IICA joins “1billionhungry” campaign to eradicate hunger
San Jose, Costa Rica, September 20, 2010 (IICA). The Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Victor M. Villalobos, appealed for support of the 1billionhungry campaign, which seeks to put pressure on politicians to support immediate actions aimed at eradicating hunger from the face of the Earth.
The 1billionhungry campaign is being spearheaded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Its goal is to collect at least one million signatures in support of this campaign, which will be presented to the representatives of the member countries of the FAO Council at a meeting to be held from November 29 to December 3 of this year.
Villalobos made this appeal for support in response to an invitation from FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jose Graziano Da Silva. “IICA is committed to food security. To guarantee the availability of and access to food requires immediate action on the part of governments, such as promoting efforts to make agriculture competitive and sustainable,” said Villalobos.
IICA’s personnel and partners in its 34 Member States have been invited to sign the on-line petition and publicize the initiative, given the weight it carries in political spheres.
The slogan of the campaign “1,000,000,000 people live in chronic hunger and I’m mad as hell” expresses the sentiments of those who have signed the petition, which total some 800,000 to date.
The 1billionhungry project was launched worldwide on May 11 of this year. Since then a number of organizations have joined the campaign, encouraging all interested parties to sign the petition on line or on paper.
For more information, contact