Partnership to boost agro sector

By SERAH LAGDOM
THE Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has partnered with PNG to promote sustainable agriculture development and food security.
Development of a National Eagriculture Strategy is the first step towards realising the transformative potential of ICT in agriculture.
The impact can only be realised through effective implementation. FAO Programme Officer to PNG, Ken Shimizu, said the National Eagriculture strategy was one of the projects the FAO had been working on implementing in the country.
He said FAO was expected to finalise the e-agriculture strategy and commence the implementation of the second phase which included the implementation of demonstration and piloting activities by the year’s end.
“We anticipate project activities to continue at least until the end of 2018. An extension of the project beyond this timeframe is also foreseeable.”
He said the FAO country office in PNG was only opened in 2013 and more projects would be implemented to promote sustainable agricultural development.
Prior to the establishment of the country office, FAO projects in PNG were being managed by the FAO sub-regional office for the Pacific in Samoa.
Projects that were implemented included developing effective systems for sustainable forest and fisheries management, improving agriculture statistical capacity, ensuring food security through policy support and support to drought recovery.
FAO is also supporting the PNGGovernment to conduct a country gender assessment and gender analysis of the national agriculture and rural development sector.
The assessment is expected to deliver a set of policy recommendations on how to improve gender equality promotion and its mainstreaming into agriculture and rural development.
Papua New Guinea became a member of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 1975.
FAO assistance has aimed at achieving food security through environmentally sustainable local food production.
Recent interventions have focused on strengthening policy and planning, including the development of a National Agriculture Development Plan.
As a small island developing state, adaptation to climate change and disaster risk management are important features of cooperation for the country.