BRAZIL TO COOPERATE WITH AFRICA IN FOOD MATTERS

São Paulo, August 16- Today, the director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, will sign an agreement for sharing Brazil’s experience with school meal programs with Africa. The cooperation will be entered into with the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE, in the Portuguese acronym), which already has a similar cooperation agreement with Latin American countries.

The national school meal program is wholly funded and managed by the Brazilian federal government. It ensures meals to approximately 45 million children across the country on a daily basis, during their stays in school, from primary through secondary school, including young people and adults. Small-scale family farmers supply food for school meals consumed at public schools in Brazil.

The FAO director-general has kept appointments in Brazil. His schedule has included meetings at the Ministry of Agrarian Development, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Environment. He has also paid a visit to the World Food Program centre. Next Friday, he will attend meetings at the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and at the Foreign Office (Itamaraty).

Graziano will sign a deal with Fundação Banco do Brasil (Foundation Bank of Brazil) for agrofood sector technical cooperation. The goal, according to material released by the FAO, is to carry out actions in technical advisory, training, knowledge and information exchange pertaining to agricultural food supply in Brazil. According to the FAO, strengthening South-South cooperation through the exchange of experiences, aiming to combat hunger and poverty, is the main purpose of Graziano’s visit to Brazil.

According to a press statement from the Ministry of Agrarian Development, the minister Pepe Vargas has spoken with Graziano about the rural public policies in place in Brazil, especially for family farming. They discussed the role of the National Institute for Colonization and Land Reform (Incra) in policy implementation. Other topics were discussed, pertaining to the land, water, forest, and their respective programs and laws.

“The FAO works very closely with the Agrarian Development Ministry’s issues, such as land registration for family farming and the promotion of civil society organizations. Thus, whenever I come to Brasília I make a point of coming to the Ministry’s headquarters to keep up to date with our joint activities,” said José Graziano.

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