Innovation key to a more sustainable global agriculture
11 May 2020, Washington, DC/Rome - “The combined challenge of rising global hunger and the COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that innovation and the application of science and technology have always been and must continue to be the cornerstone or the foundation of agriculture,” said Beth Bechdol, newly appointed Deputy Director General at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. She made the remarks during a webinar on May 5th, 2020 entitled Bold and transformative innovation for a more sustainable global agriculture. The virtual event was cohosted by FAO North America, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome.
The webinar highlighted opportunities to harness the power of innovation in agriculture worldwide. The session, moderated by Tom Pesek, Senior Liaison Officer at FAO North America, was attended by approximately 700 participants from more than 70 countries.
Innovating to produce more with less amid multiple crises
With limited natural resources, climate variability and conflicts coupled with the looming recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, “Now, more than ever before, we need to innovate,” underscored Vimlendra Sharan, Director of the FAO Liaison Office for North America in his opening remarks.
Deputy Director General Bechdol highlighted findings from the 2019 State of Food Security and Nutrition report, which confirmed that more than 820 million people continue to suffer from hunger worldwide, while 2 billion face some form of malnutrition. She also referenced the findings of the recently released 2020 Global Report on Food Crises, which further notes that last year, 135 million people in 55 countries were facing acute levels of hunger even before the COVID-19 crisis hit. The Report also warns that an additional 83 million people are on the verge of a food crisis. This is the highest level of acute food insecurity and malnutrition documented since the first edition of the Report in 2017.
“An already dire food and nutrition security situation will sadly further deteriorate in the weeks and months ahead as a result of COVID-19,” underlined Bechdol.
“The imperative of producing more with less, in light of diminishing natural resources, particularly water, land and biodiversity, underscores that innovation in agriculture has never been more critical,” Bechdol added. “And more than ever, leveraging our shared innovation, technology and research assets with the private sector and other partners will be absolutely necessary.”
Bechdol shared FAO’s vision for innovation and private sector engagement, including the establishment of a new Chief Scientist position and an Office of Innovation. “There will be a more robust emphasis on partnerships with the private sector than ever before,” added Bechdol, who is taking the lead on developing and implementing the Organization’s new private sector engagement strategy.
Innovation to increase productivity while reducing the environmental footprint
Stephen Censky, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture at USDA emphasized that agriculture, specifically sustainable intensification, is a big part of the solution to “the twin challenges of increasing productivity to feed a growing world population, while at the same time reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint and helping to solve the climate challenges that we face.”
“By 2050 we aim to increase US agricultural productivity by 40 percent to meet future food demand, while cutting the environmental footprint of US agriculture in half,” stated Censky, highlighting the new USDA Agricultural Innovation Agenda. The specific goals of the Agenda address water quality, carbon sequestration, renewable energy, and the reduction of food loss and waste.
“The Agricultural Innovation Agenda also highlights the need to better align public sector and private sector research,” said Scott Hutchins, Deputy Under-Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at USDA. The US Agriculture Innovation Strategy, a centerpiece of the Agenda, will include four innovation clusters: genome design; digital and automation; prescription intervention; and systems based management. Hutchins noted that the Strategy recognizes the importance of ensuring a pipeline of innovation tools and approaches designed to improve agriculture, food security, resilience and nutrition priorities.
“Embracing novel technologies allows agriculture to become more efficient, which ultimately not only improves bottom lines, but allows more land to be available for conservation practices, including forestry, which is a great source for carbon sequestration,” said Hutchins, showcasing the USDA Science Blueprint, which will guide the Department’s science priorities for agriculture over the next five years.
Combining traditional evidence-based local knowledge and science-based approaches
“FAO is working on strengthening institutional and technical capacities in least developed countries to harness the application of science, technology and innovation,” said Bukar Tijani, Assistant Director-General, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department at FAO. He added that the Organization uses both traditional evidence-based local knowledge and science-based approaches to help meet the needs of smallholder farmers in least developed countries.
“Biotechnologies encompass a broad range of technologies, including low-tech approaches such as the use of tissue culture as well as high tech approaches involving advanced molecular based technologies, gene modification or genome sequencing and gene editing,” explained Rémi Nono Womdim, Deputy Director of the Plant Production and Protection Division at FAO.
While smallholder farmers and family farmers use and manage 80 percent of the farmland in Africa and Asia, many do not have access to technology for the sustainable intensification of agricultural production, he added.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, where crop productivity is extremely low, the average adoption rates of improved varieties is 30 percent, and up to 90 percent of seeds are sourced from informal channels that lack quality assurance,” said Womdim. “The challenges that we are facing to promote such improved varieties which are locally adopted and high yielding in local conditions is a robust vibrant system that would allow farmers to have access to quality seeds.”
Womdim outlined FAO’s work to promote biotechnologies, integrated plant production and protection, digital technologies and mechanization, while highlighting FAO’s innovative platforms that share early warning systems for monitoring and surveillance for weather, pest and diseases. This includes the Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning Systems (FAMEWS), the Desert Locust Information System and the Agriculture Market Information Systems (AMIS).
Feeding the planet without frying it
To solve chronic hunger and malnutrition without frying the planet, “We need to produce plants that are bred for nutritional value, are higher yielding, resilient to climate change, resistant to pests and disease, and are water- and nutrient-use efficient,” emphasized Howard-Yana Shapiro, Advisor and Fellow at Mars, Incorporated.
Shapiro highlighted the work of the African Orphan Crop Consortium and the African Plant Breeding Academy, in building networks of plant breeders and providing them with resources for gene editing. He also mentioned Find It, which uses online gaming, artificial intelligence and machine learning to help find solutions to common challenges, such as neutralizing aflatoxins in storage.
Now is the time to catalyze innovation for the SDGs
“This is just the beginning of conversations around our plans to be bold and transformative as time is running out to achieve our goals by 2030,” said Kip Tom, Ambassador of the United States to the UN Agencies in Rome, as he thanked each of the speakers in his closing remarks.
Modern equipment, new technologies, digital farming, precision planning, education of biotechnology or helping farmers produce healthy crops and livestock are essential to enabling them to become more resilient and productive, Ambassador Kip Tom underlined. He also shared his own family’s experience in adopting innovations, which resulted in an “an eight fold increase in yields, improvement in quality, significantly less impact on the environment and a reduction in the use of natural resources.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to push additional millions of people into severe food insecurity, the session highlighted how scaling up new and existing innovations and technologies, while leveraging private sector partnerships, can help countries and communities achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Learn more about FAO’s work on Innovation