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FIVMS initiative to bridge food insecutity gap

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Government will now adopt a Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Mapping System (FIVMS) to bridge the gap of insufficiency in information about food insecurity and vulnerability in Sri Lanka.

The Government through the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI) which comes under the Agriculture Ministry signed the letter of agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recently to make FIVMS a reality in Sri Lanka, a HARTI spokesman told the Daily News.

HARTI Director Prof.M.O.A. de Zoysa and FAO representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Mazlan Jusoh signed the agreement.

The HARTI will function as the focal agency of the FIVMS initiative in Sri Lanka and receiving assistance from an international consultant based in the FAO Regional Office in Thailand.

Jusoh said that following a request of FAO global members, the Japanese Government has agreed as a bilateral donor to fund five countries in the Asian region such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Thailand. The Japanese Government has allocated US$23,000 to HARTI to commence the initial work towards FIVMS. He said accurate and timely information on the incidence, nature and causes of chronic food insecurity and vulnerability is crucial.

National policy makers need it as a part of their effort to formulate and implement policies and programmes to reach World Food Summit goals of reducing the number of undernourished and achieving food security for all.

HARTI Director Prof.M.O.A. de Zoysa said FIVMS is a framework within which a wide range of activities may be carried out both at national and international level in support of improved information to realize these goals.

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