March 21, 2012

Arab country members of the Food-Security Improvement Program (FSIP) are requested to raise their grain output by 20% to ensure food self-sufficiency, said Mohamed Solh, Managing-Director of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas.

FSIP in the Arab countries, a project kicked off in 2009 by Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Syria and Sudan, aims to develop grain growing in these countries and spare the exhaustion of their financial resources in cereal importation.

This programme, co-financed by the Islamic Development Bank, started in 2010.

The second meeting held, on Saturday in Tunis, by the coordinator of the programme, in the absence of donors, provided the opportunity to review the results of the 2010/2011 farming season in FSIP member countries and the exchange of experiences and ideas.

The Arab region is the first cereal importer (65 million tonnes in 2010), reminded Solh, calling on these countries' governments, their decision-makers and the fund providers to energise this programme and extend it to more countries.