Vincent Martin, Representative of FAO in China shaking hands with Sun Shuming, Chairman of Guangfa Securities

Today, Mr. Tao Huaiying, Director General of Planning and Finance Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) and Dr. Vincent Martin, Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in China, witnessed the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Guangfa Securities Co., Ltd. (GFS) and China Agricultural Science and Education Foundation (CASEF). The MoU involves the donation of USD one million from Guangfa to CASEF to support FAO’s agriculture development programme and country programming framework in China. Under this MoU, the first of this kind between FAO and private sector partners, FAO and the Chinese government aspire to deepen and enlarge their collaboration by designing and delivering innovate projects to improve the livelihood of people in remote counties. 

"Entering into the new era, the implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy has become one of the priorities of the Chinese government to achieve its goal as an agricultural power. This year, according to Document No. 1 of the Central Government and the Strategic Planning for the Revitalization of Rural Areas (2018-2022) issued by the Central Committee and the State Council, the Government has comprehensively addressed various aspects to achieve Rural Revitalization[MV(1] . Under the direction of MARA, CASEF encourages and supports enterprises to participate in the construction of rural revitalization. The partnership established among FAO, CASEF and GFS will lead to the implementation of pilot projects to train local experts and new professional farmers so as to address key issues in rural areas such as farmers' aging problem and lack of talents,” said Mr. Tao Huaiying at the signing ceremony.

"We deeply appreciate the support and donation of Guangfa Securities. Through the establishment of this partnership, FAO aims to work together with the Chinese Government, Guangfa Securities and CASEF towards the goal of lifting China’s impoverished rural communities out of poverty and improve nutrition and food security by 2020," Dr. Martin stressed in his speech. He continued by saying that the "FAO will continuously support China to improve rural livelihoods through the introduction of innovative approaches, the provision of capacity building, the engagement with the private sector. It will also support rural organizations, and empower the most vulnerable communities, including the youth and women, as well as vulnerable smallholders through inclusive pro-poor interventions in rural areas."

Dr. Martin also outlined that the US$ one million donation would be used for implementing a new generation of Famer Field Schools (FFS) training programs in selected villages in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. Through this training program, farmers will be able to increase their production and income. Meanwhile, the project would adopt an innovative agricultural model for poverty alleviation with the combination of "agriculture, finance, and e-commerce". This will be done in partnership with e-commerce platforms and ICT companies to link farmers to markets, adopt participatory guarantee system and financial tools that will provide quality assurance and financial support for the poor. 

Mr. Sun Shuming, Chairman of GFS, highlighted in his speech that "in response to the call of the Chinese government to fight against poverty, Guangfa Securities in cooperation with FAO and CASEF expects to promote the transformation, upgrading from traditional to eco-agriculture so as to achieve the multiple values of poverty alleviation, income generation and rural environment protection. We look forward to working with all sectors of the society to achieve the ambitious goal of eliminating absolute poverty by 2020.”

CASEF is a public foundation within MARA. In November this year, alongside the Minister Han Changfu of MARA, the Director-General of FAO José Graziano da Silva, the FAO Representative Office in China and the CASEF signed a MoU to establish a strategic partnership, further strengthening the cooperation between FAO and China. The results and experiences learned from this project will be evaluated, summarized and widely disseminated with other developing countries, aiming to create good practices in poverty reduction that could be shared at global level to help achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

GFS is a private security company located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Since 2010, GFS has been actively cooperating with the government in formulating and implementing poverty reduction programs and projects in poverty stricken areas.