ANGOLA – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released US$15 million to support the implementation of projects aimed at improving food security in the country.

Gherda Barreto Cajina, FAO representative in Angola, said that the funding also seeks to support the Zero Hunger objective under the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and for the new international agenda that goes up to the year 2030.

FAO has also commenced the implementation of an investment programme dubbed ‘AgrInvest’ in Angola to identify and support investment chains.

This was revealed by FAO’s sub-regional director for Southern Africa, Felix Onibon during a meeting with heads of the Ministry of Commerce that addressed issues related to value chains, agro-business and financing.

He opined that the programme is a global initiative to support the promotion of sustainable private and public-private sector investment in agriculture.

The move is intended to encourage the creation of regulatory and institutional policies and conditions conducive to private investment in agro-food systems.

Felix Onibon acknowledged the importance of creating a conducive environment for sustainable investment in the context of the economic diversification and achieving the goals of sustainable development, eradicating poverty and hunger.

He expressed FAO’s availability to support the Government of Angola in dealing with the issues related to the initiative.

According to him, investors tend to view agriculture as a risk, especially at the primary level of production.

He said that the project focuses on solutions to the risks of this investment by creating platforms for dialogue between public and private value chain actors, to reduce the risks of the sector, by guaranteeing and sharing financial products.

According to him, the implementation of the project follows the interest of Angola in economic diversification and enhancing national production.

AgrInvest intends to develop functional capacities of institutions, actors in the value chain and local products.

Early this year, the European Union also released US$74.56 million to aid the execution of the Reinforcement, Resilience and Nutritional Food Security Programme (FRESAN) in the southern region of Angola aimed at improving food security in the country.

The FRESAN Project is part of the financing convention signed by the EU and Angola to assist the southern provinces of Cunene, Huila and Namibe, which have been battered by droughts and climate change threats.