New Work, NY (BBN)- The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) have joined forces to tackle widespread hunger and build food security throughout the Asia and Pacific region.
Signed by the heads of the three organizations on the occasion of the United Nations
Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the three-year Asia Pacific Regional Food Security Partnership Framework underscores concern that despite Asia and the Pacific’s impressive gains in achieving several of the MDGs, the region is falling behind in the crucial areas of hunger and food security.
The MDGs are a set of measurable targets for reducing hunger, poverty, disease, child and maternal mortality, environmental degradation and gender inequality by the year
2015.
The fact that hunger remains widespread in Asia and the Pacific and that billions are still vulnerable to dramatic spikes in food prices – such as those that occurred two years ago
– indicates that there are deep structural problems in the region’s food supply chain.
The new ADB, FAO, and IFAD partnership will promote innovative financing mechanisms to attract private sector investment in agriculture as well as develop inclusive business models that bring benefits for investors and local small farmers.
BBN/SI/AD-25Sept10-1:14 pm (BST)
