Monique Hepburn, News Editor
WESTERN BUREAU:
DR. DUNSTAN Campbell, director general of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that while more than 850 million people worldwide remain hungry, world leaders must move swiftly to promote intercultural dialogue to stave off hunger and environmental degradation in their respective countries.
"Lessons are to be learned by other cultures that are striving to feed growing populations, while sustaining resources on which future generations will depend for sustenance," said Dr. Campbell.
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He was speaking yesterday at the FAO's World Food Day celebrations at the St. Mary's Anglican Church in Montpelier St. James. Scores of agricultural experts from various agencies including the Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA), the Forestry Department and the agri-processing Department of the Ebony Park HEART Academy were on hand to showcase their products and services.
World Food Day is celebrated annually and this year's theme is "Agriculture and Intercultural Dialogue."
"Intercultural dialogue in the broadest sense occurs every time people from different cultures meet and listen to one another's point of view," said Dr. Campbell. "It occurs every time an expert from one culture shows an expert from another, something new in the laboratory or in the field - and gets feedback on its appropriateness in the local setting."
"At the World Food Summit held in Rome in 1996 and again in 2002, leaders vowed to reduce that number by half in 2015. Moreover, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals commit world leaders to reduce the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by half by 2015, while ensuring environmental sustainability."
Dr. Campbell told The Gleaner that the FAO has clear objectives for sustainable agricultural development and the facilitation of linkages with other sectors in the economy. This he says will be done through the promotion of classic Jamaican products.
"We want to bring together all the products of Jamaica that we consider icons of Jamaica both locally and internationally, so that people will know what is Jamaica," he stated. "I knew about the Yam Festival when I was in Brussels. People come to experience what they have heard about and then that link between agriculture and tourism is created.
