Agricultural production systems encompassing crop, forestry, livestock, aquaculture, and fisheries production play an essential role in meeting the increasing demands for food, feed, fibre, and fuel. Achieving an environmentally sustainable, increase in production and access to affordable healthy diets, while protecting and enhancing the livelihoods of the world’s small-scale agricultural producers and other agrifood system actors, is a global challenge. Many agricultural production systems still lack integration, optimization, diversification, and innovation, and rely on the intensive use of chemical inputs and natural resources. Additionally, global food supplies today rely increasingly on just a few crops and animal species, increasing the vulnerability to biotic stresses.
FAO launched the Global Action on “One Country One Priority Product” (OCOP) in September 2021 to contribute to the implementation of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–31 and ultimately achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Global Action on OCOP will promote inclusive, profitable, and environmentally sustainable food systems through the development of Special Agricultural Products (SAPs). The aim is to optimize the production systems; minimize food loss and waste, the misuse of agricultural chemicals; and maximize incomes to enable the transition to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.
Major global challenges addressed by the OCOP
In response to the current global challenges, sustainable agriculture represents a key approach for sustainable development. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increases resilience, ensures food and nutrition security and higher incomes for small-scale producers, improves human welfare, and create opportunities for employment and decent work for all.
Sustainable agriculture employs practices, technologies and innovations, such as climate-smart agriculture, biotechnology and agroecological approaches, sustainable forestry, aquaculture, fisheries, soil management, disaster risk prevention and management, and others without depleting natural resources and maintaining the healthy functioning of the earth’s ecosystems now and in the future.
