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Guinea-Bissau and FAO
Building resilience and sustainable food and nutrition security
The partnership between FAO and Guinea-Bissau has developed steadily over the past 30 years. At the policy level, FAO
has supported the Government in elaborating and implementing a comprehensive set of key agriculture-related policies as
well as programmes covering disaster and food crisis risk management, food and nutrition security, and natural resource
management. Operational assistance has been aimed at boosting agricultural production, productivity and diversification,
targeting small-scale family farmers and, in particular, women and young people. Several emergency and rehabilitation
interventions have been carried out and, increasingly, assistance aims to build resilience to threats and emergencies,
including armed conflict.
CONTACTS
Ana Menezes
FAO Representative a.i. in Guinea-Bissau
FAO Representation,
Bissau Building,
Avenida Francisco Mendes
Bissau
Tel.: +245 3221004 | +245 6897425
E-mail: [email protected]
FAO assistance at the country level focuses on:
Productivity, sustainability and effectiveness of family
farming systems
Resilience and nutrition security for people affected
by threats, climate change, food crises and natural
disasters
Governance of food security, nutrition and natural
resources protection
These three priority areas form the basis of FAO’s Country
Programming Framework (CPF) for Guinea-Bissau. Jointly
developed with the Government and other partners, the
CPF for 2014-2017 is fully aligned with the country’s latest
National Agricultural Investment Programme (PNIA), which was
reviewed with guidance by FAO and approved in December
2013. The Programme includes resilience and disaster risk
management, gender in agriculture, climate change and
nutrition.
3/2016
Conditions for women in Guinea-Bissau are precarious,
and assistance is urgently needed in order to improve
the situation, ensuring effective empowerment of
women and greater well-being for their families.
Although their
“Peace is fundamental to food
women’s activities
security and food security is
have contributed to
improved household
fundamental for keeping peace.”
living standards and
José Graziano da Silva,
FAO Director-General
also to GDP, their level
of production and
productivity remains low for a number of reasons.
Difficulties faced in accessing land, agricultural inputs
and credit are key factors.
So that rural women in Guinea-Bissau can help
promote social cohesion and play a full role as agents
of social change, FAO has launched an initiative
centring on socio-economic empowerment and
capacity development. The objective is to strengthen
capacities to address the effects of climate change
and break the vicious cycle of poverty and food and
nutrition insecurity.
Matching FAO’s expertise to Guinea-Bissau’s
development priorities
©FAO
Strengthening the resilience of rural
women
In line with the strategic plan developed for small-scale
fisheries in 2008, FAO has supported the Government of
Guinea-Bissau in institutional development and technical
capacity building for both public and private stakeholder
– a major objective being to increase participation in
the sustainable and equitable management of fisheries.
This plan and related guidelines have strengthened the
ability of communities to promote the country’s smallscale fisheries and to develop a viable balance between
traditional subsistence fishing and commercial fishing,
while preventing further marginalization and vulnerability
of communities as a result of the modernization process.
Innovation in youth employment to
increase income and reduce poverty
©FAO
High unemployment rates among youth in general and
among disadvantaged young people in particular are a
source of major concern for the country’s authorities. In
order to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged
young people, FAO is cooperating with the Government
with the aim of making agriculture the key point
of economic integration for young people seeking
employment.
An FAO project entitled “Creation of youth employment
opportunities in the agrifood sector via sustainable
aquaculture systems and cassava value chains in West
Africa” is part of a broader initiative in support of the
Government’s strategy for job creation and integration of
young people. The initiative is also aimed at improving
food security for the population in general.
To generate employment opportunities for young people
in the agro-food sector, activities are focused on the
development of sustainable aquaculture systems and
cassava chains – at individual, community and family
levels – including development of young people’s microentrepreneurial expertise.
A partnership for food and nutrition
security
FAO is the lead institution for stakeholders in rural
development, agriculture and food and nutrition security
in Guinea-Bissau. In 2015 the Organization chaired the
Food Security and Nutrition Group (GSAN) which consists
of the government, civil society, UN-system agencies
and Technical and Financial Partners. GSAN is a platform
for discussion of subjects concerning food and nutrition
security strategies and policies, and it helps to improve the
coordination of responses to food and nutrition insecurity in
the country.
Strong support and the close involvement of partners
in FAO’s activities has helped increase understanding,
share knowledge and information, demonstrate FAO’s
comparative advantages and prepare a framework for
mobilizing resources and partnerships for implementation
of the Country Programming Framework.
Challenges
Despite improvements in the political situation, GuineaBissau continues to record food deficits of about 90 000
tonnes on average. Net national food production is
insufficient to cover the country’s food requirements, and
malnutrition and food insecurity have become a structural
constraint in Guinea-Bissau.
Consultations undertaken with bilateral and multilateral
partners reveal common concerns, which could be used to
form the basis for resource mobilization.
The following points emerge as necessary tasks to be
undertaken: (i) carry out an agricultural census of GuineaBissau (RGA); (ii) set up a sustainable system for the
propagation and supply of food seeds; (iii) carry out a forest
survey; iv) develop a commercial agriculture programme
to connect small producers to markets; v) promote youth
employment in rice production value chains; and vi) develop
short-cycle animal husbandry value chains.
Within the framework of the ECOWAS rice initiative in
the subregion, the President of Guinea-Bissau envisions
the production of more rice in the subregion through the
“Rice initiative for Guinea-Bissau”. At the same time, he
has reaffirmed his wish that FAO should act as technical
coordinator in the design and implementation of this
presidential initiative.
©FAO
Supporting sustainable development
and management of small-scale fisheries
products