MBABANE – FAO has come up with a project aimed at increasing private investment in the agricultural and food sectors (production, aggregation, processing, and distribution) and its associated services industries.
The project was launched by the Minister of Agriculture, Jabulani Mabuza, at the Mountain View Hotel yesterday morning. The project is referred to as the Hand-in-Hand (HiH) initiative.
FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Southern Africa and Representative for Eswatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe Dr Patrice Talla said the overall objective of the project was to increase private investment in the agricultural and food sectors (production, aggregation, processing, and distribution) and its associated services industries (like logistics, inputs, testing services).
Dr Talla said the roll out of the HiH initiative facilitates risk reduction mechanisms, the adaptation of investment financial products, and improvement in the effectiveness of investment support measures in the national agricultural investment process in Eswatini. He mentioned that this HiH initiative was a country-led initiative with clearly defined principles of ownership, partnerships and match making. He highlighted that the FAO Director General, Qu Dongyu championed this noble initiative in year 2019 on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly.
Strengthening
“The initiative complements the ongoing work in the country through strengthening the evidence base to accelerate agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development to eradicate poverty (SDG 1) and end hunger and all forms of malnutrition (SDG2),” said Dr Talla. Dr Talla mentioned that the HiH initiative was a global and multi-country initiative but it had unique country specific as informed by the National Priorities, the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). He said at country level this delivery was informed by a clearly defined framework i.e. Country Programming Framework (CPF).
Transformed
He stated that there was no doubt that agriculture and food systems must be transformed in order to address the food security, nutrition and income challenges affecting many people particularly the vulnerable populations in both rural and urban areas. He highlighted that the current state of food systems in the country required immediate transformation. He said HiH initiative would support the Government of Eswatini’ s agriculture and food systems transformation agenda through various initiatives such as strengthening the data systems, investment facilitation as well as fostering enabling business environment for agriculture.
