Nyala – South Darfur. On 18 April 2017, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF) conducted the Inception Workshop of the EU-funded project “Promoting the Provision of Legitimate Land Tenure Rights Using Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest (VGGT) in the context of National Food Security for conflict-displaced communities in Greater Darfur Region of Sudan”.

About 60 participants, including H.E. Yagoub Mohamed Ibrahim Altayeb, the State Minister at The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Mr. Fadul Beshir Director General of the Directorate of Natural Agricultural State Minister of Agriculture and Forestry; Ms Veronica Quattrola, FAO Representative a.i in Sudan,   Representative from federal and Darfur line Ministries, UN Agencies, Darfur Land Commission and community representatives including native administrations, gathered to discuss sustainable and community-based management of land resources to improve Darfur’ food and nutrition security.

In the course of the two days’ workshop, project partners’ discussed the project partnership, strategy and its implementation. A strong recommendation was released for adoption during the project implementation: similar workshops should be organized in other 4 Darfur States and its localities targeting pastoralists, farmers, native administrations, and all land users to disseminate VGGT knowledge taking in consideration women participation in operational mechanisms at the local systems level.

Speaking at the launching workshop of the project, FAO Representative a.i.in Sudan, Ms. Veronica Quattrola, said “FAO is extremely pleased to be partnering with the EU and the Government of Sudan to alleviate rural poverty through practical solutions to help communities secure access to crop land, livestock routes, rangelands and pasture, including the provision of adequate and practical dispute resolution mechanisms”.

We are looking for consultative, technical support and resources in land governance issues in Sudan and particularly in Darfur region. EU and FAO further support is needed to make this project succeed said H.E. Mr. Yagoub Mohamed Ibrahim Altayeb, the State Minister of Ministry Agriculture and Forestry”. The Federal Minister of (MoAF) has issued a decree to form the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) representing different line ministries at the Federal level to support achieving the objectives. The project importance emanates from the needed land tenure reform in Sudan in which a globally recognized VGGT guidelines, provides practical solutions to the existing challenges of access to land resources and ownership rights.