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IICA and The World Food Programme (WFP)
www.wfp.org
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) signed an agreement in February 2009 under which they will help rural communities to implement projects aimed at addressing the challenges posed by food insecurity and climate change.
One initiative to be launched under the agreement is the Purchase for Progress (P4P) project, which calls for using the purchasing power of the WFP to acquire the food produced by low-income farmers and distributing it among the beneficiaries of the WFP’s humanitarian aid programs.
This will help farmers to increase their incomes, consolidate access to markets and become more competitive. For its part, IICA will provide farmers with technical assistance intended to improve the quality and increase the size of their harvests.
Both international agencies agree that support for low-income farmers is vital in combating hunger and poverty. Most of the poor who suffer from hunger (especially women and children) live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.
The initiative will be implemented in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua for three years, beginning in 2010. It is estimated that of a total population of 32.8 million in those countries, 6.8 million (20.8%) are undernourished.
The agreement was signed in City of Knowledge by WFP Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Pedro Medrano, and the Deputy Director General of IICA, Christopher Hansen.
Press Releases
IICA and WFP to Support Low-Income Farmers in Central America - February 20, 2009
Guatemala: Poorest Farmers Glimpse Future Free From Hunger - July 27, 2009