An important partnership agreement has been reached between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with the goal of improving global food security and nutrition.
According to a formal press release, this trilateral cooperation agreement is focused on empowering rural smallholder farmers by giving them access to affordable, flexible technologies that are essential for guaranteeing food security.
Dr. Mansur Muhtar, vice president of operations at the IsDB, stressed the importance of this collaboration in addressing the severe issues of food insecurity and malnutrition that many IsDB Member Countries face, particularly among small-scale farmers and pastoralist communities.
He stated, “Our partnership with FAO and IFAD will play a pivotal role in identifying technologies suitable for integration into IsDB’s Food Security Response Program (FSRP) and other agricultural initiatives.” This alliance is poised to usher in transformative change in agricultural sustainability and food security across diverse regions.
“A majority of countries in the Near East and North Africa region projects increasing rates of food insecurity and malnutrition. These challenges are particularly more prevalent amongst small-scale farmers and pastoralist communities. The new tripartite cooperation between FAO, IsDB and IFAD will facilitate identification of technologies that have the potential for mainstreaming throughout the crop value chain to improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers and food security among the entire populations,” said AbdulHakim Elwaer, FAO assistant director-general and regional representative for the Near East and North Africa (NENA).
“This cooperation is important to FAO, as it is a first building block in the partnership between FAO and IsDB since the signing of an MoU in 2020.” Elwaer added.
“Technology has enabled small-scale producers to effectively contribute to sustainable agricultural development and food security. Despite the huge efforts to introduce new technologies to support farmers across the value chain, there is still an urgent need to increase capacities and accelerate innovation through partnerships. The cooperation agreement is a major milestone in our joining forces with other partners to help reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Saudi Vision 2030,” said IFAD’s Director of Sustainable Production, Markets, and Institutions Division Thouraya Triki.
She added: “We aim through this agreement to share our knowledge and technical expertise with FAO and IsDB and benefit from this joint initiative to promote the scale of these technologies and strengthen the capacities of rural farmers to help them to reduce costs and increase production, income and food security.”
These transferable, adoptable, intelligent agricultural technology and digital solutions will help to advance low-carbon agriculture, boost resilience, aid in the reduction of poverty, provide jobs, and lessen exposure to dangers associated with climate change.
This group effort, which is in line with the digital age, aims to utilize cutting-edge tools and methods in order to empower rural households and smallholder family farmers to prosper despite numerous obstacles.
In addition to increasing agricultural productivity, these technology and solutions are expected to pave the path for low-carbon, sustainable practices. This alliance shows promise for improving resilience, lowering poverty, generating jobs, and reducing vulnerabilities related to climate-related threats.
