MME takes part in meeting to discuss COVID-19 impact on agriculture, food security

Both meeting sessions on Wednesday and Thursday addressed the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to slow down its spread on agriculture and food security

THE Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), represented by the Livestock Department, is participating in a regional consultative technical meeting being organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) over four separate sessions on July 1, 2, 15 and 23. The meet aims to discuss the ways to address the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on agriculture and food security in countries of the near east region and north Africa.

Senior technical and highlevel officials at the relevant ministries of the member states, their permanent representatives at the FAO, experts from the region from development and financial institutions, representatives of the private sector and other primary stakeholders participated in the meeting, which was held via video conferencing on Wednesday and Thursday.

Both meeting sessions on Wednesday and Thursday addressed the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to slow down its spread on agriculture and food security. They also discussed the job status, participants in the food chain and the lessons learned from it.

The two sessions highlighted the policy measures that countries must implement to support recovery from the crisis and rebuild food systems that enjoy more resilience and sustainability, in addition to the expected response from FAO to support countries in the recovery phase.

It is expected that a set of recommendations will emerge from the meeting to alleviate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on food security and agriculture in the region, as well as the required measures for the agriculture and food systems to become healthier.