20 April 2015, Rome, Italy - Jose Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General and Alberto Mosca, Managing Director of Eataly, Rome, discuss the innovative initiative that enabled a women's cooperative in Ethiopia to market a product made from cactus pear through Eataly in Rome. The project was the result of an FAO partnership with Eataly and supported by the Italian government.
The initiative has supported an Ethiopian women's cooperative in the Tigray region of Ethiopia to produce more than 1,500 kg of cactus pear jam in line with Ethiopian and European food safety standards, packaged in 4,000 jars and currently on sale at Eataly in Rome.
The collaboration has allowed Ethiopian women farmers to access international markets and increase their incomes that will allow using the revenues to expand the output and variety of their production.The support for the cooperative and the development of new agricultural products is part of a larger, broader development initiative undertaken in partnership between FAO and the governments of Ethiopia and Italy, to which the Italian Development Cooperation has provided approximately $9 million in funding support over the past eight years.