FAO Director-General says digital technology is critical in fighting poverty and advancing agricultural development

15 January 2020, Berlin – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said today digital technology would play a critical role feeding a growing global population and promoting agricultural development in the next decade.

The Director-General was speaking at a side event on digital technology on the first day of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin.

Qu said agriculture – through its link to economic growth, employment, poverty alleviation and the environment - was central to efforts to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

“The reality is a digital world and in the future we won’t have developing and developed countries, we’ll have one digital society, whether we are from Europe, Asia or Africa,” Qu said. “This is an historic moment."

The Director-General stressed that farmers should be given “more access to digital dividends” in their fight against poverty and stressed the need to narrow the digital divide between different countries and regions. Achieving this requires optimizing synergies between a wide range of stakeholders including the sharing of information on best practices and knowledge transfers.

FAO already utilizes digital technologies to exchange innovative ideas aimed at transforming agricultural practices and empowering rural households and young entrepreneurs.

The organization has developed applications, databases and platforms that increase access to useful data, information, maps and statistics.

Around 2,000 participants from politics, industry and science are expected to attend this year’s GFFA conference which is hosted by the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

More than 70 agriculture ministers and high-level representatives of international organizations are also due to meet on the final day of the conference on Saturday.