$50 million from China to FAO

FAO PRESS RELEASE – China announced last 15^th of October a $50 million donation to FAO to support the Organization’s program of “South-South cooperation” to improve food security and promote sustainable agricultural development over the next five years. “Food for all is a fundamental human right, upon which all other human rights depend. China has a bitter memory of hunger and wants to see a world free from hunger and poverty. We are willing share our technologies and expertise, without reservation,” said Chinese Premiere Li Keqiang ahead of the World Food Day celebrations. Thanking China for its commitment, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said: “We share the same principle that the basic task facing us today is the eradication of hunger. We can achieve it within our lifetimes.”

China’s strides on food security have been achieved through a combined approach, Li said, including providing incentives to family farmers to unleash their productive potential, supporting science and technological innovation, as well as implementing institutional reforms and providing support for agricultural extension and farmer cooperatives. In addition to its efforts to modernize food production, the premier also highlighted the “fundamental role” of family farms, saying that family farmers require support to help them diversify activities, innovate, and band together in cooperatives. The number of farmer cooperatives in China has reached 1 million in recent years, he said, allowing small-scale producers to join forces and operate at larger scales.And Li stressed the need to not only boost food production, but to do so in a way that is ecologically sustainable, in order to “pass on fertile land and blue skies to future generations.”

Olio Officina