[{"bbox": [131, 120, 276, 146], "category": "Text", "text": "food insecurity."}, {"bbox": [131, 159, 1101, 392], "category": "Text", "text": "Donor coordination in the country is limited. A Development Partner Forum (DPF) meets regularly to share information on strategies and programmes related to development cooperation, however there is no official link with the Government. At the same time, representatives of Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs as well as line ministries attended some DPF meetings in 2015 and 2016. Several thematic subgroups have been established in the areas of public finance management, water, private sector development, social integration and vocational training. There is no government-led donor coordination mechanism in the agriculture sector given the limited involvement of the partners. There is, however, an informal donor coordination group called Development Partners Agriculture Working Group, chaired by FAO."}, {"bbox": [131, 407, 1101, 539], "category": "Text", "text": "The action can play an important role in facilitating a coordination mechanism in the sector. The preparation of the programme provided a chance to strengthen not only the dialogue with the authorities but also among partners. In this sense, the EU has played an important role in bringing different partners around the same table. There is now the common understanding that a formal coordination mechanism in the sector would bring strong benefits to both national authorities and development partners."}, {"bbox": [131, 563, 370, 589], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 3.3 Cross-cutting issues"}, {"bbox": [131, 602, 757, 628], "category": "Text", "text": "The following cross cutting issues will receive a particular attention:"}, {"bbox": [131, 639, 1101, 849], "category": "Text", "text": "**Gender:** About 70% of rural women in the country are engaged in subsistence agriculture, of whom 56% work as unpaid family workers. In addition, women's traditional role in agriculture is at the postharvest stage, and any expansion in agribusiness activities would create more opportunities for them. The programme will support women in many ways including the choice of beneficiaries for the inclusion in the agriculture technology packages and capacity building activities. The action is expected to generate entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for women, especially women-headed households, in farmer producer organisations, and will provide them with targeted and customised training in technology and business skills. Targeted outreach activities will be organised specifically for women."}, {"bbox": [131, 861, 1101, 1150], "category": "Text", "text": "**Environment:** the impact of agriculture on the environment has been neglected by previous policies. Heavy use of pesticides has jeopardised the quality of water and could be one of the underlying causes of a widespread kidney disease of an unknown origin. Also, the use of water for irrigation is not regulated leading to important losses and waste. The programme will introduce the approach of climate smart agriculture and will support the scaling up of environmentally-friendly techniques. From the WB perspective, the project is classified as an Environmental category B which means that it is expected to bring positive environmental benefits to project areas through the introduction and expansion of technology applications that help improve cropping patterns and farming methods, increase efficiency in the management of water resources, protect agriculture soils and roll out integrated pest management. Also, an environmental assessment and management framework has been prepared to guide the screening and selection of the technology packages from an environmental perspective."}, {"bbox": [131, 1162, 1101, 1320], "category": "Text", "text": "**Climate change adaptation:** The inconsistent rainfall patterns together with the increase in climatic extremes and warming, pose the requirement of continuing research efforts in the feasible adaptation approaches and practices. The programme will facilitate knowledge sharing on best practices and the introduction and scaling up of climate resilient productive patterns. The beneficiaries and the main agricultural institutions will be empowered to adapt new technologies and practices. The programme will align with the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy which has still not been implemented on the ground explicitly."}, {"bbox": [131, 1331, 1101, 1620], "category": "Text", "text": "**Nutrition:** Nutrition is the only MDG not met, disparities are very important across the country and the reasons are not always easily detected. While the programme does not aim to fund specific activities on nutrition it will support the diversification of the agriculture products and empower the local communities and farmers who are the most vulnerable in terms of nutritional intakes. Also, it will empower the Government by developing its analytical and research capacities thus contributing to develop better local knowledge on nutrition. The action will not have specific nutrition interventions. However, the EU and FAO are working in bringing the FIRST and INFORMED initiatives to Sri Lanka and support will be provided in parallel to improve the capacity of the Government to deal with Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture. Supporting integrated soil fertility management with more sustainable use of agriculture inputs (fertilisers, seeds) and adequate training and advisory support on agro-ecological approaches will directly support the food security and nutrition situation in the country."}, {"bbox": [605, 1696, 629, 1719], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "10"}]