UN, EC help upgrade Ethiopia's food security information system

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Delegation of the European Commission (EC) to Ethiopian on Wednesday signed a two-million-euro (2.63 million U.S. dollars) agreement to strengthen the food security information systems in Ethiopia.

The agreement was part of the financing agreement previously signed between the EC and the Ethiopian government.

The purpose of the project is also to provide more precise information and analysis to help find the best way to support production systems in various areas of the country, better prices for producers' agriculture surplus without consumers, said a press release from the EC delegation to Ethiopian.

It makes better use of information on production, prices and food consumption to ensure that the productive safety net program is most effective, the press release added.

The project, jointly designed by the Ethiopian government, the EC and FAO, will receive specialized technical assistance from FAO, it said.

"The EC, FAO and others are working closely with the Ethiopian government and other stakeholders to upgrade food security information systems. This provides vital data for accessing to determine the right responses," said Tim Clarke, head of the EC delegation to Ethiopia.

"More fundamentally, food production and agricultural income are the main determinants of food security at the household level. The government and its partners have, therefore, wanted to sharpen the effectiveness of information collection and analysis of information systems in this strategic area, focusing on improving the accuracy and timeliness of agricultural production statistics and using better data for improved analysis of food security," he said.

Source: Xinhua