FAO statement at the General Debate of the ECOSOC 2023 Financing for Development Forum

General Debate of the ECOSOC 2023 Financing for Development Forum

Statement on behalf of FAO delivered by
David Laborde, Director of the FAO Agrifood Economics Division

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, All protocol observed.

On behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations I am pleased to deliver a statement on the thematic of Financing for Development.

FAO agrees with the overall assessment that the Global Economic Outlook remains fragile and highly challenging especially for low-income countries and countries in food and protracted rises.

In the last three years global agrifood systems were hit by two consecutive shocks – the COVID19 crisis and the war in Ukraine - leading to unprecedented supply chain disruptions followed by severe food and fertilizer shortages and energy price increases. These shocks were happening in a context of major weather shocks and climatic events.

Higher prices have increased the global food import bill to an estimated all-time high surpassing USD 1.94 trillion, adding an additional USD 180 billion over the previous record, stressing further the balance of payments, especially for net-importers of food.

As many as 828 million people faced chronic hunger in 2021, 150 million more people since 2019 the year, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A record number of 222 million people suffer from acute food insecurity in 53 food crisis countries and territories according to September 2022 estimates. 

The challenges faced by agrifood systems have been compounded by the worsening effects of climate change and the increase frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods and droughts. 

Between 2008 and 2018, 26 percent of the overall effects of climate change loss and damages affected the agriculture sector – including agriculture, forestry and other land uses as well as fisheries and aquaculture.

Investing in food and agriculture is an effective strategy to alleviate poverty, fight hunger, boost productivity, tackle gender inequalities accelerate structural transformation and inclusive industrialization. This is what history has shown us. Today, it is also a necessary strategy to fight climate change through mitigation and adaptation, but also protecting biodiversity while letting no one behind.

To achieve inclusive transformation we need to increase the amount and efficiency of public expenditures from all sources to developing countries’ agrifood systems. Domestic agricultural subsidies are in urgent need for re-direction towards research and technology dissemination, infrastructure, and marketing services. ODA for agrifood systems has stagnated and needs to be increased. Challenges related to green financing (such as high risk) need to be addressed. 

Agrifood systems are a major employer of women globally and constitute a more important source of livelihood for women than for men in many countries.

To address the challenge of rising food import costs, FAO has proposed a Global Food Import Financing Facility (FIFF) to support countries to shoulder the soaring costs of food imports and improve access to food at country level. Based on a comprehensive technical assessment, the FIFF covers 62 countries with a total population of 1.78 billion people, i.e. the group of net food importers in the low and low-middle income category.

FAO’s hand-in-Hand initiative provides an integrative, holistic approach to support agrifood systems investments and interventions based on an investment plan agreed upon by a broad spectrum of stakeholders and supported by solid evidence. 

FAO stands ready to explore new approaches and strategies on how to bring the role of finance for development on mitigating and preventing food crises and promoting agrifood systems transformation. 

Thank you.