FAO signs two Partnerships at Khalifa Awards

19 March 2018, Abu Dhabi - On the side of the 10th Session of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation (KIADPAI) and the 6th International Date Palm Conference, FAO has renewed two important partnerships in the region to support local date palm production.

FAO and the Khalifa International Award's Board of Trustees, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support the development of the regional date palm network and to promote the exchange of experiences at a regional level.

FAO has also renewed its alliance with the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development (AOAD) and the Khalifa Award Secretariat for the protection and sustainable development of the date palm value chain.

A Continuing Partnership with Khalifa Award

In the attendance of the FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, President of Board of Trustees of KIADPAI, Gerold Boedeker, the officer in charge at the Subregional Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council States and Yemen signed the MoU with Abdelouahab Zaid, Secretary General of KIADPAI. The agreement stipulates that the organizations will promote cooperation in knowledge development through exchanged visits, consultations, and joint activities in areas of mutual interest, including but not limited to international meetings, events related to date palm, collaboration in the development of publications, joint organization of workshops and other activities related to date palm value chain in the region.

MoU will also include preparations of joint date palm reports, guidelines and glossaries; identifying potential synergies in collaborating at the local and regional level in sharing and disseminating information related to the area of nutrition and date palm production.

In addition to joint collaboration on initiatives or programmes that are of relevance to the mandate and on media promotions, FAO and KIADPAI will work in provisions of specialized governance and policy training and exchange potential solutions and approaches in agriculture, fisheries, genetic resources, land, water, environment, and food-water-energy-environment nexus areas.

A Strong Regional Alliance

Besides the prospects expected from the MoU between KIADPAI and FAO, the declaration of the Alliance between FAO, AOAD and KIADPAI aims to acknowledge the cultural, social, economic and ecological importance of Date Palm in the region. It also highlights the importance of the oasis ecosystem and the agroecology practices in fighting desertification, in biodiversity conservation and in climate change adaptation and in the region. Alliance also recognizes the high potential for the development of date palm value chains and its positive impact on smallholders and on local and national economies and the growing threats to date palm in particular because of transboundary pests, including the Red Palm Weevil, and of unsustainable agriculture practices in the context of water scarcity.

Date palm is not only a key component in the oasis agro-ecosystem from a food system point of view but also from the ecological and environmental side. Through their aggregated shading effect, dates palm creates the conducive microclimate and livable conditions for a range of living organisms, including, among others, field crops, fruit trees and livestock. Oasis agro-ecosystems and biodiversity thrive thanks to the resilience of date palms to the harsh and adverse climatic conditions.

Signing parties pledged to reaffirm commitment to support countries, local communities and farmers in the region to protect and develop date palm. They called on countries in the region and other stakeholders to develop and implement comprehensive strategies and programmes that support the sustainable development of date palm.

Abdelouahab Zaid (KIADPAI), Gerold Boedeker (FAO) and Ibrahim El Dukheeri, Secretariat of the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development (AOAD) signed the alliance in the presence of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, President of Board of Trustees of KIADPAI, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Abdulmoneim Al-Banna, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt.

FAO and the Arab Organization for the Agricultural Development are working with countries to develop a regional framework that will serve as an umbrella for concerted interventions at local levels. For that, came FAO and AOAD’s alliance with KIADPAI to strengthen further their joint efforts in a fruit of their first intervention at the First International Conference on the Red Palm Weevil, held in FAO’s headquarter in Rome last year.