has said.

He added that of the number, 52,000 households are “severely food insecure,” according to the June 2015 Emergency Food Security Assessment of FAO.

Speaking at a program marking the 35th observance of the World Food Day at the Agriculture Ministry in Gardnersville recently, Abdala said FAO currently has eight operational projects in the country targeting a total beneficiary caseload of 275 farming groups, comprising about 40,000 people.

Abdala said FAO’s intervention in lowland rice alone is up to 200 hectares in six counties. The counties were not specified.

According to him, over the last four years, the FAO has worked in agriculture, fishery, forestry, livestock, and fishery development and building the capacity of farmers within the framework of focusing on four priority areas.

He said these areas include improving food security and nutrition, especially for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children under five, and ensuring more competitive, efficient, and sustainable food and agriculture value chain of both food and cash crops and their linkages to markets.

Abdala said that the FAO is strengthening human and institutional capacities to provide needed services, create a strong and an enabling environment, and reduce vulnerability land and water development.
LINA RD/JGT/PTK