G20 Ministers of Agriculture Meeting
Plenary Session 1: Sustainable Agriculture for Food Security and Nutrition
Statement By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
Hyderabad, India, 16 June 2023
Excellences,Dear Colleagues and Friends,Feeding a growing global population by producing more with less will be a great challenge, as both chronic and acute food insecurity have increased.Economic hardship,disruption to the supply chain and conflicts lead to obstacles to food availability, accessibility and affordability.Weather extremes, such as heavy rains, storms, cyclones, flooding and drought, are also significant drivers of food insecurity in all regions.The rising food, fuel and fertilizer prices, as well as the deteriorating purchasing power, have added even more to the challenges.To transform our agrifood systems to become more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, we need to accelerate and intensify actions,boost investments and scientech in agriculture.We also need to simultaneously fight climate change under the Paris Agreement.FAO developed two important strategies over the past two years – the Strategy on Climate Change and the Science and Innovation Strategy – that were endorsed by its 194 Members. Their implementation should get us closer to the Zero Hunger goal.FAO is also hosting the Food Systems Summit Coordination Hub, and, together with the Government of Italy and the UN Secretary General, will be hosting the Food Systems Summit Stock Taking Moment in July to track progress on the needed transformation.We are also developing a roadmap to lower greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural activities to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius target, while enabling the sector to step up to the challenge of eradicating hunger (SDG2) under the COP28 framework – and we are working very closely with the COP28 organizing committee.FAO is working on a state-of-the-art tool to simulate pathways to meet the Zero Hunger and 1.5 degree targets coherently.Achieving Zero Hunger under the 1.5 degrees target will require significant investments, and FAO is working through its Hand-in-Hand Initiative to accelerate investments for the transformation of agrifood systems. We count on your continued support in this regard. The Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum will be held during the World Food Forum taking place during the week of World Food Day from 16 to 20 October 2023.I wish to congratulate the Indian Presidency for its commitment to food security and nutrition, which highlights the importance of an enabling policy,scientech,biodiversity and capacity building, especially in the global south.I thank you for your attention.