DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has pledged to support Tanzania in the implementation of a program aimed at widening youth engagement in agriculture, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement Thursday.
The statement said FAO director-general Qu Dongyu made the pledge Wednesday when he held talks with Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on the sidelines of the World Food Forum in Rome, Italy.
Qu said FAO had been impressed with the Tanzanian government's "Building a Better Tomorrow" program that seeks to allocate selected youth 10 acres (about 4.05 hectares) of land each for farming activities, which they will end up owning. "FAO will support this program that aims at empowering youth and women in the agricultural sector," said the FAO chief.
Majaliwa said the "Building a Better Tomorrow" program was intended to facilitate youth and women's access to agricultural land, technology, finance, and linkages to markets.
The program is implemented under a public-private partnership through a block farming model, said Majaliwa, adding that the program will create more than 1.5 million employees while contributing to food system resilience. ■