Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi chairs a review meeting of United Nations World Food Programme

Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi chaired a meeting of the Country Programme Advisory Committee (CPAC) to review the implementation of the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023-2027 with representatives of the United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP) and members from concerned Ministries/Departments.

To address the national priorities in food security and nutrition through capacity building and technical support, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and the United Nations World Food Programme. Under the MoU, the CSP 2023-27 addresses four strategic outcomes which includes (i) more effective and efficient national food-based social protection systems; (ii) increasing consumption of diverse, nutritious, and fortified foods; (iii) enhancing the social and financial mobility of women; and (iv) strengthening the adaptive capacity to build climate-resilient livelihoods and food systems.

Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi highlighted that the department and WFP have maintained a long-standing partnership, driven by shared goal of achieving food and nutrition security. He suggested the officers toidentify the scalable interventions and initiatives and prepare mechanism for including the same in ongoing programmes of ministries/departments. He further advised WFP to organise a one-day workshop to present and discuss the important initiatives and pilots exclusively in the Agriculture Sector with officers of the department. He also emphasised that while accessing the nutritional outcomes of the programmes we should also look at the standards on nutrition applicable for Indian population. Along with ongoing fortified varieties of different cereals, existing local varieties of red and black rice and millet, which are nutritious, should also be popularised. He also advised exploring the possibilities of bringing the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) intodifferent initiatives.  

The meeting was also attended by officers and representatives from D/o Food & Public Distribution, M/o Women and Child Development, D/o Rural Development, M/o Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, D/o School Education & Literacy, M/o External Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority, India Meteorological Department and M/o Earth Sciences.