ORU Fogar in tune with FAO again

The ORU Fogar Secretariat and the ORU Fogar Food Security Core Group took advantage of their attendance at the World Committee on Food Security (CFS46) to hold a meeting in Rome with the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). This was the first meeting of the two organizations after the success of the III Zero Hunger Summit of Regions held in Cuenca, Azuay (Ecuador) in April 2018. Thus, the secretary of ORU Fogar, Carles Llorens, the coordinator, Anna Fernandez, and the secretary of the Core Group of Food Security of the organization, Ignasi Rodríguez, met Gilles Martin, FAO's Partnership Officer, who was accompanied by heads of other FAO divisions.

ORU Fogar explained the emergence of projects on Food Security that led to the holding of the Summit and how they have attracted support for these projects. Both parties have thus studied how to establish synergies in various countries and how FAO can support the projects undertaken.

The 46th World Committee on Food Security was opened by Qu Dongyu, the newly elected Director-General of FAO. He referred to the 2019 Report of the organization, which states that in the last three years the fight against hunger in the world has reversed, with 821 million people currently suffering from hunger in the world. Conflicts, climate change, economic crises and trade battles were cited as reasons for the setback. At one point in the debate, the secretary general of ORU Fogar, Carles Llorens, pointed out that beyond these causes, one of the reasons for this setback is an excessively centralized governance, in which local and regional governments do not count.

All the debates concluded that the achievement of the SDG 2 Zero Hunger is to support small producers and families. It was found that in addition to the problems of hunger, the problem of obesity is also worrying. It was also agreed that another reason for wanting to avoid rural exodus, especially among young people, is that - for the future - we need to produce more food and this cannot be produced in the cities. They must be produced in the countryside.

The ORU Fogar Secretariat took advantage of its presence in Rome to meet Andrea Ciaffi, responsible for relations with the European Union at the Conferenza delle Regioni e Delle Pronvince Autonone in Italy.