FAO and MoA sign an agreement focusing on the transformation of food systems in the Mediterranean region

Amman, Jordan – The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative in Jordan, Eng.Nabil Assaf, H.E Minister of Agriculture Eng. Khaled Hnaifat and with the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Ali, the founder of the Royal Botanic Garden and FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Near East and North Africa, signed today an agreement focusing on the transformation of food systems in the Mediterranean region.

The ultimate goal of the project is to improve food security, incomes and nutritional status of the population, as well as environmental sustainability in the Mediterranean countries, through the development of more inclusive, efficient and sustainable food systems. In doing so, the project aims at developing a global systemic SFS approach, which could be replicated and have similar impacts in other countries/regions.

Furthermore, the project is expected to deliver a joint framework developed, built on context-specific solutions hinged on science, knowledge and experience, and innovative pathways for the shift towards sustainable food systems, improve evidence and knowledge base of the dimensions of food systems’ sustainability across the Mediterranean, and develop investment proposals and financial options.

FAO Representative in Jordan, Eng. Nabil Assaf, said “The project is set to contribute to accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean region, through the development of an evidence-based framework for collaborative context-specific actions to support the transformation of food systems, making them socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.”

FAO has strategically partnered with the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) and Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) for a tripartite collaboration that brings together and capitalizes on each organization’s mandate (scientific, technical, political), and comparative advantages, reflecting the holistic dimension of sustainability.

The initiative has also been selected as an affiliated project of the One Planet Network’s Sustainable Food Systems Programme, a multi-stakeholder partnership comprising more than 170 members, united to implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with the goal to accelerate the shift towards more sustainable food systems.

Country level activities in line with the project’s outputs are foreseen in Albania, Jordan and Morocco. Country support will strengthen national and sub-national stakeholders’ capacities to promote a systemic approach to agri-food policies, strategies and interventions; formulate SFS-aligned project and investment proposals; as well as facilitate resource mobilization.

In Jordan, the transformation of the food system will be guided by the strategic objectives and guiding principles of the Food Security Strategy, with the engagement of a multiplicity of stakeholders at central and local level, including farmers, private sector, Government representatives, women and civil society.