FAO in Geneva press engagement on food security and agrifood systems transformation: May and June 2024
Geneva - In the context of the biweekly Press Briefings organized by the United Nations Information System (UNIS) in Geneva, the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva (LOG) collaborates with the organizers to ensure agrifood system issues are on the agenda and FAO activities and messages are delivered to the UN-accredited journalists. In May and June 2024, five press engagement activities took place featuring FAO’s work, including the media launch of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), an Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation update, World Food Safety Day, and the FAO Food Price Index for April and May 2024.
FAO organized a press conference under embargo on the launch of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2024, with Manuel Barange, FAO Assistant Director-General and Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division. He highlighted that the global fisheries and aquaculture production reached an all-time high of 223 million tonnes in 2022, and that the contributions of aquatic food systems to global food security and nutrition keep growing, with almost 90 percent of aquatic animal production being used for direct human consumption.
Richard Trenchard, FAO Representative in Afghanistan, spoke from Kabul sharing the latest IPC (Integrated Phase Classification) report findings. The latest IPC report for Afghanistan provided an estimate of the levels of food insecurity in May, and a projection covering the period May to October 2024. The figures indicated a continuing positive trend, even though it is estimated that 14.2 million people are facing acute food insecurity (37 percent of Afghanistan’s total population) at the time, and a further fall to 12.4 million people (28 percent of the population) in the post-harvest period. These numbers revealed a significant fall from early 2022, when nearly 23 million people (around 55 percent of the population) were facing acute food insecurity.
On World Food Safety Day, Markus Lipp, FAO Senior Food Safety Officer said that FAO sees safe food as fundamental element to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Safe food is also one of the prerequisites to fulfill FAO’s strategic plan to enable Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment and ultimately Better Life. He continued to affirm that when food is produced and traded in a safe and sustainable agrifood system, it contributes to a healthy life and improves sustainability by enabling market access and productivity, driving economic development and poverty alleviation, especially in rural areas.
Monika Tothova, FAO Senior Economist presented the FAO Food Price Index for April and May. She stated that the Food Price Index had increased in May for the third month in a row, strengthening by 0.9 percent, following a seven-month declining trend, but was still down 3.4 percent from its value one year before. She went on to say that the increase had been led by higher prices for cereals and dairy products, offsetting decreases in quotations for sugar and vegetable oils. Tothova stressed that global commodity prices had direct implications for food security. Many hunger hotspots faced growing hunger crises while conflict, climate extremes, and economic shocks continued to drive vulnerable households into food crises.