General Assembly adopts resolutions on food and agriculture matters, with FAO Secretariat support

December, New York – Today, the General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) resolutions on Agriculture development, food security and nutrition; Eradicating rural poverty; Agricultural technology for sustainable development; Combating sand and dust storms; and Natural plant fibres.  

FAO supported the process, leading the drafting of the reports that informed Member State discussions on the agenda items and serving as substantive Secretariat in the informal consultations. 

The resolution on agriculture development, food security and nutrition stressed the urgent need for concerted action at all levels to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition and expressed deep concerns over high global levels of hunger – which has increased by 122 million people since the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The resolution on eradicating rural poverty highlighted that over 80 percent of those living in extreme and multidimensional poverty work in agriculture and live in rural areas. The resolution emphasized the need for empowering rural women and investing in programs that create decent work and economic opportunities.  

With regards to agricultural technology for sustainable development, the resolution stressed the need to assess opportunities, risks, and trade-offs related to technologies and to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of relevant technologies for all actors in the agrifood system. It also emphasized the need to leverage the potential for innovation among young family farmers. 

The resolution on combatting sand and dust storms requested the President of the General Assembly of the 79th Session to convene a high-level meeting to coincide with the International Day of Sand and Dust Storms and proposed that the General Assembly consider the measures required to proclaim an International Decade for Combating Sand and Dust Storms. 

As for natural plant fibres, the resolution invited Member States to promote the sustainable production and consumption of natural plant fibres, emphasizing that natural fibres are a good alternative to synthetic products and generate large amounts of jobs around the globe, contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

FAO, along with DESA, were the penholders of all the reports that informed the Member States debate of the above issues, except for the report on combating sand and dust storms in which FAO led the drafting as Chair of the Sand and Dust Storms Coalition.  

Additionally, FAO was the penholder for the report on the implementation of the UN Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028, UNDFF), on behalf of the FAO/IFAD Joint Secretariat. The resolutions on Agriculture development, food security and nutrition and Agricultural technology for sustainable development took note of the report. Since the start of the decade, 12 governments have adopted national action plans for family farming, 40 governments are developing their national action plans, and 3 regional and subregional action plans were developed. More than 2,625 relevant actors were involved in dialogue processes or platforms related to the decade, including 1,853 family farmers’ organizations and federations.  

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