LESOTHO Hand Over of Equipment: Mechanizing potato production under the OCOP initiative Speaking Points

Honourable Minister,

Representatives of Government

Representatives of Farmer Organizations,

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues, 

I am very pleased to be in Lesotho and to witness the handover of this important machinery for the mechanization of potato production in the country, under the umbrella of the FAO One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative.

This is a true reflection of concrete action on the ground! This is how FAO walks the talk!

I firmly believe that it is critical for each country to identify its special agricultural product for which it has strategic and comparative advantage.  I also believe that focused attention and investments in these products can stimulate agricultural growth and generate the much-needed employment in the sector.

It is for this reason that the OCOP was one of the first flagship initiatives I launched upon taking office as FAO Director-General in 2019, and Lesotho was one of the first countries to express interest in joining the initiative.

You identified potato as your special product, and FAO took immediate steps to ensure that a technical cooperation project was put in place to kickstart OCOP activities in Lesotho. 

Today, I am delighted to see the progress we achieved together.

The equipment on display is going to be made available to potato farmers to help them mechanize their production, and significantly contribute to improving production and post-harvest handling of potatoes, thereby improving yields and the incomes of farming communities, especially smallholder farmers.

I am especially happy of this innovation in the potato sector, which is one of my favourite commodities as I have spent a large portion of my life studying and farming this product!

Honourable Minister,

Ladies and gentlemen, 

South-South and Triangular Cooperation is critical for effective partnerships, and for this reason it continues to be a key focus of FAO’s work. 

Different countries are at different levels of development, and by facilitating partnership between them helps to accelerate technological transfer and innovation in those countries that are less advanced.

In this context, I am very pleased that Lesotho has partnered with China, through the Chinese Academy for Agricultural Sciences – of which I was the Vice-President.

It is one of the leading global centres of excellence for innovation and technology in agriculture, and the CAAS Institute of Vegetable and Flowers is the main think-tank for the industrial development of the potato value chain in China.

I know that CAAS has recently undertaken a fact-finding mission to Lesotho, to help them develop a tailor-made capacity development programme for improving and accelerating the industrial development of the potato value chain in your country. 

I wish to congratulate Lesotho for this important moment in the development of the agrifood sector.

It is an important step forward towards the transformation of Lesotho’s agrifood system to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

For the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – leaving no one behind. 

Thank you.