FAO statement at HLPF 2023 – General Debate: 'Building momentum towards the SDG Summit'

The magnitude of the challenges affecting global food security and nutrition is alarming.

According to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, launched last week at the HLPF, we have lost ground on the path towards Zero Hunger.

In 2022, about 735 million people were hungry, 122 million more than 2019.

In addition, over 3.1 billion people– more than 40 percent of the global population – were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021, 134 million more than in 2019. 

While the world is severely behind on achieving SDG 2 by 2030, and was not on track even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still time to turn the situation around. The SDG Summit should be this watershed moment.

To achieve this, we must transform agrifood systems so that they become more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, taking a systemic approach, seizing synergies and addressing the intersecting challenges and trade-offs that exist in agrifood systems. 

Such agrifood systems transformation will require national ownership and government-led, evidence-based actions that engage women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, small-scale and family farmers, fishers, aquaculture producers, forest dependent people, civil society, academia, and the private sector, and that considers the adoption of new technologies and innovations while building on indigenous and traditional knowledge. It will also require longer-term structural, predictable, accessible and affordable financing, and ensuring that agrifood systems respond to specific country needs and contexts, especially for SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs.

More efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems are not only central to Zero Hunger but can and should play an important role in rescuing and accelerating progress towards the SDGs, reducing poverty, inequalities and rural-urban disparities; improving health outcomes; empowering women and youth; creating decent jobs and livelihoods; and contributing to sustainable consumption and production, the sustainable management of natural resources, and to addressing biodiversity loss and the impacts of the climate crisis. 

FAO looks forward to working with governments and partners to make this a reality.

Thank you for your attention.