FAO plans to quadruple its projects in Bolivia in the short term

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for Latin America and the Caribbean, Diego Berdegué, began a visit to Bolivia to discuss food security priorities with the government, intending to quadruple its portfolio of projects in the country.

In an interview with Efe in La Paz, Berdegué highlighted the agency’s accompaniment in the 44 years it has been in the country.

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“We are proud of what we have been able to contribute to Bolivia, but we also understand that, like the region’s countries, Bolivia is not an exception and today faces new situations and important challenges,” he said.

He said that these challenges include recovering from the social and economic impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, such as job losses, increased poverty, and food insecurity.

According to Berdegué, FAO has a “very significant” project portfolio in the country and half of it “is with indigenous peoples on environmental issues” or fire resilience, among others.

“This portfolio will be multiplied by four in the short term in the coming years,” he announced.

To this end, the organization wants the Bolivian government to show it what needs to be improved and strengthened, in addition to knowing its priorities for the coming years.

For this reason, another objective of the visit is to reach agreements with national authorities to find out how FAO can help meet the goals set by the Bolivian government for economic and social recovery.

The strengthening of joint actions against climate change is also part of Berdegué’s plan, who highlighted the country’s “extraordinary biodiversity heritage”, which is “threatened by many factors”.

In addition, a dialogue will be sought to accompany the objectives outlined by the country towards the transformation of its agri-food systems, which include aspects such as nutrition, food security, resilience to climate change, and the improvement of rural livelihoods.

Berdegué highlighted the “great potential” of Bolivia’s ancestral production systems, which are an “enormous wealth” and a “genetic heritage, of biodiversity, of ways of producing” to address problems such as climate change.

The representative mentioned that a change in consumer preferences is emerging, especially in developed countries looking for “new types of food” such as quinoa instead of highly processed food.

“Bolivia is full of this agrobiodiversity that, if worked well, can become a great engine for developing the Bolivian rural environment,” he added.