Launch Event for the Global Action on Green Development of Special Agricultural Products: “One Country One Priority Product”
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
07/09/2021
Launch Event for the Global Action on Green Development of
Special Agricultural Products: “One Country One Priority Product”
Opening Remarks
by
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
As prepared
7 September 2021
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. Agricultural production provides all paramount necessities of food, feed, fiber and fuel, along with a friendly environment for our life, basically ensuring food security and nutrition, and healthy diets,
2. And in supporting farmers’ livelihoods and economic growth.
3. But green agricultural production is needed to ensure sustainable development and efficient, inclusive and resilient agri-food systems to address the global challenges that continue to prevail and emerge.
4. Today, global food supplies increasingly depend on just a few crops and products.
5. Most agri-food systems have high-input, are resource-intensive and lack integration, optimization and innovation.
6. The Global Action on Green Development of Special Agricultural Products: One Country One Priority Product addresses these challenges by working towards four major objectives:
• ONE: contributing to achieving the SDGs, especially SDG 1 and 2, by promoting green innovation for sustainable agri-food systems;
• TWO: supporting implementation of FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-2031 by promoting transformation of the current agri-food systems;
• THREE: strengthening FAO’s country level programs by helping Members to achieve national priorities and paths through effective implementation of Country Programming Frameworks; and
• FOUR: facilitating the development and value chain of family farmers, especially smallholdings by prioritizing these production models.
7. To this end, the Global Action must be:
• Country inclusive - all FAO Members are encouraged to join according to their specific needs and comparative advantage;
• Product inclusive - with priority to crops, but not exclusively ;
• Agri-food system inclusive - across the whole value chain; and
• Stakeholder inclusive - to include partnerships, knowledge exchange and innovation.
8. And it covers four thematic areas:
• green production,
• green storage,
• green processing, and
• green market development.
9. Each participating Member should focus on 1 to 3 key areas, based on its needs.
10. The goal of the Global Action is to bring significant outcomes for national economic competitiveness, social inclusiveness and sustainable development.
Dear Colleagues,
11. The transformation of agri-food systems starts by identifying one product or a specific crop or animal.
12. This one product and its value chain then becomes an entry-point for new, concrete actions to achieve tangible results for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no one behind.
13. The success of the Global Action will depend on the collective support, active engagement and robust contributions from ALL stakeholders across ALL regions and sectors.
14. I am pleased to now officially launch the Global Action on Green Development of Special Agricultural Products: One Country One Priority Product (OCOP)!
15. Thank you.