With FAO\’s support, within the South-South cooperation framework, civil servants from Kenya visited Ecuador and Peru to exchange experiences related to reinforcing agriculture and food security.
With nearly 9 million malnourished people and an incipient decentralization process underway, Kenya faces the challenge of building a National Food Security Strategy that could be efficiently implemented throughout its 47 recently constituted counties.
Within this context, eight civil servants from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in Kenya traveled to Peru and Ecuador from August 28th to September 4th to learn lessons from both governments regarding the decentralized management of food security and productive development programs in the region.
María Elena Rojas, Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Peru, explained that Kenya is making a considerable effort to understand the working relationships between the governments on a national and county/regional level with the other actors involved (organized civil society, NGOs, private sector), since the transition to the decentralized governance system is rather recent. “Peru has a clear understanding of this complicated process and can share various positive experiences in this regard. FAO is committed to strengthening cooperation between countries that share similar challenges in the fight against hunger,” commented Rojas.
In Ecuador, the Kenya delegation visited the Angochagua Parish Autonomous Decentralized Government in the province of Imbabura, where they witnessed first-hand how public policies are being implemented for agricultural and social development, as well as the empowerment of small producers and artisans, through initiatives such as the rural welfare program \”Buen Vivir Rural\” executed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAGAP according to its acronym in Spanish).
Source: http://www.fao.org/americas/noticias/ver/en/c/1036849/
