Qatana at FAO conference in Rome calls for more sustainable agricultural and food systems

The minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng Mohamed Hassan Qatana has called for taking fast measures to transform agricultural and food systems into more sustainable ones, for increasing investments in environmentally smart agriculture and for relying on innovation and technology to create jobs and income for the most vulnerable groups.

In a speech on Monday before the General Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Stations (FAO) in its 43rd session held in Rome, Qatana said: “the wars have affected our aspirations with regard to reducing hunger and poverty and deviated us away from the path of achieving the goals of sustainable development because the dangers to achieving them have become a reality, which confirms the necessity of achieving peace, addressing the climate crisis and strengthening resilience everywhere.”

The minister of Agriculture pointed out that Syria has been affected by the terrorist war and it has become an importing country for a number of food products, which it used to export.

This situation was caused by the terrorists’ acts of destroying the infrastructure and service facilities and looting the country’s resources, by the repercussion of COVID 19, by the negative effects of climate changes, by the Israeli military aggressions, by the disaster of the earthquake that occurred on the sixth of the last February and by the siege and the illegal unilateral coercive measures that impede government efforts to secure basic supplies for the Syrian people, the minister pointed out.

Qatana explained that the Ministry of Agriculture attaches great importance to the initiative “Hand in Hand”, launched by the Director General of the FAO Organization, and coordinates directly with the Investment Center within the framework of this initiative to reach effective investment plans in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

Qatana indicated that the Ministry of Agriculture took the initiative to develop the strategy of 2021- 2030 for the development of the agricultural sector in line with local, regional and environmental changes.

This strategy includes 65 programs aimed at achieving the vision and goals of the strategy, the minister clarified, inviting all the international organizations and development partners, including the SIAM Institute, and International cooperation agencies, such as the Italian, German, Japanese and other agencies to carry out their activities in Syria.

Souha Sulieman