Pakistan's agricultural responses to COVID-19 presented to at FAO

Pakistan's agricultural responses to COVID-19 presented to at FAO

Rome (Web Desk) – The informal briefing, chaired by QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), brought together the Rome-based Permanent Representatives of FAO member countries. The briefing focused on FAO’s humanitarian response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and examined best practices and country examples of FAO’s work to help mitigate the pandemic’s damage to people’s lives and livelihoods.

In Pakistan, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is spearheading action to keep the food chains running in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the policy and technical support being provided to the Ministry of National Food Security & Research and provincial governments, FAO is working with the government and other partners to help strengthen resilience by contributing to national efforts to curb the transmission of the virus.

FAO, in particular, is raising awareness amongst rural farming communities in some of the most remote areas across the country where the organization has wide networks and is running parallel campaigns, both online and at the field level, to harness broader networks.

With over 60 percent of the population residing in rural areas, the number of households who derive food and livelihoods from farming make up a significant majority of the population. Together with UN partners and the Government of Pakistan, FAO is helping fill the information gap in rural areas by taking action to ensure effective dissemination of information to those communities that are most vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19.

FAO Representative in Pakistan, Minà Dowlatchahi presented Pakistan’s case on how FAO is managing to continue essential operations in the face of the pandemic focusing on social messaging to farmers, pastoralists and COVID19 risk mitigation.

“FAO in Pakistan has worked closely with the government to assist their delivery of services to vulnerable people in some of the most challenging areas of the country,” said Dowlatchahi. “We will continue to do our utmost to help the people of Pakistan face down the challenges of COVID-19,” she added.

As part of its work in rural communities, FAO is raising awareness regarding the potential impacts of the virus’ spread on food and agriculture, value and supply chains, food prices and food security through various means of communication to support the Government of Pakistan in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finding new ways to deliver knowledge-based facts to local communities

Various digital campaigns are being run across all provinces in Pakistan where FAO is sharing important information with different farmer groups and local communities in an effort to sensitize local communities on the measures that can help protect against COVID-19. FAO teams are conducting regular online awareness sessions with local farmers, agriculture and livestock workers and technicians to help them understand how farmers can help curtail the spread of the virus by adopting practices such as handwashing, physical distancing and other precautions.