CTA Brussels Briefing on Nutrition security in ACP countries

H.E. Ricardo Neiva Tavares, Ambassador of Brazil, 

Michael Hailu, CTA Director, 
Dr. José Graziano da Silva, Director General, FAO

15 th June 2011. The Brussels Briefing on “Nutrition security in ACP countries: the key role of agriculture”, organised by the Technical Centre on Agricultural and Rural Development (CTA), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI, read more), the ACP Secretariat, DG DEVCO and other partners discussed the need to link nutrition security to agriculture. 


The briefing assembled 200 policy experts and stakeholders to talk about the problem of malnutrition and the actions to be taken. Participants represented a range of actors from embassies, international organizations, civil society and the Brussels development community at large.

Dr. José Graziano da Silva, former Brazilian minister for food security and the new FAO general director, presented the very successful Brazilian government programme “Zero Hunger” which lifted 24 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty and reduced undernourishment in Brazil by 25%. The programme, based on three main pillars – food aid for families, loans for smallholder farmers and land and structural reform at government level – shows how political will can make a difference.  In that context Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions have given a high importance to nutrition in the political agenda in the recent years.

Other issues discussed include linking nutrition to value chains and providing incentives to traders to focus on crops with a higher nutritional value, mobilising investments in agriculture, especially in Africa and bringing the research to the  most vulnerable, such as biofortified food.