FAO participates in International Exhibition of Agriculture and Fishery Resources of Abidjan

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations participated in Côte d'Ivoire’s endeavor for becoming self-sufficient in fisheries resources. The International Exhibition of Agriculture and Fishery Resources of Abidjan (SARA) took place in Abidjan from November 22 to December 1 with the theme ‘Smart Agriculture and Technical Innovation: What Perspectives for African Agriculture?’

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative, Samy Gaiji noted the signing of a partnership agreement for technical cooperation at the international level young job. “We also have other partnerships in the context of inshore fisheries, fishery resources, and forests. We are optimistic for the year 2020. We expect to triple,” Samy Gaiji said on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the fifth edition of SARA. According to him, FAO supports the Ivorian government's priorities, particularly in terms of fisheries resources. This support also covers swine fever and tilapia farming, as Côte d'Ivoire ‘still imports 2/3 of its consumption (of tilapia)’.

Africa is actually far from total food security and the approach is said to be on the good track for the varied themes. “There are still some pretty big challenges. There are still areas in Côte d'Ivoire suffering from malnutrition, where food security is not guaranteed. We are focusing more and more on the north (Ivorian), in the regions that are really in need while trying to enhance value chains in the South. We have participated in SARA because we have more than 33 years of cooperation with Côte d'Ivoire,” he said while commenting on FAO’s participation in SARA 2019.

In terms of participation, 786 companies and organizations in 473 stands exhibited against 718 at the fourth edition in 2017.