São Paulo – Brazil donated US$ 2.375 million for a new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In programme "Purchasing for Progress of Africa", the FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) will help small-scale farmers to develop their crops and sell produce.
The funds should benefit five countries and should be used following the system of the Brazilian government’s Food Acquisition Programme. The proposal is for the WFP to purchase from small-scale farmers and donate the food to poor families and schools. Since January, Graziano has been the director general of the FAO.
Of the total donated, US$ 1.55 million should be turned to small-scale farmers in Mozambique, Senegal, Ethiopia, Malawi and Niger, so that they may buy seeds and fertilizers, increase crop productivity, sell their products and even establish cooperatives. The remaining US$ 800,000 should be turned to the purchase of products and distribution.
According to the head of the Technical Cooperation Department at FAO for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Cristina Amaral, the objective of this donation is to help farmers out of poverty and to alleviate hunger. "We want farmers to be players. We want them to be able to join forces to place their products in the market and leave solely subsistence farming,” she said.
The general coordinator of International Activities for Hunger Alleviation at the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), Milton Rondó Filho, said that the proposal arose in May 2010, during a meeting between the government of Brazil and African ministries. “This project forms a virtuous circle, so it is possible to make the machine turn,” he said, referring to the fact that small-scale farmers are going to produce and then sell their produce.
Rondó points out that the programme preserves human rights “Food is a fundamental right. When a person is born, he already has this right, which should be protected, guaranteed and promoted,” he pointed out.
The five countries chosen were those that showed the greatest interest in participating in the project. Amaral believes that the nations may benefit from lower poverty and the strengthening of their institutions. Agriculture may be benefited by sustainable growth.
According to Rondó, the project attracted the attention of other countries and institutions. England should donate US$ 730,000 by late March.
*Translated by Mark Ament
