FAO, Agriculture Ministry sign agreement on food system transformation

AMMAN — The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Jordan, Nabil Assaf and Minister of Agriculture Khalid Hneifat on Sunday signed an agreement focusing on the transformation of food systems in the Mediterranean region in the presence of HRH Princess Basma Bint Ali, the founder of the Royal Botanic Garden and FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the Near East and North Africa.

The project’s ultimate goal is to improve food security, income and the nutritional status of the population, with an additional focus on environmental sustainability in the Mediterranean region through the development of more inclusive, efficient and sustainable food systems. In doing so, the project aims at developing a global systemic SFS approach, according to a statement from FAO. 

The project is expected to deliver a joint framework with context-specific solutions based on science, knowledge and experience and innovative pathways for the shift towards sustainable food systems. The project also seeks to improve the existing knowledge base of the dimensions of food system sustainability across the Mediterranean, in addition to developing investment proposals and financial options.

Assaf said: “The project is set to contribute to accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean region, through the development of an evidence-based framework for collaborative context-specific actions to support the transformation of food systems, making them socially, economically and environmentally sustainable”.

FAO has strategic partnerships with the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), forming a tripartite collaboration that brings together and capitalises on each organisation’s mandate — scientific, technical, political — and comparative advantages, reflecting the holistic dimension of sustainability, the FAO statement said. 

The initiative has been selected as an affiliated project of the One Planet Network’s Sustainable Food Systems Programme, a multi-stakeholder partnership comprising more than 170 members, united to implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with the goal to accelerate the shift towards more sustainable food systems.

The project expects to see nation-level activities in line with the project’s outputs in Albania, Jordan and Morocco. 

In Jordan, the transformation of the food system will be guided by the strategic objectives and guiding principles of the Food Security Strategy, with the engagement of a multiplicity of stakeholders at the central and local levels, including farmers, the private sector, government representatives, women and civil society institutions.