Freetown - Sierra Leone, FAO and Viet Nam today signed a South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) agreement aimed at developing the rice sector in the African country. The new project has an estimated budget of $5 million to be implemented through a Unilateral Trust Fund (UTF) from Sierra Leone.
The tripartite agreement was signed by His Excellency Abu Bakarr Karim, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security of Sierra Leone, and by Saeed Abubakar Bancie, FAO Representative in Sierra Leone.
Minister Abu Bakarr Karim commended Viet Nam for its commitment to providing technical assistance through FAO South-South Cooperation, emphasizing the invaluable role it will play in Sierra Leone's agricultural landscape.
The new tripartite project will support diverse actors to increase productivity and production of rice through increased access to improved technologies and upscaling of best practices along the rice value chain.
Over the course of a four-year project, Viet Nam will provide its expertise in rice-value-chain development to Sierra Leone.
Skilled experts and technicians specialized in rice production, irrigation, rice breeding, mechanization, and post-harvest management will be deployed to various national sites, including research stations. Additionally, capacity-building initiatives such as study tours, field training, and training of trainers will be implemented to empower local stakeholders.
This new tripartite agreement is part of FAO's strong commitment to broaden its partnership base with diverse groups of countries through South-South and Triangular Cooperation and the mobilization. The countries in the Global South are increasingly recognizing SSTC as one of the most efficient delivery modalities addressing their needs.
Spearheading and mainstreaming South-South and Triangular Cooperation
Since 1996, FAO has been working at central and decentralized levels to promote SSTC amongst its Member States as a means to reduce poverty and hunger, while promoting sustainable agrifood systems.
The SSTC Guidelines for Action, a key tool to scale up SSTC technical and financial partnerships in support of agrifood systems transformation, is one of the many ways in which FAO is spearheading and mainstreaming SSTC.
FAO's South-South Cooperation endeavors to facilitate the exchange and transfer of agricultural knowledge and expertise among developing countries. By leveraging proven innovations and best practices from the global South, countries grappling with similar challenges can benefit from these collaborative efforts.
With regards to the development of the rice sector in African countries in particular, FAO has supported, through SSC, major rice-producing countries such as Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda to address the challenges facing their rice value chains.
Through country-level capacity-building, regional knowledge exchange events and study tours, FAO has extensively facilitated the sharing of good practices, lessons learned and the dissemination of analysis on rice value chains. In carrying out these functions, FAO has established strong partnerships with institutions such as the Africa Rice Centre (AfricaRice) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), bringing their expertise to the benefit of target beneficiaries.
