Feature: FAO, ACP states sign MOU to boost food security

Flags of the ACP states

The Food and Agriculture Organization has entered into a new partnership to fight hunger and malnutrition in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The U.N. food agency and the secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States signed a memorandum of understanding on Dec. 13 on the last day of the seventh summit of ACP Leaders in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

The partnership will see FAO and ACP collaborating on various activities aimed at boosting the region’s food security. 

Among planned activities are the promotion of fisheries and aquaculture production, use of food crisis early warning systems, disaster risk management, the provision of food and nutrition education, and the early detection and prevention of transboundary plants and animal diseases.

The partnership is valuable given that most countries in the ACP are small island states and African nations that are highly vulnerable to climate change. 

A number of them continue to suffer from food insecurity due to droughts and other events affecting agricultural production.


Funding for the projects has yet to be identified, but both parties are already looking into various sources, such as the European Development Fund and the Global Environment Facility, according to a news release.


The agreement follows José Graziano da Silva’s proposed reforms for FAO, which include a new framework that would boost the agency’s engagement with different stakeholders. The proposal aims to open FAO up “to meaningful partnerships.”