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Add to Preferred SourcesThe heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) concluded a joint visit to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) with a call for greater investment in nutrition.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and WFP Executive Director David Beasley made the three-day visit, together with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Sub-regional Director Thomas Rath, to raise awareness about the importance of integrated food systems to improve food and nutrition security, and to see first-hand the impacts of the three agencies’ collaborative programmes.
“FAO is committed to working together with IFAD, WFP and the Government of Lao PDR and its people to boost nutrition. The three agencies are already making a difference in farming families’ lives and livelihoods, and we strive to continue this progress to achieve Zero Hunger,” Graziano da Silva said.
Lao PDR has made good progress over the past twenty years in reducing poverty and hunger, but malnutrition remains an obstacle to the country’s aim of becoming a middle-income country.
Stunting affects around one-third of children aged under five, and rural areas are worst affected. Improving access to healthy, diversified diets is vital to improving nutrition.
The delegation also visited several sites in the country’s northern Oudomxay Province which is part of a large joint food security and nutrition programme, Agriculture for Nutrition, that benefits around 400 villages in four northern provinces.
“This project is an excellent example of the three UN agencies building on one another’s strengths to work with governments, donors and other partners to maximize our impacts on the ground towards improved food and nutrition security in rural areas,” said Rath.
The programme is being implemented to help boost nutrition in rural areas, in a joint collaboration between FAO, IFAD and WFP, and with the Government of Lao PDR and other partners.
Working closely together, FAO, IFAD and WFP are making a difference in the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable people in many countries and regions around the world. The agencies build on one another’s strengths and work with governments, donors and other partners to maximize their impacts.
Original source: FAO
Published on 16 May 2019