Thursday, July 7, 2022 at 8:58 PM
Rabat – Parliamentarians can contribute significantly to the achievement of food and nutrition security at the global, national and local levels, affirmed Thursday in Rabat the special coordinator for alliances and parliamentary funds at the division of partnerships and the collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Jean Léonard Touadi.
Speaking at an international parliamentary conference on the theme “Sovereignty and food security, between the challenges of the international situation and the challenges of strategic security”, organized by the Chamber of Councillors, Mr. Touadi highlighted the key role parliamentarians in the establishment of favorable legal and institutional frameworks, in the allocation of appropriate budgets and in the monitoring of government action in the area of food and nutritional security.
During the second session of the conference, focusing on “the role of parliaments in the development of new legislation for the promotion of food security”, the UN official indicated that food security and nutrition indicators tend to show a significant improvement in the presence of strong political will.
Thus, to counter the impact of the pandemic on the food system and allow people to feed themselves with dignity, Mr. Touadi stresses the importance of legislating at different levels in order to limit disruptions to the food chain.
According to this FAO official, several areas must be taken into account, such as food safety and the prevention of food waste and loss, or the regulation of electronic food commerce and the fight once morest food fraud. “Coordinated legislation facilitates the access of the most vulnerable households to adequate food,” he added.
FAO has supported the creation of more than 45 parliamentary alliances in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the official said, noting that as a result, more than 40 laws on issues related to food security, nutrition and agriculture have been developed and adopted.
For his part, the Chairman of the Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee in the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, praised the efforts made, under the directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, for the development of the Kingdom and the guarantee of peace and security, especially food.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin, recalled that food security exists when all human beings have, at all times, the physical, social and economic possibility of obtaining sufficient, healthy and nutritious food to enable them to meet their dietary needs to lead healthy and active lives, emphasizing that hunger is a fundamental development problem.
Food security, underlines the parliamentary official, is still a challenge for the African continent where many men, women and children suffer from acute malnutrition.
For his part, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Gennaro Migliore, indicated that several countries in the world are currently facing food security challenges, due in particular to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Migliore did not fail to insist on the need to guarantee stability and food security throughout the world, calling for the establishment of new food protection systems.
In this regard, the official invited parliamentarians to deploy legislative measures capable of solving this urgent problem.
The House of Councilors organized this symposium in view of the current importance of the theme of food security in the world and in harmony with the High Directives contained in the royal speech on the occasion of the opening of the 1st session of the current legislative year.
In this speech, HM the King called for “the creation of an integrated national system aimed at the strategic reserve of basic necessities, in particular food, health and energy products and the continuous updating of national needs in this area. ”.