Transforming food systems towards sustainable development

7 July 2020, Rome/New York – The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, highlighted the importance of transforming food systems to make them more sustainable during his participation in a panel on Ending hunger and achieving food security promoted by the High Level Political Forum 2020.

“Current production and consumption patterns are not sustainable. We must change,” Qu said.

He added that these “changes must happen in three interconnected ways,” including changing the way food is produced, processed and distributed along the value chain; changing dietary patterns towards healthy diets, and reducing inequalities and ensuring access to healthy diets for all.

A successful “food system transformation needs to address the root causes of hunger, food insecurity, inequality and unsustainable management of natural resources, including biodiversity, all at the same time,” Qu said.

The Director-General also highlighted that to leave no one behind, one of the main objectives of the 2030 Agenda, the needs and rights of vulnerable groups must be addressed as a priority.

“The poor and extreme poor are the most affected, with children, women and indigenous peoples being the most vulnerable. The pandemic is worsening these trends,” he said.

Qu also referred to FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative programme that matches countries with the highest poverty and hunger rates with donor partners who can help the most vulnerable improve their food and agricultural potential, with focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs).

“The Hand-in-Hand Initiative includes all the key partners, international organizations, UN system organizations, the private sector, governments, the civil society and academia” as a compelling way to deliver integrated, scaled-up, accountable support for transformational change aligned to national priorities for the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

International cooperation and partnership can ensure that no one is left behind, while ending hunger for a better world, the Director-General added.

Chairing the meeting was the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Omar Hilale, who stated that “to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 – especially in the context of the current pandemic – we will have to focus on innovative agriculture and support rural farmers in developing countries and regions that are most threatened by the changing climate.”

This year’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development will run from 7 to 16 July under the theme “Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”.