The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), QU Dongyu, met with the Cabinet Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock Development Mithika Linturi on Monday at Kilimo House.
The meeting occurred during Qu’s official visit to the country, where he discussed various issues related to food security and agricultural development.
Linturi appreciated FAO’s technical assistance, resource mobilization, capacity development, and knowledge management in supporting his office.
He mentioned how FAO helped them to respond and manage the Desert Locust and the Fall Armyworm outbreaks, as well as other actions related to plant protection.
“My ministry in collaboration with FAO will set up a desert locust information processing command center at Kabete and also cooperate in the development of invasive and migratory pests strategy.”
Qu congratulated Linturi for his recent appointment and expressed his interest in working closely with his team through FAO’s technical divisions and personnel.
He praised Kenya’s work on land registration and data and offered FAO’s support in setting appropriate indicators for Early Warnings Systems. He also said that FAO could help them to build a reliable data tool suited to their needs.
“FAO is committed to supporting you to have a comprehensive investment plan that will allow you to transform your agrifood systems, create value and transform the sector”, Qu said.
Qu also informed Linturi about his proposal for establishing a tropical/subtropical agriculture network of technical excellency among FAO and institutions from India, Brazil, the United States and China.
He said this network could support countries like Kenya facing similar climatic challenges. He also reassured Linturi that the FAO-International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Center could help them to build their capacities in disease control surveillance mapping.
