CABO VERDE Conference hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment  “Accelerating Agrifood Systems Transformation in Cabo Verde” Statement

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased to be with you here in Cabo Verde to discuss the critical importance of transforming global agrifood systems, in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This transformation is at the heart of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, which guides our work over the next decade to support Members through the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – leaving no one behind.

But to achieve this transformation, we need to make collective changes. 

Currently, global agrifood systems are a major contributor to environmental degradation. They account for one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and extreme weather events. They also drive biodiversity loss and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources like water and land.

But global agrifood systems ARE the climate solution because, when transformed, they will be able to effectively contribute to ensuring food availability, food accessibility and food affordability.

We have to produce more with less. But to achieve this, we need enabling policies to close the investment gap to ensure that climate finance is increased and reaches those who need it most, especially smallholder farmers. 

I have just come back from Brazil where we launched the 2024 edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report at the G20 Development Ministerial Meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

This year’s SOFI Report once again highlights that hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition remain high, and it estimates that more than 730 million people in the world faced hunger in 2022 - and it is projected that almost 580 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030.

In addition, SOFI also confirms that we are not on track to achieve the global nutrition targets, and that the rising rates of obesity present major challenges for the health and well-being of all age groups.

While in some regions, we have seen a decrease in the hunger number, in Africa hunger has been steadily rising since 2015. In 2023, Africa was the region with the largest percentage of the population facing hunger - more than 20 percent, and the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity – which stood at 58% - was nearly double the global average.

During the past few years, we have experienced the frequency and severity of shocks that have aggravated the numbers: the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme climate events, war and conflicts. 

To prevent these alarming number from further increasing, we need to take the right actions now, together with the needed financing for their implementation. 

These global crises have highlighted the importance of taking a systemic approach to transforming global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

The United Nations Food Systems Summit held in 2021, together with the Food Systems Summit Stocktaking Moment hosted at FAO in July 2023, generated momentum for countries to organize multi-stakeholder dialogues to ensure that transforming agrifood systems was at the top of the policy agenda. 

The National Pathways constitute a recognition of the need to address agrifood challenges with a systemic perspective, taking into account and working across different sectors, policies, and sustainability dimensions, and working with a broad range of partners, rrecognizing that many of the challenges facing agrifood systems are inter-connected and often overlapping.

We need concrete guidance on policy options, policy reforms, and institutional practices that translate policy into action.

For this reason, the FAO Strategic Framework is based on a systems approach to support Members, and with a tailored approach in line with countries’ specific contexts and needs to ensure that no one is left behind, especially the most vulnerable countries and communities, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS), to support them achieve their global commitments such as those set out in the recently adopted Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS.

To reflect FAO’s focus on the most vulnerable countries, I established the FAO Office of SIDS, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) to fully leverage the knowledge and expertise of the Organization for the benefit of these countries, and to facilitate knowledge exchange among them.

FAO has been scaling up and will continue to increase its support to SIDS to transform their agrifood systems.

Through the FAO African SIDS Programme, FAO applies the systems approach to a regional context, working across 6 priorities with the assistance of an inter-regional technical network. 

FAO is also supporting SIDS to access financing, including through South- South and Triangular Cooperation. For example, through the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Trust Fund, FAO is contributing to:

• One: the digitalization of the agriculture sector;
• Two: the development of specific product value chains; and
• Three: the reduction of food loss and waste in the fisheries sector.
  

Under this project, Cabo Verde benefits with support on the reduction of food loss and waste in the fisheries sector, as well as with technical assistance and capacity development in soil and water management, innovative methods for integrated pest management, seaweed aquaculture, improving animal production, and genetics strengthening, among others. 

FAO is collaborating with the World Bank on the socio-economic and environmental challenges facing Cabo Verde resulting from a booming tourism industry in the context of increasing vulnerabilities, such as exposure to climate shocks, desertification, extreme weather events, and rising sea levels. 

Cabo Verde is a leader among SIDS, championing issues such as blue economy, water resource management, and gender empowerment. In this respect, I wish to thank the government of Cabo Verde for the fruitful and collaborative partnership with FAO. I look forward to further strengthening this partnership, capitalizing on Cabo Verde’s role and experience to benefit other SIDS and other vulnerable countries worldwide. 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

The effective transformation of agrifood systems requires that all partners, including governments, the private sector, civil society organizations, consumers and academia, work together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner, to collectively participate in decision-making processes, prioritizing long-term strategic actions rather than just short-term goals and quick fixes.

Agrifood systems transformation also requires coordinated investments and targeted financing by both the public and private sectors, with guidance and inputs from civil society. 

For the public sector, this means strengthening the policy environment and creating and maintaining the conditions that attract sustainable investment opportunities for the private sector.

This also means investing in infrastructure, R&D facilities and in education programmes that give young people the skills they need to play a role in the transformation of the agrifood system.  

Women and rural farmers also need to be at the center of enabling policies and part of the decision-making process.

In particular, I want to emphasize the critical importance of strengthening collaboration with the private sector. The scale of the challenges we are facing today cannot be addressed only by the public sector. We need closer collaboration between the public and private sector, as well as increased blended financing. The FAO Strategy for Private Sector Engagement outlines our vision, and strategic areas of engagement, as well as the ways to measure the results of our partnership with the private sector.

As the United Nations specialized agency for food and agriculture, FAO is leading international efforts to eradicate hunger, malnutrition and poverty – in line with our mandate – and is working to support agrifood systems transformation at all levels. 

Annually, in October, FAO hosts and leads the World Food Forum, which provides a platform to empower the global youth, through the Global Youth Forum, to support the transformation of agrifood systems. It also provides a global platform to attract investment through the Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum, which brings together more than 30 countries annually from different regions around the world, presenting their investment plans to a diverse group of partners to mobilize technical and financial support, and promote closer partnerships at national levels.

The World Food Forum also includes a Science and Innovation Forum which brings together leading global scientists to discuss up to date innovations and technologies to support the transformation of agrifood systems, and to ensure they are accessible to all. 

Last year, at the COP28 in Dubai, FAO launched the Global Roadmap to achieve SDG2 without breaching the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold. The roadmap offers a common, action-oriented approach across different domains and partners, it encourages collaboration, and seeks to attract increased climate investment for agrifood systems transformation. The process launched in Dubai will progressively focus on the regional dimensions followed by concrete national action plans with the goal of ensuring good food for all, for today and tomorrow. 

Dear Friends,

I wish to once again thank the government and people of Cabo Verde for the warm welcome and for hosting this important conference that provides an opportunity to discuss the transformation of global agrifood systems, with a sharp focus on vulnerable countries such as the SIDS.

Let us continue to work together for the benefit of Cabo Verde, the Africa Region and the planet – we owe it to the future generations!

Thank you - obrigado.