The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) to support FCV countries with $ 97.6 million grants to fight hunger and poverty.

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), has announced a $97.6 million grants to support seven projects in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV).

The beneficiary countries include Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Yemen, and a joint project in the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu. The new grants is to support these countries to invest in their agricultural sector and the help each country achieve higher agricultural productivity, increased incomes, and improved food and nutrition security.

The GAFSP new funds are allocated to the following projects:

• In Afghanistan, GAFSP funds totaling $15 million will support the country’s efforts to rehabilitate and improve the efficacy of traditional water management systems and enhance sustainable and resilient livelihoods and nutrition among the most food insecure.
• In Central African Republic, $15.4 million in funding will sustainably improve the resilience, livelihoods, and incomes of vulnerable populations and rural communities in areas that are in an ongoing food security crisis.
• In Côte d’Ivoire, GAFSP funds totaling $12 million will contribute to improving food and nutrition security of smallholder farmers, women, and youth exposed to the effects of climate change.
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, $15 million in GAFSP funding will improve social cohesion and community empowerment, develop nutrition-sensitive agriculture activities, and strengthen livelihoods and entrepreneurship in areas most affected by conflict and food insecurity.
• In the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, an investment of $12 million will support a multi-country project to improve food, nutrition, and water security and enhance livelihoods opportunities in the small island communities of these countries.
• In Liberia, GAFSP funds totaling $8.2 million will increase agricultural productivity and production of smallholder farmers, improve their market access and income, and strengthen the capacity of government institutions, farmers, and producer organizations.
• In Yemen, an additional $20 million in funding will support the ongoing project increasing agriculture productivity, market access, incomes of smallholder farmers, and promoting better diet and nutrition practices in areas that are most vulnerable to and worst hit by the humanitarian and food crisis.

In addition to the above projects, an amount of $45 million have been approved to support three projects in Burundi, The Gambia, and Haiti contingent on additional donor contributions to the fund and/or structural changes to the projects.

In a press release issued by the GAFSP, the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller, stated that GAFSP is critical in the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG2, by 2030.

 About GAFSP:

GAFSP is a demand-led and country-owned multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to fighting hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in low-income countries. GAFSP supports resilient and sustainable agriculture that benefits and empowers poor and vulnerable smallholder farmers by channeling additional financing through existing multilateral agencies. Since its inception, GAFSP has received contributions totaling $1.7 billion from Australia, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with funds going to countries that have strategic, innovative, and credible plans already in place to improve agricultural productivity and food security.

Launched in 2010, GAFSP delivers targeted financing for agricultural investments to strengthen resilient and sustainable agriculture systems in low-income countries, with an eye on preventing future crises. GAFSP funding supports technically sound, inclusive projects across the entire agriculture value chain to ensure a transformative impact on the economies, communities, and people involved.

Source: agrighanaonline.com