European Commission gives €5m to aid farmers in developing nations to maintain crop diversity

The European Commission is contributing more than €5 million ($6.5 million) towards the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

This was announced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) June 21, 2012 at a high-level ministerial meeting on the plant treaty at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

The Benefit-sharing Fund helps farmers in developing countries manage crop diversity for food security and climate change adaptation.

According to the UN agency, this is the single largest contribution made to the Benefit-sharing Fund since it was established in 2008.
The funds will help to increase the capacity of smallholder farmers to manage traditional crops like potato, rice, cassava, wheat and sorghum.

Meanwhile the FAO Director General, José Graziano da Silva has welcomed the “Zero Hunger Challenge” announced by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the just ended Rio+20 Summit in Brazil.

“This is a personal challenge from the Secretary-General, but one that all of us should answer, as individuals and collectively. FAO embraces this challenge of a Zero Hunger World,” Graziano da Silva said at a high-level meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

By Ekow Quandzie