Four key areas of action to promote agrifood systems transformation in least developed countries

Rome/New York – The Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today highlighted four key areas for efforts to foster agrifood systems transformation in least developed countries (LDCs) at a high-level special event on how to speed up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the LDCs.

The four key areas are: (i) Improving productivity, social inclusion, resilience and sustainability; (ii) strengthening trade linkages; (iii) accelerating investments in both physical infrastructure and human capital; and (iv) innovation in technology, know-how and institutions.

“The escape from extreme poverty and vulnerability for the LDCs passes through agrifood systems transformation, which creates the conditions for industrialization, the expansion of trade and investment, and the growth of services and urbanization,” Qu said during a panel discussion focusing on assuring a robust and resilient recovery from the ongoing crises and building synergy and coherence to support the Doha Programme of Action.

The event was co-convened by the President of the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the  President of the UN General Assembly. Participants includedAmina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General; senior government ministers from Malawi and Qatar, and a host of diplomats and representatives from the private sector as well as from around the UN system.

The 46 LDCs, with inherent structural impediments and fiscal constraints, are facing the major brunt of the devastations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions including conflicts, as well as inflation, rising interest rates and debt burdens, which all combined have wiped out a decade of their development progress.

LDCs are particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis, environmental and natural resource degradation, biodiversity loss, economic downturns, volatile prices for food, fertilizer and energy, as well as conflict, FAO’s Director-General said.

“We need more ambitious and more effective action on to prevent a deeper crisis tomorrow,” he added, calling for “a very significant step-up in the scale and pace of investment and trade.”

FAO’s work

FAO is deeply engaged with the challenge through its flagship Hand-in-Hand Initiative, where most of the participating countries are LDCs, and many presented investment opportunities at the recent Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum organized and hosted by FAO.

“We are seeing that many Governments are building their new development plans on a sound foundation of ambitious agrifood systems transformation,” Qu said. “And we are beginning to see that the innovations – and the investments – that are needed can be supplied through new larger-scale, multi-stakeholder, territory-based collaborations.”

The Director-General urged the sciences of agrifood systems to become more open and accountable, and for upscaling efforts to make knowledge, data and information more accessible and useful for all countries, especially the LDCs.

He noted that FAO, with many public and private partners around the globe, is spearheading collective work to achieve impacts on the ground. FAO has built – and continues to expand – a new geospatial platform that “provides all countries with access to millions of data layers and a growing library of tools to develop actionable knowledge for policy innovation and investment,” Qu said.

Modern life is increasing our interdependence, mutual vulnerability and complexity, making it imperative to find a “new social contract to guide and sustain our common life and our shared planet,” he said.

Ensuring the universal right to availability, accessibility and affordability of food for all requires more collective vision and commitment, he said, calling for a stronger focus on connecting people and actions.

Qu concluded his remarks with an expression of condolence for the people suffering in the aftermath of earthquake in Syria and Türkiye.