A girl runs through deserted farmland in Myanmar's Sagaing region where floods buried valuable fertile soil under several feet of mud which later dried hard and cracked, making land preparations very difficult and expensive (Photo: news.un.org)Hanoi (VNA) – The UN’s Food and AgricultureOrganisation (FAO) and the Myanmar government have signed a multi-yearframework agreement to improve nutrition and food security in the country whilesafeguarding and sustainably managing the use of natural resources.
At the signing ceremony in the country’s Nay PyiTaw capital on February 19, Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO Assistant Director-Generaland Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, said the agriculturesector has a major role to play in addressing food insecurity and malnutritionthrough agricultural diversification and rural income generation.
This Country Programming Framework intends tohelp Myanmar achieve three primary goals, namely enhancing food security,nutrition and food safety; strengthening governance and sustainable managementof land, forests, water resources and ecosystems; and enhancing resilience oflocal communities and farming households to natural and humanitarian disasters,climate change and transboundary and emerging infectious disease risks.
Despite having reached a state ofself-sufficiency in staple foods, food insecurity, particularly seasonal foodinsecurity, remains a concern across the country, which risks being worseneddue to climate and weather-related shocks and social instability.
Myanmar has experienced a rapid decline inmalnutrition figures in just a few decades. The prevalence of stunting amongchildren below the age of five was reduced from 40 percent in the 1990’s toless than 30 percent in 2016, but the improvements have slowed.
Kadiresan said with nearly one child in threestunted, much work remains to be done for Myanmar to achieve the SustainableDevelopment Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.-VNA
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