Geneva Press Briefing: Strategic policy options to activate key triggers for agrifood systems transformation

02/12/2022

Geneva – Lorenzo Giovanni Bellù, FAO Senior Economist, addressed the Geneva Press Corp on the FAO’s new corporate report Future of Food and Agriculture – Drivers and triggers for transformation at the Biweekly Press Briefing organized by the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva.

Bellù explained that agrifood-related targets of the Agenda 2030 were tremendously off track. If current trends affecting agrifood systems did not change, the sustainability and resilience of agrifood systems would be seriously under threat and food crises would likely increase in the future. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that prevailing agricultural practices, which rely on the intensive use of agrochemical inputs and energy, are endangering the future of agrifood systems.

Achieving the four “betters” that FAO had placed at the heart of its strategic framework (better production, better nutrition, better environment and better life) requires balancing short-term productivity gains against greater sustainability and reduced climate impact.

He highlighted that, however, key triggers of transformation exist, together with strategic policy options to activate them. Institutions and governance, consumer awareness, income and wealth distribution, as well as innovative technologies and approaches, are key priority triggers that influence important drivers of agrifood systems. In this regard, the Future of Food and Agriculture report suggest selected strategic options and possible transformative policies.

Answering questions from journalists, Bellù stressed the importance of not interrupting trade flows during crises so that food could reach importing countries. But trade is just a means to achieve and maintain food security, not a goal per se, and it has to be fair and sustainable. In the long run, he said that there would be a need to reinforce the resilience of agrifoods systems: as such, excessively relying on massive imports of food might not prove resilient while diversification within agrifood systems as well as across the economies at large may contribute to resilience of agrifood, socioeconomic and environmental systems.

(Reference: UN Information Service)

FAO Liaison Office in Geneva

Based in Geneva, a hub of international cooperation and multilateral diplomacy, FAO Liaison Office (LOG) promotes to the Geneva-based partners FAO’s contribution to the 2030 Agenda through its 2022-31 Strategic Framework. Moreover, the Liaison Office monitors and informs the Geneva-based deliberations to strategically position the Organization in line with its mandate and champion key thematic issues. As part of its liaison work, FAO in Geneva cooperates with the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva to communicate and highlight the role of food and agriculture in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).