Yemen marks World Food Day

SANA'A, Oct. 18 (Saba)- Ministry of Agriculture and
Irrigation organized on Sunday a ceremony in cooperation with the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization
(FAO) on World Food Day and rural woman.

In the ceremony, the minister of agriculture and irrigation Mansor al-Haoshabi
delivered a speech in which he affirmed importance of the agricultural sector to
insure food
security, pointing out to the climate changes in the country last year, which
impacted negatively on the agricultural production.
He added that around 75 percent of rural population depends on agricultural sector
that contributes between 18% to 20% of Gross Domestic Product of the nation.
The minister also reviewed different activities of the ministry to raise the
agricultural sector, calling for gathering efforts to achieve a real agricultural
development
to enhance efforts of the comprehensive development in the country.
UNDP resident representative to Yemen Pratibha Mehta read out a letter of the FAO
Director General on this occasion in which the director pointed out to the
international
efforts to achieve the food security.
The letter said that more than 1 billion persons were suffering from the
malnutrition, affirming needs for urgent solutions to face crisis of the food
security.
Some 100 academicians and specialists in field of agriculture attended the ceremony.
AH