UN agency projects to boost productivity of small-scale female farmers

WFP's food-for-work programmes pay workers with food to start building a hunger-free future for their communities

3 August 2009 – Poor farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America are set to receive a productivity boost through new United Nations-led agricultural projects funded by a €34 million donation from the European Union (EU), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced today.

WFP schemes helping mostly female small-scale farmers grow food more efficiently in Bolivia, Guatemala, Senegal, Nepal and the Philippines will receive the additional spending from the EU’s €1 billion Food Facility fund.

“The European Union has recognized that one of the best ways to make sure people have access to food is to help small farmers increase production,” said Gemmo Lodesani, Director of the WFP liaison office in Brussels.

“That way, they can feed their families and increase availability of food on their local markets,” said Mr. Lodesani, adding that more than “2 million people, many of them children and vulnerable adults, will benefit from the food generated by five WFP programmes.”

These WFP projects, such as collective farming, crop diversification, and food-for-work programmes aimed at improving irrigation and flood resistance, will be coordinated with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

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