70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly - 2nd Committee - Item 24 - Eradication of Poverty

 

 

2nd Committee - Item 24 - Eradication of Poverty
Statement by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Delivered by the Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the UN, Carla Mucavi
13 October, 2015, United Nations

Mr. Chair, Distinguished delegates,

The enduring link between poverty and hunger can be felt most acutely in the rural areas of developing countries, where over 70% of the world’s most vulnerable population live. The reliance on agriculture for livelihoods of the rural poor is what makes agriculture central to eradicating poverty and hunger.

Many times, however, poor farmers are extremely vulnerable to protracted crises and social, economic and environmental shocks. Without adequate coping mechanisms, these rural families can quickly fall into a vicious cycle of poverty and hunger. Under these circumstances, social protection emerges as an essential component of successful strategies to fight poverty and to promote food and nutrition security.

The role of agriculture and social protection in breaking the cycle of rural poverty is the subject of the State of Food and Agriculture flagship report that the FAO has published today in Rome.

This report highlights how social protection can support poverty eradication and how it can be combined with agricultural support. This includes local sourcing from family farmers to supply school meals, and investing in cash transfers and cash for work programs that will allow poor families to buy locally the food and other goods they may need. There are remarkable examples of those experiences in some of our member states that are making a difference.

In the agriculture sector, cash and in-kind transfers can contribute to higher incomes and food security by increasing access to food in times of need and by enabling rural households to buy the tools and inputs they need to produce food. Gender-sensitive programming can further bolster the impacts of social protection. Experience shows that empowering women to manage household incomes improves family welfare and nutrition and supports their role in the productive sector of the economy.

While social protection provides immediate relief to poor families and helps build resilience, such programmes cannot break the cycle of rural poverty on their own. They must be part of a wider strategy that includes productive support to rural families through integrated development policies.
In all, linking social protection with agriculture can serve as a catalyst toward sustainable rural development and the empowerment of communities.

To conclude, Mr. Chair, I would like to invite all of you to this year’s observance of World Food Day, this Friday, 16 October, which discussion will focus on the role of social protection and agriculture in breaking the cycle of rural poverty. The event will be held here at the UN Headquarters at 1:15 pm in Conference Room 7.

I thank you for your attention.