The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is carrying out 36 cooperation projects in Cuba, 11 of which were signed recently, said FAO representative Marcio Porto in an interview here Friday. 

The small projects are estimated at 10,000 dollars and the big ones reach a greater value, said Porto in a press conference at the FAO office in Havana, on the occasion of the World Food Day to be held on October 16. 

Porto said that the most important thing is not the financial remnant but the efficient use of the money, and the results. 

He noted the importance of the 36 programs and said that eight of them are related to forestry activities and food security, and nine involve cooperative production, among other objectives. 

Porto also highlighted Cuba's support for South-South cooperation by FAO, being the only Latin American country supplying human resources for such a purpose. 

The FAO representative mentioned the support to African countries such as Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, among others, and pointed out that the aim is to raise people's awareness in the world to contribute to erradicating hunger. 

Also present at the news conference were the World Food Program representative in Cuba Sonsoles Ruedas and Jose A. Quintero, and officials from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX). 

This is the main challenge faced by the whole planet, where more than 1.2 billion people are starving.

Quintero recognized FAO's support for food production in Cuba and the world, and praised the UN agency's good relations with Cuba. 

He pointed out that FAO has given financial support to create an agricultural research center and to acquire irrigation systems that will benefit certain areas and crops.