invest in local food systems in order to boost rural economies and ensure decent jobs, equitable social safety nets and labour rights, to improve arrangements for democratic scrutiny of access to resources, including farmers’ seeds, and to ensure the effective engagement of small-scale producers in policy processes and implementation; stresses in particular that NAFSN must encourage the establishment of domestic processing industries in the agriculture sector and the improvement of food storage techniques, and must strengthen the lin ...[+++]k between agriculture and trade so as to build local, national and regional markets that benefit family farmers and provide quality food for consumers at accessible prices.

Observes that agricultural investment policies mostly focus on large-scale land acquisitions and on export-oriented agriculture that is usually unrelated to local economies; notes that the development of extensive irrigation in the targeted geographical investment areas of NAFSN may reduce water availability for other users, such as small-scale farmers or pastoralists; stresses that under those circumstances the ability of mega-PPPs to contribute to poverty reduction and food security must be critically assessed and improved; empha ...[+++]sises that agricultural investment policies should be linked to and should support the development of the local economy, including smallholders and family farming; recalls that the FAO Tenure Guidelines recommend secure access to land in order to allow families to produce food for household consumption and to increase household income; stresses the need to base large-scale land-based investment in Africa on these guidelines, ensuring smallholders’ and local communities’ access to land, promoting local SME investment. and ensuring that PPPs contribute to food security and to reducing poverty and inequality.

Indeed, this sector is one of the key foundations of the global economy through its unique role in fostering financial stability, safeguarding savings and fuelling the growth that is essential to the success of the Canadian economy.

More recently, the finance minister announced the creation of an advisory committee on finance to “ensure the availability of financing to Canadian businesses and consumers to support the economy and encourage growth”.

‘Fork to farm’ — food (including seafood), health and well being: Consumer, societal, cultural, industrial and health as well as traditional aspects of food and feed, including behavioural and cognitive sciences; nutrition, diet-related diseases and disorders, including childhood and adult obesity and allergies; nutrition in relation to the prevention of diseases (including increased knowledge of the health bringing compounds and properties of food); innovative food and feed processing technologies (including packaging and technologies from non-food fields); improved quality and safety, both chemical and biological, of food, beverage ...[+++]s and feed; enhanced food safety assurance methodologies; integrity (and control) of the food chain; physical and biological environmental impacts on and of food/feed chains; impact on, and resistance of, food chains to global changes; total food chain concept (including seafood and other food raw materials and components); traceability and its further development; authenticity of food; development of new ingredients and products.

This will enable Afghans to restart their lives and inject cash into the economy and fuel recovery.