FAO Director-General calls for an innovative approach to transform food systems affected by COVID-19 pandemic

7 July 2020, Rome/New York - The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, QU Dongyu, said today the damaging impact of the COVID-19 pandemic called for a global effort to transform food systems and make them more equitable and resilient.

The Director-General was addressing a virtual event on the pandemic convened by the UN’s Economic and Social Council in New York.

“We are in a moment of great danger, but it is also a moment of historic opportunity,” Qu said.  

The Director-General reiterated that before the pandemic struck, more than 2 billion people did not have regular access to sufficient and nutritious food.   He noted that some 704 million people went to bed hungry, including 135 million who were on the brink of starvation. 

He stressed that we must work hard to prevent COVID-19’s damaging effects on food security and nutrition.

Qu said the world had not yet seen the worst impact of the pandemic but indicated that COVID-19, combined with the Desert Locust upsurge and the Fall Armyworm, had been very damaging for the world’s most vulnerable.

Earlier the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, told the meeting that COVID-19 had exposed structural inequalities that were a question of life and death for many and strong action was needed to assist those worst affected.

In his address, Qu emphasized that food systems directly employ over 1.5 billion people and the pandemic could wipe out 35 percent of jobs in rural areas.

The Director-General indicated FAO was well positioned to offer technology and other expertise. He noted that FAO had recently moved to set up an office dedicated to assisting Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries.  

He also said the agency was ready to work with international partners through FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative, a programme that brings together countries with the highest poverty and hunger rates with donor partners to support development and improve agricultural potential.

Qu pointed out new investment, digital technology and infrastructure were essential to lift productivity and called for more to be done to reduce food loss and waste.  He also drew attention to the Food Systems Summit in 2021 which he said could play a catalytic role to transform food systems in an environmentally friendly manner.

“We can produce more and better,” he stated, noting that improvements can be made to more efficiently use water and land.

In his concluding remarks, the Director-General underlined the importance of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which are designed to keep people, partnerships and prosperity in focus for the future of the planet.