World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Members of agricultural cooperatives, governmental institutions, international organizations, universities and the private sector took part in the IV Food Security Fair “Agricultural Cooperatives Feed the World”, in which a great variety of agricultural products were presented and sold.

The fair was organized by the Ministry of Family and Community Economy, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). In the photo, young men and women from the San Isidro comarca in Managua display the products they prepare from corn they grow with the support of the Fabretto Children´s Foundation.

“In this fair we expose the many joint efforts we carry out in the country to comply with the policies and regulations regarding food and nutritional security and sovereignty, to eradicate hunger, undernutrition and poverty,” said the Minister of Family, Community Cooperative and Associative Economy, Pedro Haslam Mendoza, during the opening ceremony.

The Food Security Fair is a space for the promotion and sale of agricultural, fish and food products. It also allows the sharing of information and awareness on the issues of hunger, undernutrition, the impact of climate change and nutritional food security. Juan José Guevara from the Santiago Baldovino Agricultural Institute of the municipality of Muy Muy, Matagalpa, in the northern part of the country, saw a great demand of eggs produced in his farm.

Folkloric dances, marimbas (percussion instruments) and Nicaraguan singer-songwriters were part of the fair, cheering up the attendants and inviting the population to visit the modules installed by associates from the 50 cooperatives throughout the country.

WFP was greatly involved in the organization of the Food Security Fair, which had a stand presenting information about the cooperation programme between WFP and the Government of Nicaragua. 

There are 4,423 cooperatives in Nicaragua, in which more than 220,000 families participate. Sixty percent of them are oriented to the production of foods like corn, rice, sorghum, beans, meat, milk and cheese. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (MAGFOR), Ariel Bucardo, talks with the women of the Federation of Rural Cooperatives about the production of tomatoes.

WFP, through the “Purchase for Progress-P4P” Project, works with nine organizations of producers of basic grain from the department of Nueva Segovia, with the objective of linking small farmers to markets that pay decent and fair prices. This way they improve their competitiveness as commercial agents.