Over the past six years Ireland’s contribution to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reached €26 million, according to a new report.
The largest share of Ireland’s voluntary funding between 2014-2020 went to the FAO’s efforts to protect livelihoods and eradicate hunger and malnutrition.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, attended a virtual ceremony with FAO Director-General QU Dongyu to launch the report, FAO + Ireland: Partnering for a peaceful, equal and sustainable world.
Minister McConalogue said that Ireland is “proud to join forces with FAO in tackling the root causes of hunger and poverty.”
“Taking a food systems approach, Ireland and FAO are finding new and better ways to promote sustainable agriculture and to achieve multiple Sustainable and Development Goals,” he said.
Ireland became a member of the FAO in 19467 and over the past 75 years has “remained a committed partner in the global fight against hunger and malnutrition.”
“This report demonstrates the valuable contribution that Ireland, through its partnership with FAO, has made to the lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers and their families throughout the world. I know that these efforts resonate deeply with Irish farm families,” Minister MCConalogue added.
In 2020, Ireland’s annual subscription to the UN FAO was €1.64 million. Additional funding of €2.14 million was also provided for specific FAO projects which included improving food security for refugees in the conflict-affected area of Lake Chad basin; enhancing surveillance and control of the desert locust invasion in Kenya; and support of the UN Food Systems Summit action track on access to safe and nutritious food.