Agriculture is of great importance and unprecedented vitality as it represents a bridge between environmental protection, economic growth and social stability. It is the pulse of life that enhances the strength of our planet and constitutes an ideal platform for achieving a more prosperous and sustainable future, thus reflecting the vital basis for sustainable development.
In the midst of environmental challenges and changes facing our contemporary world, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development continues its efforts to support agricultural innovations by contributing to the implementation of sustainable environmental projects around the world.
Agriculture: the cornerstone of sustainable development
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals highlights the importance of agriculture as a fundamental pillar of the health and prosperity of our planet. In addition to its ability to provide food, sustainable agriculture is an effective tool in reducing poverty, protecting biodiversity, and mitigating climate change. In view of the recent exacerbation of negative environmental effects such as pollution and water scarcity due to unsustainable traditional agricultural practices such as deforestation and soil erosion, the need has become more urgent than ever to shift towards sustainable agriculture that achieves a balance between green growth and food production.
Kuwait Fund: supportive of sustainable agriculture
In the face of these pressing challenges, The Kuwait Fund For Arab Economic Development is committed to promoting green agriculture efforts throughout the developing world. This commitment is evident in the Fund’s objectives and its various development projects, which include financing agricultural infrastructure, initiatives aimed at capacity building for farmers, and support for innovative agricultural technology solutions.
The financing of the Mahaweli Ganga River Development Project in Sri Lanka is a prime example of the global reach of the Kuwait Fund.
The project spans over 65,000 hectares and focuses on lowland rice cultivation and human settlement. The project has significantly contributed to enhancing food security in Sri Lanka and increasing annual food production, including 0.25 million tons of rice, 1.5 million litres of fresh milk, and 0.150 million tons of various food crops. About 130,000 families benefited from this project and also provided basic social infrastructure facilities.
In addition, the project reinforces the Kuwait Fund’s commitment to preserving the environment, by establishing national reserves and conserving 260,000 hectares of land. The Fund’s contribution, amounting to about KWD 14 million, confirms its continued commitment to promoting sustainable agriculture and improving the well-being of communities around the world.
Pioneering Partnership: Grant agreement between the Kuwait Fund and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme
The Kuwait Fund recently took an important step towards mitigating environmental imbalances by signing a partnership agreement with the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN HABITAT), whereby it contributed KWD 4 million (equivalent to USD 13.2 million) to finance the project Adaptation and Resilience to Sand and Dust Storms, happening cross-border between Iraq and Kuwait, which is administered by the UN Habitat.
This bilateral cooperation reflects the Kuwait Fund’s commitment to facing pressing environmental challenges in the region, as the project seeks to identify and mitigate the causes of sand and dust storms, which include climatic and geological factors, and to mitigate their negative impacts on public health and economies in the affected areas.
This project mainly aims to reduce the frequency and intensity of these storms in the governorates of Muthanna and Dhi Qar in Iraq, which contribute to about 40% of the total sand and dust that falls on Kuwait. The results of this project are expected to constitute a robust methodology that can be applied to mitigate similar environmental phenomena around the world. The project is in line with the pursuit of key sustainable development goals, including creating sustainable cities and communities, promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, and strengthening global partnerships.
The proactive approach: building resilience
The impact of the projects funded by the Kuwaiti Fund can be seen clearly in the regions of Al Haouz and Tassawant in Morocco, where the Fund played a key role in the agricultural irrigation project in rural areas, which is in line with the Kingdom’s goal of self-reliance in terms of food security, while at the same time, it works to improve the lives of the local rural population, which consists of about 10,000 families.
The project has effectively used water resources to develop around 59,000 hectares of land, while shifting the agricultural focus towards a variety of crops, fruits, and fodder production. The main strategy was to intensify production, with an estimated agricultural intensity of about 130%.
This transformation depends on the introduction of modern farming practices, including mechanization, improved soil fertilization, and contemporary irrigation techniques. This transformation is accompanied by training programs aimed at enhancing the skills of the local farming community and improving basic infrastructure, leading the region towards agricultural prosperity.
The Kuwait Fund’s contribution to this vital project amounted to about KWD 19.5 million, which indicates its great commitment to promoting sustainable agricultural practices and raising the level of societies in the Arab region. The success of this initiative in Morocco is considered an inspiring model for agricultural development and community empowerment, something that the Kuwait Fund seeks to replicate throughout the Arab world.
Empowering Communities
One of the most important sources of life is agriculture and green spaces, as it is the basis for food production and the operation of societies in addition to highlighting environmental beauty.
The Kuwait Fund For Arab Economic Development seeks to be a partner in progress and development and contributes through its social responsibilities and economic insight to achieving global stability and sustainable investment. This responsibility does not only build cooperative relations for the Fund, but on the contrary, it makes the Fund an entity with global influence through which it enhances the status of the State of Kuwait in the international community.
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