Less and less aid spent on food
The Nordic ministers of agriculture are concerned that a smaller share of international aid is used to solve the food crisis. According to the ministers there has been a similar trend in the lending practices of international financial institutions. At the same time, private, direct investments in agricultural sectors in developing countries are at a low level, write the agricultural ministers in a joint opinion piece on Friday.
The Nordic agricultural ministers at their summer meeting in Iceland 2009
"Unfortunately, agriculture and food production has received less attention in aid policies for several years", underline the ministers in the article written on the occasion of the UN World Food Day on 16 October.
The ministers underline the importance of regional co-operation and gene resources in the fight against famine, and they call attention to the success of Nordic co-operation over several decades.
"We are facing a challenge that can only be solved through co-operation between countries and regions. For 30 years, under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Nordic countries have developed a stronger and stronger regional co-operation with regard to the preservation and sustainable exploitation of genetic resources", the ministers point out.
The co-operation has led, amongst other things, to the establishment of the Nordic Genetic Resource Center, NordGen, and co-operation with gene banks in Africa and Asia. NordGen is also responsible for the global security seed vault in Svalbard.
The ministers' article on World Food Day is published in newspapers in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland
The article in Finnish 'Turun Sanomat'
The article in Swedish 'Västerbottens-Kuriren'
