Québec City, QC — Luc Harvey, Member of Parliament for Louis-Hébert, today announced on behalf of the Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, that the Canadian International Development Agency would provide $1 million in funding to Université Laval for the project Des arbres et des champs contre la pauvreté au Mali program, which will promote good forestry and land-management practices in Mali.
“The Government of Canada is proud to be Université Laval’s partner in a project that responds so well to Mali’s need to strengthen its agricultural sector, while supporting sustainable development based on protection of the environment,” said Minister Oda. “The project will enable communities in Mali to increase their food security and diversify their economies.”
Through this project, Universté Laval experts in agroforestry will partner with the Institut polytechnique rural de formation et de recherche appliquée de Katibougou in Mali to strengthen the institute’s education programs in agroforestry. In addition, the two partner institutions will promote good land management in five villages, both as an educational opportunity and as a means of demonstrating how planting trees can arrest soil erosion, provide commodities including medicinal products, firewood and fertilizer, and contribute to food production.
“We are happy to be able to work with our colleagues from the Institut to benefit rural families, who make up the bulk of Mali's population," said Alain Olivier, a professor of agroforestry in the faculty of agricultural and food sciences at Laval. “ By building this institution's capacities for teaching, research, and community services in the field of agroforestry, we can help to combat environmental degradation in Mali. At the same time, we can seek to meet the challenge of addressing the food and energy needs of farmers."
The project will strengthen institutions such as the Centre des ressources agroforestières du Sahel nationally and regionally, as part of building a national strategy in forestry and agricultural management, for which the project will serve as a model.
“Putting land management in the hands of Malian institutions and communities is the best way to promote food security, because the people who must make decisions about agroforestry also benefit from sustainable development based on environmental protection,” said Mr. Harvey. “It’s encouraging that Université Laval has proposed an approach that takes into account the interests of farmers, and especially women, who perform most of the agricultural work.”
This support has been provided through the Canadian International Development Agency under the University Partnerships in Cooperation and Development Program, and is administered by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. For more information, please see the attached backgrounder.
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Information:
Véronique Bruneau
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of International Cooperation
Telephone: (819) 953-6238
Media Relations Office
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Telephone: (819) 953-6534
E-mail: info@acdi-cida.gc.ca
Web site: www.cida.gc.ca (electronic version of document)
