Remarks by David Lane, U.S. Ambassador tothe UN Food and Agriculture Organizations in Rome, Press Conference, Blantyre, Malawi

The following is an excerpt from U.S. Ambassador David Lane’s remarks at a press conference in Malawi. Read his full remarks on the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome website. 

It’s an exciting time to be focused on food security and an exciting time to be in Malawi, because both President Banda and U.S. President Obama have made food security a top priority. I am pleased that Malawi is a partner in the U.S. Government’s key food security initiative, Feed the Future.  And I believe this is the perfect time to make progress, as we know more about what works in agriculture than we ever have.

Some of the most important themes that have arisen throughout the visit include the critical role of leadership of the government of  Malawi in supporting on-going agricultural development and emergency response. Just as important is that the local communities take the lead in determining what will work intheir own communities, and in taking ownership of the processes. We have also seen that the best projects are those in which the goals of the government of Malawi , the U.S. government, and the international community are in alignment.

Over the past three days, we have visited a variety of sites sponsored by the United States Government through our Feed the Future initiative; the United States Agency for International Development, commonly known as USAID; the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO); the World Food Programme (WFP); and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

This trip has been particularly important, because I have been accompanied by nine journalists. Two are from Europe—one from France and one from Italy, three are from Malawi, with the other four representing Ghana, Niger, Tanzania and Uganda. The U.S. Ambassador to Malawi, Jeanine Jackson, Baton Osmani, Deputy Director of the World Food Programme, and USAID Mission Director Douglass Arbuckle also accompanied me, and shared their insights into both the challenges that Malawi faces and the progress that Malawi is making toward achieving food security.

Some of the programs that we viewed in Malawi are designed to assist people who are suffering from the drought that the country has recently experienced. It is clear that many people, particularly here in the south, need assistance, but the response is encouraging. In addition to providing technical support, USAID is contributing 20 million dollars in assistance, while the World Food Program with the Government of Malawi is on target to serve the nearly 2 million who are currently vulnerable.

For more on Ambassador Lanes’s visit to Malawi, read his blog series.