Minister for Food & Horticulture Trevor Sargent has returned from a five-day fact-finding mission to Ethiopia where some of the Government's €21m contribution to the World Food Programme (WFP) is spent.
He visited a wide range of development and emergency relief projects, which are managed by the Government and Irish Aid partners.
Amongst them were a number of emergency relief operations delivered by the WFP. Ireland is the fourth highest per capita contributor to that UN-run programme.
Minister Sargent said he was very impressed to see the work of the WFP during his stops at food depots and nutritional programmes.
'While I was sobered by witnessing the impact of hunger, I was deeply impressed by the commitment of the people I met at the projects I visited that focus on sustainable agriculture and nutrition,' the Minister said.
Mr Sargent had a meeting with the Ethiopian Minister for Agriculture & Rural Development, Tefera Derbew, and Mituku Kassa, Minister of State with responsibility for Early Warning & Food Security.
He also met Dr Teowolde Birhan Gebre Egziabhur, Head of the Ethiopian Environment Protection Authority.
'We had a stimulating discussion on ensuring the availability of good quality seed and on how organic agriculture can make a significant contribution to food security in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa,' the Minister said.
