Launch of the 16th High Level Panel of Experts Report “Promoting youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food systems”
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
05/07/2021
Launch of the 16th High Level Panel of Experts Report
“Promoting youth engagement and employment
in agriculture and food systems”
Opening remarks by
Dr. QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
As prepared
5 July 2021
Ambassador Thanawat TIENSIN, Chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security,
Professor Martin COLE, Chairperson of the High Level Panel of Experts,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. Almost 88% of the world’s 1.2 billion youth live in developing countries.
2. Globally, young people account for approximately 24% of the working poor;
3. this dynamic is particularly pronounced in Africa, where over 70% of youth subsist on 2 USD per day or less.
4. Although the world’s youth population is expected to grow, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for young women and men remain limited;
5. particularly for those living in economically stagnant rural areas of developing countries.
6. Therefore, the inclusive transformation of agri-food systems and rural economies will not be successful without fully engaging the youth.
7. Youth engagement and leadership are fundamentally linked to achieving food security and good nutrition for all.
8. Young people have the energy and enthusiasm to drive positive change in our communities.
9. They can push the transition to sustainable production and consumption patterns required, to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
10. Employment and engagement of young people in the agri-food systems is crucial for the future of global food security and nutrition, across all its dimensions.
11. FAO’s new Strategic Framework, which was endorsed by its Ministerial Conference last month, identified gender, youth, and inclusion as cross-cutting themes.
12. These cross-cutting themes are important issues that need to be taken into account across all of FAO’s programmatic work, and require particular visibility.
13. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) also acknowledged the role of youth in its current Multi-Year Programme of Work, stating that young people are key to achieving sustainable development.
14. I congratulate the CFS for this Report, which will be the starting-point for its workstream on youth engagement and employment in agri-food systems.
15. Another important ongoing CFS workstream is the one on gender.
16. I am confident that the FAO Women and Youth Committees will provide important inputs to these two workstreams.
17. The World Food Forum (WFF) – a youth-led movement and network seeks to mobilize action and identify solutions, to transform our food systems and achieve the SDGs, in particular “zero hunger”.
18. With events, dialogue and outreach extending throughout the year, the WFF flagship event is set to launch on
1 October 2021.
19. It will gather major youth groups, influencers, companies, academic institutions, non-profits, governments, media and the public.
20. The aim is to drive awareness, foster engagement and advocacy, and mobilize resources in support of agri-food systems transformation through youth-led action.
21. We want to enable young people to be the drivers of the change they wish to see in the world,
22. to show-case innovative solutions, technology ideas and research projects, to define new youth-led actions.
23. Young people are also highly concerned about transforming our global agri-food systems to be more sustainable, more resilient and better for the health of people, animals, plants and the planet.
24. Today’s CFS HLPE report is an essential input into these youth-led discussions, and I encourage all of you to participate in the World Food Forum.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
25. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all parts of society and livelihoods around the globe.
26. Although disadvantaged segments of populations like rural young women and men will be impacted harder;
27. This is because the majority of rural youth are employed in the informal economy as contributing family workers, subsistence farmers, home-based micro-entrepreneurs or unskilled workers.
28. All of these activities had been disproportionately affected by the lockdowns worsening even more their pre-existing conditions of low wages, casual or seasonal work arrangements and unsafe, often exploitive working conditions that compel many to migrate to urban areas.
29. Re-engaging youth in agriculture requires addressing the numerous constraints that they face when trying to earn a living.
30. However, when proactively engaged, youth have demonstrated to be innovators in their own sectors to surmount the pandemic’s impact.
31. We need to make sure that the rural youth progress achieved in recent years is not reversed.
32. Progress on issues like inclusion in agri-food systems and access to education, training and decent employment.
33. We know that in the immediate future, the majority of global resources will be redirected toward the fight against the virus.
34. But rural young women and men, should remain a top priority both during and after the pandemic!
35. They deserve our support to reach their full potential, allowing them to prosper and also ensuring a sustainable rural recovery.
Dear Colleagues,
36. This report is an important contribution to the international work on youth engagement and employment in agri-food systems.
37. FAO stands ready to collaborate with the CFS and all stakeholders in making real change on the ground for young women and men -
38. for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
39. Thank you.