Less than two years before the deadline set to achieve international development goals, the European Union (EU) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have teamed up to reduce world hunger by assisting two million people in six countries with agricultural development activities worth nearly €60 million about N15.6 billion.
The funding comes from a €1 billion, about N259.4 billion EU initiative that aims to foster speedier progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
During a special event on the Millennium Development Goals at the UN General Assembly, FAO’s Director-General José Graziano da Silva said "So close to the deadline, when there is still so much to do, this good investment in agriculture will enable FAO to increase its efforts to eradicate hunger and do even more to help countries halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015."
Commenting on the development the EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said "I find it unacceptable in the 21st century that some 870 million people are still going hungry and malnutrition is responsible for over 3 million child deaths annually. This funding underlines our commitment to stepping up our work on hunger and to meeting the MDGs.”
NaijaAgroNet gathered that the MDG-initiative promotes strong partnerships with the UN agencies, while the EU and FAO focus on agricultural development involving smallholder farmers and their families on improved nutrition in Burudi, Burkina Faso,Gambia , Haiti, Madagascar and Mozambique.