Workshop: Transforming Agriculture for Implementing the SGDs in Sudan
By: FAO Sudan Representative, Mr. Babagana Ahmadu
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you today to this important workshop
Transforming Agriculture for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in Sudan
Distinguished guests let me start with reminding you that
On 25 September 2015, the 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 aspirational objectives with 169 targets expected to guide actions of governments, international agencies, civil society and other institutions over the next 15 years (2016- 2030).
The ambitious Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are new global framework that succeeded the Millennium Development Goals on 1 January 2016. The SDGs will shape national development plans over the next 15 years. From ending poverty and hunger to responding to climate change and sustaining natural resources, food and agriculture lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda. It is a global vision for people, for the planet and for long-term prosperity.
The SDGs are the first Member State-led global development push in history, laying out specific objectives for countries to meet by a given timeframe with achievements monitored periodically to measure progress. Defined, devised and fully owned by countries after the broadest and most intensive global multi-stakeholder consultation in history, the 2030 Agenda is moving into action.
I am happy to say that Sudan was active member in the negotiations of Post 2015 Development Agenda. Sudan has also formulated a National Mechanism chaired by the first Vice President of the Republic of Sudan to track the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the country. 
Distinguished guests,
The 17 SDGs aim at ending poverty and hunger while restoring and sustainably managing natural resources. They integrate the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – with closely interwoven targets.
The SDGs are indivisible – no one goal is separate from the others, and all call for comprehensive and participatory approaches. And they are universal – the 2030 Agenda is as relevant to developed as it is to developing nations.
As the focal point of the SDGs, the representative from National Council for Population and development said, to achieve the global transition to sustainable development, Sudan is now establishing an enabling environment ? policies, institutions, governance ?grounded in a sound evidence-base.

FAO SUPPORT

As specialized UN agency, FAO’s wide-ranging capacities, long experience working with the government, development actors and unique expertise in the three dimensions of sustainable development, can assist Sudan implement the 2030 Agenda. With a broad mandate cutting across multiple SDGs, FAO has strong comparative advantages in its capacity to assist Sudan meet the new monitoring challenges.
Our strategic framework is broadly aligned with the SDGs, promoting an integrated approach to poverty and hunger eradication, and sustainable management of natural resources. We are doing sustainable development, and are ready to align our work to better serve Sudan.
Food and agriculture are key to achieving the entire set of SDGs.
The 2030 Agenda recognizes that we can no longer look at food, livelihoods and the management of natural resources separately. A focus on rural development and investment in agriculture - crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture – are powerful tools to end poverty and hunger, and bring about sustainable development. Agriculture has a major role to play in combating climate change.
Distinguished guests, the agriculture sector is the most important economic sector in Sudan. The battle to end hunger and poverty must be principally fought in rural areas. With a wealth of natural resources, especially fertile soil and water, The Sudan’s comparative advantage is in Agriculture. Transformation of the agriculture sector, through increasing productivity, adding values to agriculture production and targeting investment in exportable agriculture goods, will accelerate the implementation of the SDGs in The Sudan. Especially poverty alleviation, fighting hunger and malnutrition, providing decent work, increasing economic growth, addressing inequality, among others, are areas where tangible progress can be made within the short SDGs period to 2030. 
FAO has supported the National Agriculture Investment Plan 2017-2020, which is a national strategy for transforming the agriculture sector through allocating a minimum of 10% of the Government budget to agriculture, and achieving a 6% annual growth in Agriculture GDP.
Distinguished guests, the success of the SDGs rests to a large extent on new and effective ways of collecting data and measuring progress. A global indicator framework comprising a proposed 230 indicators to monitor the 169 targets is the foundation of the SDGs’ accountability structure. The sheer weight of indicators, however, represents an immense challenge for countries. Four times greater in number than for the MDGs, each indicator is also set to be disaggregated by gender, age, income, geography, occupation etc. to reflect the 2030 Agenda’s guiding principle of “leaving no one behind”.
FAO has been supporting the Central Bureau of Statistics for decades and we will continue to do that.
Together with strengthening statistical measures for hunger, malnutrition and agriculture, FAO is embracing innovation that will transform the speed and accuracy of data collection, striking new partnerships as part of a long-term investment.
FAO already works hand-in-hand with the government of Sudan, small producers, the private sector and other key actors in food security and sustainable development in projects and programmes. We will continue to support the government in achieving the SDGs goal.
Distinguished guests,
I am looking forward to listening and discussing with you how we can bring Sudan closer to SDGs.
I hope we can move forward and draft a road map together for implementing of the Sustainable Development Goals for Sudan.