Equatorial Guinea committed to reduce poverty and hunger

7th December 2009: The Government of Equatorial Guinea is committed to help the rural poor people and smallholder farmers achieve better livelihoods by providing sustainable financial services and technical support, the country’s new Ambassador to FAO, H. E. Crisantos Obama Ondo has said.

Speaking when he went to present his credentials to the FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, Mr. Obama Ondo said that the programmes they were implementing needed support of FAO and other UN agencies in Rome. This is why I’m in Rome to coordinate such efforts, the Ambassador said.

Equatorial Guinea is the third biggest petroleum producer in Africa. This makes it possible for the country’s economy to grow, the Ambassador said. He, however, pointed out that the country faces a high rate of rural to urban migration which is having a negative impact on agricultural productivity through the loss of productive members of the rural areas. The fertile land in the rural area is also left uncultivated, Mr. Obama Ondo said.

More than one billion people suffer hunger in the world today. During their conversation, the two leaders renewed calls to the international community to boost agricultural investments in the areas where the poor and the hungry live throughout the world. Mr. Diouf made a similar call to the World leaders who convened at FAO Headquarters for the World Summit on Food Security in November. "The planet can feed itself, provided that the decisions made are honoured and the required resources are effectively mobilized," he said.

Before being appointed Ambassador, Mr. Obama Ondo was the Officer Responsible for the management of protected areas and conservation of biodiversity. He was also the Director-General, National Institute for Forestry Development and Management of Protected Areas, and National Coordinator, Central Africa Forestry Commission.

The Ambassador has also held high level meetings with the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Executive Director of World Food Programme (WFP).

By Stephen Ogongo

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• |194.242.102.xxx |2010-06-03 13:10:11 Anonymous
  Thanks for information!
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