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FAO chief bats for urgent transformation of agrifood systems
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IANS | 19 May, 2022
Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, has made an urgent call for the transformation
of agrifood systems, to make them more inclusive, economically viable
and resilient to multiple shocks, as well as to produce better and more
with less negative impact on the environment.
Qu was
addressing a ministerial meeting held on Wednesday at the United Nations
in New York entitled "Global Food Security Call to Action."
Cumulative
effects of multiple shocks related to conflicts, the climate crisis,
the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, rising food prices have
increased people's vulnerability and pushed hundreds of millions of more
people to the brink of hunger, the Director-General said.
According
to the Global Report on Food Crisis released earlier this month, 193
million people were acutely food insecure and in need of urgent
assistance across 53 countries and territories in 2021.
Projections
point to around 329,000 people reaching catastrophic food insecurity
(IPC 5) in Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen by the end of 2022.
Malnutrition
rates have also increased, with millions of children suffering from
stunting or wasting whereas a healthy diet is out of reach for three
billion people, according to the FAO's State of Food Security and
Nutrition Report 2021.
Moreover, the budgets of governments and
consumers have been squeezed tighter and countries' income per capita
has shrunk, creating a cumulative loss to the global economy of more
than $12 trillion over two years (2020-21), the Director-General said,
expressing concern over the lack of progress on the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
Noting that in March 2022 the FAO Food
Price Index reached its highest level since its inception in 1990, Qu
warned about the cascading impact of the war in Ukraine that could
further exacerbate global food prices since Russia and Ukraine are
dominant players in highly concentrated global grain markets.
Additionally,
the Russian Federation is one of the top exporters in the world of
fertilizers, he added, pointing out that the next planting season of
countries which are import dependent on the Russian Federation could be
at risk.
"Time is short, and the situation is dire," the
Director-General said, outlining the path to successful transformation
of agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient and
sustainable.
"First, we must scale up emergency agricultural
assistance," he said. "Currently only eight per cent of all food
security funding in emergencies goes to assist agricultural production,"
he noted, emphasising that investing in agriculture and rural
livelihoods is strategic, and seven to 10 times more cost-effective than
traditional assistance.
FAO seeks $1.5 billion to support 50 million people in 2022 with urgent agricultural interventions to address acute hunger.
Second,
it is vital to invest in agrifood systems as well as hard
infrastructure (roads, irrigation, electrification and digital) and
value chain infrastructure (storage facilities, cooling facilities,
banking infrastructure and insurance infrastructure).
Growth in
the agriculture sector is a sure-fire way to cut poverty and hunger in
many middle- to low-income countries, the Director-General said.
Third, science and innovation must be prioritized to revamp agrifood systems.
The
Director-General highlighted the role of cutting-edge innovations in
agriculture, such as new breeding techniques to boost crop yields,
desired traits, and climate resilience, as well as digital agriculture
that can significantly reduce market failures in agriculture and improve
the functioning of the agricultural markets.
Fourth, the world
must reduce food loss and waste, Qu said. Currently, the high amounts of
food loss and waste could feed around 1.26 billion people per year.
"If
we reduce food loss and waste by 50 per cent, there would be sufficient
fruits and vegetables available in the food supply to cover the
recommended amount of fruits and vegetables per person per day," the
Director-General said, underling that food loss and waste also results
in a huge negative impact on the environment.
The
ministerial-level meeting brought together foreign ministers from
approximately 30 regionally diverse countries to review the urgent
humanitarian and development needs and identify steps to address global
food security, nutrition, and resilience.
It was chaired by the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
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