A/RES/67/228 Agriculture development and food security tackle hunger for the most vulnerable and medium- and long-term sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition; and rural development programmes to eliminate the root causes of hunger and poverty, including through the progressive realization of the right to adequate food; 14. Encourages efforts at all levels to establish and strengthen social protection measures and programmes, including national safety nets and protection programmes for the needy and vulnerable, such as food and cash-for-work, cash transfer and voucher programmes, school feeding programmes and mother-and-child nutrition programmes, and in this regard underlines the importance of increasing investment, capacity-building and systems development; 15. Reaffirms the need to promote a significant expansion of research on food, nutrition and agriculture, extension services, training and education, and their funding, from all sources, to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability in order to strengthen agriculture as a key sector to promote development and to build up resilience to ensure better recovery from crisis and shock, including by strengthening the work of the reformed Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research so as to enhance its development impact, supporting national research systems, public universities and research institutions, and promoting technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, the voluntary sharing of knowledge and practices and research to adapt to and mitigate climate change and improve equitable access to research results and technologies on mutually agreed terms at the national, regional and international levels, while giving due consideration to the preservation of genetic resources; 16. Calls for closing the gender gap in access to productive resources in agriculture, noting with concern that the gender gap persists for many assets, inputs and services, and stresses the need to invest in and strengthen efforts to meet the basic needs of rural women, including needs relating to their food and nutritional security and that of their families, and to promote adequate standards of living for them as well as decent conditions for work and access to local, regional and global markets; 17. Invites Governments and international organizations, in collaboration with cooperatives and cooperative organizations, to promote, as appropriate, the growth of agricultural cooperatives through easy access to affordable finance, the adoption of sustainable production techniques, investment in rural infrastructure and irrigation, strengthened marketing mechanisms and support for the participation of women in economic activities; 18. Remains deeply concerned about the recurring food insecurity in different regions of the world and its ongoing negative impact on health and nutrition, especially in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, and in this regard underlines the urgent need for joint efforts at all levels to respond to the situation in a coherent and effective manner; 19. Welcomes the Global Alliance for Resilience Initiative – Sahel, which aims to promote greater resilience among vulnerable populations in the Sahel by creating greater synergy between emergency actions and long-term strategies aimed at addressing the root causes of food crises, in partnership with the Economic Community of West African States, the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the Permanent Inter-State Committee on Drought Control in the Sahel; 20. Notes the challenges faced by indigenous peoples in the context of food security, and in this regard calls upon States to take special actions to combat the 6/8