The first day of the “Seminar for the Exchange of Experiences of the PAA Africa and Institutional Markets”, in Addis Ababa was intense. The seminar was organized by the Brazilian and Ethiopian governments with the collaboration of the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The seminar began on June 2 and continued through Friday, June 6. A message from former President Lula was read early on the morning of June 2.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture Tefera Derebew, Brazil’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Isabel Heyvaert, the permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations agencies in Rome, Maria Laura da Rocha, the National Secretary for Family Agriculture in Brazil, Valter Bianchini, and representatives of the WSP – Ethiopia, the FAO Regional Office for Africa, DFID in Brazil and the Lula Institute, represented by Helena Tavares and Márcia Lopes.
Former president Lula’s message stressed the need for political commitment by the African governments, the importance of social programs and public policies for inclusion and participation of civil society in making the PAA Africa (African Food Acquisition Program) a reality.
Marcia Lopes, the former Minister of Social Development in the Lula administration, stressed the political commitment of the Lula and Dilma administrations as being crucial for the implementation of a set of social policies created in Brazil as part of the Zero Hunger Program.
The Regional vice-representative of the FAO in Africa, Lamourdia Thiombiano, emphasized the importance of the commitment of governments to local markets and their positive impact on family income and food security. According to Thiombiano, the FAO desires to increase its technical support in the second stage of the program to help overcome the challenges faced in the first stage. The National Secretary for Family Agriculture, Valter Bianchini, pointed out that the discussion of family agriculture is especially important this year, since 2014 is the International Year of Family Agriculture, and various discussions and celebrations are being held with regard to the issue.
In Brazil’s experience, the strong component of social policies allowed the country to “assist 42 million people to raise themselves above the poverty line throughout the last decade, … we do not have problems of food security,” according to Bianchini. “The African countries are our brothers and I feel very honored to be able to share our experience here,” said the Secretary at the end of his speech.
The Brazilian government reiterated its commitment and support to all of the actors involved in the implementation of the second stage of PAA Africa. The need for financial resources for the implementation of the program through 2018 was stressed by the FAO and by Brazil. In the afternoon session, two different groups discussed public policies for family agriculture and food assistance, and the perspectives for the acquisition of foods in Africa.
Read more about PAA Africa at http://paa-africa.org/pt/
