Meeting with H.E. Abel da Silva Bom Jesus, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Sao Tome

Rabat - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met today in Rabat with His Excellency Abel da Silva Bom Jesus, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Sao Tome on the margins of the 33rd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa (ARC33).

The Minister thanked the Director General for the long-standing cooperation between FAO and Sao Tome and stressed the need for increased collaboration in the face of the many challenges to be addressed as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, among others.

The Minister noted that these challenges had exposed the weaknesses of the agrifood system in Sao Tome affecting production. He stated that food security in Sao Tome had been reduced to 14 percent as a result of the pandemic and the war in in Ukraine.

The Minister stated that the priority of the government was to end hunger and eradicate poverty and looked to FAO as their partner to achieve these objectives, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Minister further informed that they were currently working on an agricultural census to determine needs and were relying on FAO’s support going forward. The Minister also conveyed his appreciation to FAO for the work undertaken through the Hand-in-Hand Initiative and the One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiatives. With regard to the latter, the Minister emphasized that they wished to diversify their products and include more products under this initiation, especially to increase the production of casava.

The Minister also requested assistance with modernization of agriculture machinery to increase production and improve agrifood system transformation, in particular to improve access to technology for smallholder farmers.

The Director-General reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to strengthen cooperation with Sao Tome and to provide all the technical expertise needed to assist the country attain food sovereignty thereby reducing their reliance on exports and to ensure food security.