FAO workshop promotes quinoa nutritive diet

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in coordination with the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture opened yesterday a two-day  training workshop in Beirut under the patronage of Minister Akram Chehayeb. The event comes as part of the ‘Technical Assistance for Strengthening of the Food Systems of Quinoa in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Mauritania, Sudan and Yemen’ regional program launched by FAO last year in collaboration with the Agricultural Scientific Research Department in Lebanon. The workshop aims at encouraging the exchange of information and successes related to the production of quinoa, as well as discussing and developing plans to expand the scope of its cultivation and use in the beneficiary countries, particularly in Lebanon and Egypt which, according to an FAO statement, have imported 10 tons and 15 tons of quinoa respectively during 2014 to meet the increasing domestic demand. (Al Diyar, October 28, 2015)