Tannuka Juneja
The World Food Programme (WFP) has hailed Odisha’s transformational progress in food security and sustainable livelihoods by touching the lives of millions of people, especially the marginalised and women, and is set to present it as a model for other countries.
At a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who on June 24 visited the WFP headquarters in Rome and shared the work done by the State government on strengthening livelihood and food security, its Executive Director David Beasley said the success story of Odisha can provide learning insights for other similarly placed countries.
“We have discussed, today, that the Odisha government and WFP will collaborate to take forward this learning experience and provide a global training platform,” he stated. Addressing a function at WFP, Naveen said that by attaining food sufficiency and initiating large-scale development programmes designed for creating climate-resilient livelihood and nutrition, Odisha is moving consistently towards sustainable development goals (SDGs) and inclusive development. The Chief Minister lauded the partnership with WFP on several fronts which have not only been effective in the State but have also been scaled up nationally.
The Chief Minister thanked Beasley for praising Orissa’s transformational work in disaster management, food production and food security. They also exchanged views on existing partnerships and programs with which they have collaborated with the state government and provided a joint zero hunger program of WFP India. Welcoming the Chief Minister, the Executive Director of WFP said the common goal of strengthening livelihoods and food security in Odisha is to work with a series of ambitious projects to support inclusive growth and new economic opportunities, in particular for women.
“It is exciting to see how the collaboration is helping to drive Odisha’s progress towards achieving Zero Hunger and the other UN SDGs,” he said.
WFP and the government of Orissa signed four partnership agreements and launched six new projects in 2021.
