World Food Day 2014, colorfully celebrated in Eritrea

World Food Day was celebrated at Halhale National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), by the Eritrean Ministry of Agriculture with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). This years international celebration, on Thursday, October 16, focused on Family Farming: feeding the world, caring for the earth. The UN has designated 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming. Among the more than 300 attendants are high ranking officials of Eritrea, including the Minister of Agriculture, the Secretary-General of the Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice, the President of the Confederation of Eritrean Workers, and the State Protocol; farmers from different parts of the country; representatives of Zoba Maekel, the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW), the Eritrean Women Agribusiness Association and staff of NARI and the Ministry of Agriculture; and local and national agribusiness firms and food processors. Participants included also the Ambassadors of Germany, France, South Africa, Djibouti, the Peoples Republic of China, Turkey and South Sudan; and the Chargs dAffaires of the US, EU Delegation and Sudan. The UN System was well represented by the Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator, the Country Representatives of FAO, UNHCR, UNOCHA and the UNDP Deputy Representative. The event was largely covered and broadcast by Eritrea Television, the national broadcaster. World Food Day is an annual observance, since 1981, of the foundation of FAO in 1945 in Quebec City, Canada. The objectives of the World Food Day are to raise public awareness, focus attention of food security, disseminate information, and mobilize public opinion and funds in favor of the global fight against hunger.The World Food Day theme Family Farming: Feeding the world, caring for the earth has been chosen to stress the vast potential family farmers have to eradicate hunger, poverty and malnutrition and preserve natural resources. Family farming is a means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family labour, including both womens and mens. This is particularly relevant to the situation of Eritrea, where 77% of the population lives in rural areas, with an average holding size of 1.1 hectare and an agricultural production which depends at 95% on rainfall.

The event got underway with the welcoming speech of Mr. Amanuel Negassi Hagos, Director-General and Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture followed by the days message of Mr. Ban-Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nation, read by Ms Christine Umutoni, Resident/ Humanitarian Coordinator of the UN in Eritrea. In his message, the Secretary-General stressed that Family farmers are key to unlocking global progress. But they are at a disadvantage when it comes to access to technology, services and markets. And they are acutely exposed to extreme weather, climate change and environmental degradation. He reminded the member countries that A world free from poverty and hunger, where all people have realized their right to adequate food, is central to the future we want and urged them to resolve to end hunger in our lifetimes.

Ms. Miriam Tesfaldet, Officer in Charge of WFP, mentioned that the theme for this years World Food Day is family farming, which is one of the many ways WFP is supporting local economies to build self-sufficiency and people to achieve zero hunger in their communities. Globally, WFP is helping an average of 90 million people a year focus on their futures. She continued her intervention by reading the days message of Ms. Ertharin Cousin, Executive-Director of WFP, in which she stated that Every year, we witness hungers devastating effect on families, communities and whole economies. But despite horrific crises engulfing entire regions, we are making real progress in the fight to sustainably and durably end hunger and chronic malnutrition. Thanks to the work we do with our partners on emergency preparedness, support to family farmers, nutritional assistance particularly in a childs first 1,000 days and building the resilience of communities to withstand shocks, millions of people are now better able to focus on building a future free of hunger for themselves and the next generation. ..

Dr Ousmane Guindo, FAO Representative in Eritrea, briefly recalled that FAO has been working in Eritrea for over 20 years. Eritrea became member of FAO on 8 November 1993. This early membership, just after independence, shows the importance granted by the Government of Eritrea to food security and nutrition, which is the priority of its priorities. FAOs work in Eritrea during the past 2 decades covered areas such as: staff and institutional capacity strengthening and development, mainly in crop, livestock and fisheries; transfer of improved agricultural technologies in seed multiplication, conservation agriculture and introduction of new crop varieties; water resource development, management and installation of irrigation systems; development of a national information system (early warning); control of trans-boundary pests and diseases (desert locus, avian flu..etc); support in drafting new seed and marketing policies; environment protection; emergency and rehabilitation works, including rehabilitation of livestock clinics, distribution of agricultural inputs and short cycle animalsand so on. It looks impressive. However, is it enough? The answer is a resounding NO. We are far from achieving in Eritrea the three (3) global goals decided by the member countries for FAO: (i) eradication of hunger and malnutrition; (ii) elimination of poverty, through increased food production, enhanced rural development and sustainable livelihoods; and (iii) sustainable management and utilization of natural resources for present and future generations. The work ahead is a multi-stakeholder endeavor and the support of all is needed, in order to achieve the priority of priorities in Eritrea. Dr Ousmane Guindo also delivered the message of Mr. Jos Graziano da Silva, Director General of FAO, who stressed that Family farmers are an important part of the solution for the challenges that we face, which is to sustainably increase food production and end hunger. Further, in many regions, family farmers are not just the main producers of fresh food; they are also central to food supply chains such as milk, poultry and pig production. Often, they run diverse multi-cropping agricultural systems, and they preserve the worlds biodiversity and recover traditional crops. Yet many family farmers, especially subsistence producers, are among the 70 percent of the worlds food insecure population that lives in rural areas. The Director-General of FAO concluded his message by stating that With the right kind of support, all family farmers can fulfil their potential. We are here because we believe in this. Lets work together to make it happen.

H.E. Mr. Arefaine Berhe, Minister Ministry of Agriculture delivered the keynote speech in which he noted that this years theme of the World Food day is very relevant to the global agricultural situation, as the foundation of this sector is the small-holder farmer. He continued by stating that if every nation contributes its share, then our world will not have even a single person going hungry to bed come 2030, as was pledged by the international community. On the specific situation of Eritrea, the Minister indicated that we are giving soil and water conservation at a catchment level and farmers field top priority in order to combat land erosion and degradation, thereby enhancing the soil for better productivity. Expanding on the priorities of the Ministry, he mentioned that our approach is comprehensive and integrated, but at the same time focusing on natural resources and commodities like cereal crops, horticulture including floriculture, dairy, meat, poultry and beekeeping. Of course the cross-cutting issues like plant protection, livestock pest and disease control, capacity building..etc are also addressed. In concluding, the Minister mentioned that the progress that we are registering in agriculture would not have been possible, without the active participation of our partners and at this juncture I call upon all our partners to strengthen their cooperation . The celebration of the World Food Day was marked by a display of a wide variety of food products, such as: various types of cheese, honey, sweet potato, sea food, mushroom and sausage, which contribute in the endeavor of securing food security.

Some of the food products displayed at the exhibition

The participants visited also the soil and tissue culture laboratories and the trial and extension fields of NARI on durum and bread wheat varieties, barley, beans, sugar cane and feed crops. H.E. Minister Arefaine Berhe; H.E. Dr. Andreas Zimmer, Ambassador of Germany; Dr. Ousmane Guindo, FAO Representative, and some participants visiting and discussing with the staff of the tissue culture and soil laboratories and NARI staff.

The celebration was capped by a lunch hosted by the Minister of Agriculture, and was an opportunity for the participants of the days event to continue discussions on hunger and malnutrition and the best ways to eradicate both of them.

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