowledge exchanges through 11 country projects and two global initiatives in areas such as irrigation, horticulture, livestock protection, and food processing and marketing. 

During the first phase, Chinese experts deployed to host countries will stay for two-to-three years, train local farmers in using adaptable and affordable technologies for crop, animal and water management, while the second phase will expand on the lessons learned so far, sharing best practices and supporting host countries in developing sound policies, building institutional capacities, facilitating the transfer of new technologies, working with research centres and other partners. 

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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MDG: 72 countries halve proportion of hungry people

  NaijaAgroNet

About 72 out of 129 countries have achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to halve the proportion of hungry people by a 2015 deadline, or bringing it below the 5 per cent threshold were, Sunday recognized at an International award ceremony, reports NaijaAgroNet.

 

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva paid tribute to these achievements at the ceremony which was held at the Organization's headquarters.

 Bolivia, Costa Rica, Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic), Mozambique, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Suriname and Uzbekistan received an award for having reached the MDG target. They joined other countries who, NaijaAgroNet gathered, were awarded for reaching the target in previous years.
Angola, China, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Mali and Myanmar were awarded for having also achieved the more ambitious WFS.

"Since 1990, 216 million people have been freed from hunger," Graziano said.
He noted however that almost 800 million people still suffer from chronic undernourishment.

Graziano da Silva urged for a redoubling of global efforts to combat chronic undernourishment.

"One out of nine people on the planet still do not have enough food to conduct active, healthy and productive lives. It is not acceptable," adding that "If we all do our part, zero hunger can be achieved within our lifetimes. Together we can make this vision a reality," he said.

The year 2015 marks the completion of the monitoring period for the Millennium Development Goals which will be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals currently being negotiated by the international community.

 

The Prime Minister of Gabon, Daniel Ona Ondo and the Vice Premier of China, Wang Yang, NaijaAgroNet further learnt, received diplomas on behalf of their countries at the ceremony that attracted  dignitaries as President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Prime Minister of Djiboutim, Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology