28th Session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) Opening Statement
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
18/07/2022
28th Session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG)
Opening Statement
By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
18 July 2022
Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues,
1. This Committee met for the first time 50 years ago and ever since, it has played a central role in guiding FAO’s agricultural agenda.
2. Food and agriculture are at the core of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
3. Together, we are committed to achieve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) by 2030.
4. Unfortunately, the world has lost ground, and we are moving backwards in efforts to eliminate hunger and malnutrition, and ensure food security for all.
5. Global hunger continues to rise, reflecting growing inequalities across and within countries.
6. According to the recently released 2022 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, 828 million people were affected by hunger last year.
7. This is an increase of 46 million from 2020, and 150 million more from 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
8. In 2020, over 3 billion people worldwide could not afford a healthy diet,
9. And we could be heading for an increase of 13 million more chronic undernourished people this year, and 17 million more in 2023, according to FAO estimates.
10. The complexity and magnitude of these global trends and realities are daunting.
11. And they have been made worse by the pandemic, the climate crisis, conflicts and humanitarian crises around the world and the war in Ukraine.
12. World food prices have been rising since mid-2020 due to many factors, and the FAO Food Price Index reached an all-time high of 160 points in March this year.
13. Fertilizer prices have also increased significantly, and could affect global supply of food,
14. Resulting in a food access crisis now, and a food availability crisis in the coming months and years.
15. We need to increase the use of technology to improve fertilizer use efficiency
Dear Colleagues,
16. We have seen the fragility of our agrifood systems, and the urgent need to transform them to put them back on a sustainable path.
17. The discussions on issues relating to agriculture, livestock, food safety, nutrition, rural development and natural resource management that you will hold this week are critical to our efforts to move from strategies to action.
18. We need bold, scaled and collaborative actions to ensure that everyone, everywhere and everyday has access to enough nutritious food.
19. FAO’s science-based expertise and analytical tools continue to provide sound data and analysis to guide rapid response actions and longer-term interventions, and to inform decisions, policies and investments.
20. In spite of the many challenges we continue to face globally, we have made significant progress in key areas of work since the last COAG Session in 2020.
21. The Voluntary Code of Conduct on Food Waste and Loss reduction was adopted by the FAO Conference last year.
22. The thematic strategies on Science and Innovation, and on Climate Change, were adopted by the Council in June this year.
23. The COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock held its first meeting in March, with important outcomes and recommendations for this Sessions’ consideration.
24. Working closely with Members and together with resource partners, we successfully controlled the Desert Locust upsurge, protecting livelihoods in the Horn of Africa, Yemen and beyond,
25. And we have further strengthened our global efforts to control Fall Armyworm through a strong and coordinated response.
26. FAO continues to promote the One Health approach, and we signed an agreement to form a new Quadripartite Collaboration for One Health, with partner UN agencies to strengthen cooperation for the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment.
27. The Food Systems Coordination Hub has been set up and is operational, drawing on wider UN system capacities to support Members with the implementation of their national pathways for agrifood system transformation.
Dear Colleagues,
28. We have put in place many of the necessary frameworks to transform agrifood systems, but much still remains to be done.
29. We must work together to tackle the root causes of hunger and malnutrition through transformative changes to the way we produce, distribute and consume food.
30. We need to ensure a more efficient use of available outputs and inputs - we need to produce more with less!
31. And we need to significantly decrease food loss and waste, which could currently feed around 1.26 billion people per year!
32. We need greater support and increased investment in knowledge, infrastructure and technology for sustainable agriculture to make this shift.
33. Your deliberations this week will contribute to defining the strategic priorities for this transformation in the coming years.
34. Together we can reach our common goal of better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no one behind.
35. I wish you a productive week and successful outcomes.
36. Thank you.