Virtual Davos World Economic Forum: Transforming food systems and land use

Virtual Davos World Economic Forum

Transforming food systems and land use

SPEECH BY FAO DIRECTOR-GENERAL, Dr QU DONGYU

27 January 2021

 

Thank you,
1. I am pleased to be here and to join talk on how to scale actions to transform agri-food systems – which are even are more complex than pure food systems – to improve the lives of farmers in an inclusive and resilient manner by “Grow, Nourish and Sustain, together”.

2. Agri-food systems are central to all 7.8 billion consumers and more specifically to the livelihoods of 5 billion people around the globe (including over 1.1 billion people in poverty) who are living and working in rural areas.

3. Addressing the future of agri-food systems requires a holistic view covering many topics such as agricultural production, climate change (including natural and man-made disasters), value chain efficiency, demographics, inclusion, consumer demands, land use, biodiversity and the environmental footprint, as well as innovation, food technology, transboundary pests and diseases, nutrition and health.

4. We have to act now and build more inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for the future.

5. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to speed-up the action. It has caused significant disruptions to agri-food systems and the global economic downturn is expected to make this situation worse and more pressing.

6. More and more millions of people still go hungry during the pandemic. At the same time too much of the food we produce is lost and wasted. It will be threatening to reverse the progress achieved over the last two decades.

7. The transformation of agri-food systems is at the heart of FAO’s mandate to provide safer, more affordable and healthier diets for the world’s rapidly growing population (10 billion at 2050).

8. At FAO, we also see this crisis forcing all Members to step up for green recovery and agri-food systems transformation.

9. FAO’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme harnesses science, technology, data, human enterprise and creativity to build back better. We have just initiated a new Strategic Framework. Moving towards achieving the SDGs, especially SDG1, SDG2 and SDG10, we focus on a new strategy based on the new vision of “4 Betters”: better production, better nutrition, better environment and better lives, by the Hand-in-Hand Initiative. We have 194 Members and we have to build One FAO, taking into consideration all the Members. Each of them has a voice to be heard and an interest in what we have to offer in service to them.

10. Solidarity, urgency, accountability and action are required.

11. As leaders we need to coordinate joint responses and global synergistic action before it is too late.

12. The convening of the UN Food Systems Summit by the Secretary-General, Mr Guterres aims to catalyse and highlight such public, private and civil society engagement.

13. Land is mother for human beings and biodiversity, the basis for economy, society and environment, and vital for productivity and sustainability of agri-food systems.

14. In the face of climate change, effective land use and sustainable land management are urgently needed to maximize agricultural productivity, while minimizing the negative environmental impacts.

15. Innovation on differentiated use of different types of lands, from fertile land to a semi-dry land, combines human creativity, technology, science and entrepreneurship. In that sense, we need the engagement of the private sector. As well as strong support from civil society and academia. We want to build a big partnership.

16. The beauty of innovation is that it is a process which we can accelerate and engineer for any system to adapt to new conditions. The development of COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution at record speed shows how we can innovate in the face of overwhelming global challenges. For us at FAO, innovation is one of the accelerators to achieve SDGs 1, 2 and 10. That’s why at FAO, when I took office, we started the Hand-in-Hand Initiative. From the Hand-in-Hand we launched the Geospatial Data Platform, the Data Lab for Statistical Innovation and the complementary Earth Map developed with Google that will provide Members with valuable real-time data to support strategic decision-making. A Digital FAO has been established at an unprecedented pace.

17. Since the past year, we are now able to operate fully on digital with all six UN languages simultaneously. So, next time we can offer our services to you if CNBC is willing to work with us globally.

18. In just a few months, the COVID-19 crisis has triggered rapid levels of digital transformation across all sectors and geographical regions that would normally take years to achieve.

19. Most of these changes are likely to stick and become structural features in all industries in the long term.

20. We need to go further to harness the power of digital innovation to link rural and small scale producers with consumers by promoting the adoption of digital solutions, such as online platforms for e-commerce, delivery services and marketing, or blockchain technology for better traceability (food safety) and certification schemes, along the value chains and supply chains based cold-chain logistics.

21. Once innovation application to be scaled up will lead to real change.

22. There are digital and e-commerce platforms connecting over 1 million farmers in 10 African countries to essential services, resulting in a 10-12 percent increase in revenues for those farmers. Simple text message services disseminate key market information to farmers in Peru helping to bolster prices for their products by 13-14 percent.

23. Due to the digital gap, for small-scale and family farmers - the most common type of farming in developing countries - poor connectivity, risk aversion, lack of information and money, as well as lack of digital skills and literacy, all contribute to the rural-urban digital divide.

24. Here is that we bring our two other accelerators: the technological innovations are there, like 5G, satellite technologies, and the governance, institutions and human capital needed to ensure that we can help countries and regions facing the digital divide to leapfrog and take advantage of digitalization.

25. Innovation is not only about new technologies, it’s also about financing, networking and new business models to accelerate the transformation process.

26. We need to strengthen rural-urban linkages, increase the capacity of urban and peri-urban producers, improve food cold-chain facilities, upgrade transportation and promote effective food procurement.

27. We also need stronger policies, more and greener investments and strengthened capacities to scale up innovations and achieve the necessary magnitude of impact required to meet the SDGs.

28. Innovative financing models are coming to the fore. For example, FAO supports the EU and Development Finance Institutions investment in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that list inclusivity and sustainability among their goals. Working together to build a blended finance ecosystem.

29. They can potentially unlock massive resources, greatly contributing to the transformation of agri-food systems and setting investors along a path to carbon neutrality from one commodity to another, from one sector to another. Finally, we will be able to aim carbon neutral society.

30. Already, private investors are signalling their willingness to invest sustainably.

31. In 2018, 86 percent of the top 500 listed companies in the US stock market now publish sustainability reports. This was just 20 percent in 2011.

32. But it is clear that the private sector can do much more and better!

33. We at FAO have recently adopted a modern FAO Strategy for Private Sector Engagement, which enables us to enhance our strategic partnerships, scale up and steer all our efforts to jointly achieve the SDGs.

34. Building green and inclusive agri-food systems is one of the most powerful ways to recover from this crisis, respond to climate change, inequalities (between urban and rural, between man and women, between the rich and the poor) and increase our resilience against future challenges.

35. Transforming our agri-food systems, requires a 360 degrees approach incorporating innovations from multiple sectors (infrastructure, energy, R&D, education etc) and making structural investments that include smallholders who are both the engine of world food production and the most vulnerable components of the system.

36. To do so, we need to bring profitability back into farming and prepare farmers (the millions of women and youth) to become fundamental actors of change.

37. Investing our main actors for physical capital and for human capital will be effectively transforming agri-food system on the ground. Focusing on youth will have a multiple-fold benefit with revitalizing rural development. If we succeed, tomorrow’s farmers will contribute to inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems and those will keep our traditional civilization going on for generations to come.

Ladies and gentlemen,

38. The pandemic has underscored the need for transformed agri-food systems to survive and thrive.

39. Together we must create an enabling environment through better policies, more investment and strengthened institutions, infrastructure and capacities that will allow innovation to flourish. And we must be inclusive, so that all benefit from the results.

40. We need to move from talking together to working together, bringing the public and private sectors together by partnership to a better future for people and planet.

41. FAO stand ready to partner with you in this ambitious ‘Great Reset’ of our agri-food systems!

42. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!

Thank you.