Posted on August, 15, 2021 at 10:33 pm
RWANDAN president Paul Kagame says Africa will have a common position at the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) to be held in the United States next month.
Kagame said this when he gave remarks at the official opening of the UNFSSS Pre-Summit held in the Italian capital Rome on 26 July 2021, according to a statement released at the end of last month by the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).
Nepad is the African Union's implementing agency. Kagame was quoted as saying Nepad has been providing support to African national governments on the UNFSS process in order to have a common position for the continent ahead of the US summit.
Rwanda holds the chair of the African Union (AU) and by virtue of that, Kagame is the chairperson of the Nepad heads of states and governments orientation committee.
He said the African common position is in line with the AU's Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) for Africa to pursue solutions in its priority areas.
Kagame said Africa - as part of its priority areas to transform food production, will adopt nutritious food policies, support local markets to get access to food, invest in agro-processing, make agricultural financing available and facilitate stakeholder farmers to establish cooperatives and to ensure women participation in food production.
He said Africa will also invest in climate change early warning systems, adding that, the UNFSS should take decisive action to transform food systems, especially due to time lost due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Kagame said that digital and biotechnology play a role in global food production but in Africa, farmers do not have access to this technology. The UNFSS will be held in September 2021 in New York.
Source: Namibian