FAO team in town to consult with industry on farm modernization

THE Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will meet with agriculture industry representatives to support Philippine efforts to modernize farming.

In a statement, the FAO said it will oversee consultations with the government, private sector, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations this week.

“The Philippines has a unique experience in resilient agriculture and fisheries but is also facing unprecedented challenges,” FAO Country Representative to the Philippines Lionel Henri Valentin Dabbadie said over the weekend.

The FAO said that the results of the consultation will form part of the input for its Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC), in which participants will seek to work out a strategy to tackle challenges to agriculture.

“Through this consultation, we look forward to better understanding how we can best support the efforts of the government to achieve a modern agriculture and fisheries sector,” Mr. Dabbadie said.

He added that the conference will “highlight the expertise that the Philippines can share to tackle the impending threats to food security and the environment that we face as a nation, a region, and the whole world.”

The United Nations organization said that the conference will generate proposals to guide FAO operations in the Asia-Pacific and ultimately to its global conference, which is the agency’s highest governing body.

The 37th APR C session will discuss current priorities for the agriculture industry, including food production losses and waste, financing for hunger mitigation programs, animal and human diseases, and the transformation of agri-food systems and capture fisheries and aquaculture.

The APRC is a biennial conference with Ministers of Agriculture from FAO member states. —