“Leaving no one behind: Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment and Better Life"_is the theme for World Food Day this year. The theme reflects that today the world faces profound food security challenges as a result of conflict, economic crises, climate emergency, environmental degradation and the knock-on effects of COVID-19.  Nevertheless,  we need to continue our efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for everyone, everywhere.

Food prices have soared to record high this year; fertilizers are becoming too expensive for many farmers, and the number of people facing food insecurity has been rising unabated. As always, the poorest are hardest hit.

“Rising food prices affect all of us, but the impacts are felt the most by the vulnerable and by countries already experiencing a food crisis“, said Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative in Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Today 3.1 billion people around the world still cannot afford a healthy diet. Hunger continues to rise. It affected 828 million people in 2021 – an increase of about 46 million people since 2020, and 150 million since 2019.

In just two years, the number of acutely food insecure people has risen from 135 million (2019) to193 million (2021), and 2022 is likely to prove worse. Some 970 000 people are living or expected to live in famine conditions in five countries (Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen) – ten times more than six years ago when only two countries had populations facing similar conditions.

“Smallholders need to be at the center of the global agri-food system transformation. We need decent rural employment and services and end child labour while fostering gender equality and supporting rural people, who are the custodians of much of the earth’s biodiversity”, Aryal added further.  

To honour our pledge to leave no one behind, it is critical that we transform our agri-food systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.

“Agriculture is among the most cost-effective humanitarian interventions”, Aryal added.

More financing is needed to ensure no one is left behind. It is vital to ensure support for people’s livelihoods that is effective, well coordinated, and timely enough and to take account of critical planting seasons and livestock production seasons.

Also, we must always remember that at least two out of every three people experiencing hunger extremes are themselves small-scale food producers from rural areas, who need our support to help bring about a transformation.

We need more coordination between emergency support and development assistance, and initiatives to promote peace in conflict-affected areas. All actors need to work together to support countries affected by food crises to increase local food production and strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable population.

Indonesia, as the chair of the G20 this year, has the opportunity to call other G20 member nations to act in solidarity with more vulnerable countries. “The focus should be to support the countries at risk of hunger and malnutrition,“, Aryal said.

G20 member nations should work with international financing institutions to increase liquidity and fiscal space for providing social protection to the poorest before a disaster hits.

All of us can act with compassion, and respect for our planet. We need to act in global solidarity to ensure no one is left behind by speaking up and influencing decision-makers. We should also waste less, eat nutritious, seasonal and locally produced foods and care for natural resources like soils and water.