China contributes $50mn to aid global south to fight hunger
June 7, 2015, 1:30 pm

File Photo: A Somali woman holds her malnourished child [Xinhua]

“China and FAO today signed a $50 million agreement to support developing countries in building sustainable food systems and inclusive agricultural value chains, recognizing the growing importance of collaboration between Southern countries in the fight against extreme hunger and poverty,” said a FAO statement.

Han Changfu, China’s Minister for Agriculture signed the agreement with the FAO in Rome on Sunday.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation is a key institutional player on food security.

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.

“China has made strides in decreasing hunger and has used its own experience to support other countries in doing the same,” FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said during a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the FAO’s 39th Conference between June 6 and 13.

“It has become clear that while we have the power to end hunger in our lifetime, we will only succeed if we work together – Southern countries empowering one another by exchanging knowledge and tools is a key part of this,” he added.

China accounts for almost two-thirds of the reduction in the number of undernourished people in poor countries since 1990, according to the FAO. Mostly because of China’s success, east Asia’s hungry population fell from 295 million in 1990 to 145 million in 2015.

A report by the FAO last month said economic inequality, which is particularly acute in rural areas, is a key reason why 795 million people do not have enough food enough to eat.

If targets to end world hunger by 2030 are to be met, governments and donors in developing countries must spend more on cash transfers to poor farmers, school meals and other social protection schemes, the report added.

The work of the UN food body is shaped by the 192 member countries and their priorities as donors and executors of national strategies.

TBP