Mohammed Abu Zaid
CAIRO: Egypt has signed two cooperation agreements with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization to confront climate change.
The Ministry of Agriculture said the first was within a program to expand climate ambitions on agricultural land, which aims to support 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America from 2021 to 2025.
The second is focused on the implementation of Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control.
This aims to help farmers, organizations, public institutions, national governments and development partners to quickly respond to the challenges of FAW infestation in smallholder farmers’ fields across Africa.
FAW is an invasive insect that feeds on more than 80 crop plants and, upon its introduction to Africa in 2016, it has caused major losses to many economic crops, particularly maize.
During the signing ceremony, Agriculture Minister Mohamed El-Quseir stressed the importance of fruitful and serious cooperation with the FAO in a number of projects that contributed to achieving agricultural development in Egypt and the development of the Egyptian countryside.
He said there was a long history of cooperation between the ministry and the FAO in projects aimed at achieving food security and combating poverty in the most needy areas and the projects provided to women in rural areas.
The first document was signed by Nasredin Hag Elamin, FAO representative in Egypt, and Mohamed Soliman, head of the Agricultural Research Center. It aims to contribute to translating the priorities of agriculture in Egypt into concrete actions and climate solutions that can be implemented with the aim of controlling emissions from the agricultural and land use sectors and strengthening the resilience of the poorest rural communities involved in agriculture.
The second document was signed by Mohamed Abdel Meguid, chairman of the Agricultural Pesticides Committee, as part of the project to expand the sustainable management of fall armyworm in Africa, the Near East and Asia.
Egypt was chosen as one of the model countries that had succeeded in controlling this issue during the past few years to transfer its experiences.
