“The two most important tasks of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are the eradication of poverty and famine, a prerequisite of which is to make economic and natural resources available to everyone”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas stressed on Monday in Budapest at an informal regional meeting of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
“Some 795 million people in the world are starving and millions of children do not have access to clean water and healthy food. This is one of the reasons why it is important that the meeting’s program includes the support of small-scale farmers and family farms, as well as the harmonisation of food safety and quality requirements, on which Hungary also places major emphasis”, the Minister said.
Mr. Fazekas pointed out that in accordance with the agreement concluded in 2007, Hungary is also doing its utmost, within its limitations, to contribute to establishing the food security of developing countries. For instance, since 2008 Hungary has made it possible for 250 scholarship students from 36 developing countries to acquire master’s degrees at Hungarian agrarian universities.
“One of the priorities of Hungarian agricultural development policy is realising sustainable agriculture and food security in the Western Balkans and the countries of Central Asia (former CIS states). Accordingly, the Hungarian Government is financing a host of FAO development projects in these regions. In addition, Hungary is also supporting the FAO’s efforts to promote agroecology in view of the fact that these targets are in harmony with sustainable development goals, and especially plans regarding sustainable agriculture, preserving biodiversity, the sustainable use of resources and increasing rural employment”, Mr. Fazekas highlighted.
FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia Vladimir Rakhmanin spoke about the fact that regional activities must be harmonised to achieve success, and especially in the interests of supporting two regional initiatives: assisting family farms and the wide-ranging, comprehensive funding of agricultural and food production. “However, we must keep in mind that each country must receive the assistance that best suits it and which it most requires, while also taking into account the best adaptation to climate change, and accordingly although the agenda of the meeting is extremely tight and busy, there will also be opportunities for free discussion”, the FAO Assistant Director-General said.