Iran Agriculture Ministry, FAO to Cooperate in Flood Management

EghtesadOnline: The Agriculture Ministry and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations signed a Technical Cooperation Program document on flood control and forecasting on Wednesday.

News ID: ۷۸۵۱۴۷

21 December 2019

“As per the agreement, FAO will allocate $395,000 for this project over two years, 30% of which will go for purchasing equipment and the rest will be spent on training and knowledge transfer,” Alimorad Akbari, deputy agriculture minister, was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

“Improving food safety in flood-stricken farms is one of the objectives of the program.”

Technical Cooperation Programs are created to enable FAO to make its know-how and technical expertise available to member countries upon request. TCP projects are subject to approval criteria that ensure relevance and sustainability of the assistance provided, while catalyzing results for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, according to Financial Tribune.

Since TCP is part of the organization’s regular program budget, funds for TCP projects come directly from the dues paid by FAO members.

TCP can be used for producing tangible and immediate results with catalytic effect, by supporting institutions, farmer associations and other entities as target beneficiaries. These provide technical inputs such as short-term experts and consultants, short-term practical training, or equipment and supplies related to training.

According to Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi, an official with the Agriculture Ministry, a total of 13,438 billion rials ($104 million) have been paid in compensation to flood-stricken areas of the farming sector from mid-March to Dec. 16.

Iran’s worst flooding in 70 years, which started in mid- March and lasted for a month, killed 76 people, forced more than 220,000 into emergency shelters and caused an estimated $2.5 billion in damage to roads, bridges, homes and farmland.

The floods caused the most destruction in the northern, western and southwestern parts of the country.