21 January 2020, Rome – Agriculture and food sector can contribute significantly to global solutions for food security, while helping to guarantee the enjoyment of the right to feed oneself in dignity, recognized ministers of some 70 nations at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA).

The final communiqué issued by the high representatives underlined that agriculture “must produce adequate quantities of safe, nutritious and affordable food and reduce loss”.

Trade can enhance nutrition and protect the planet, in view of progressing towards the 2030 Agenda. It can also boost sustainable food systems, what should be addressed in the upcoming Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition.

Ministers committed to creating opportunities for smallholders and women in the poorest regions, improving their rights and access to larger value chains, to promote digital technologies in agriculture and to enable consumers to make sustainable food choices.

They agreed to support the implementation of the necessary policies, consisting with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land. All them are interlinked with the Right to Food Guidelines, which acknowledge in section 3 that “international trade can play a major role in the promotion of economic development, and the alleviation of poverty and improving food security at the national level”.

About the Forum

The 12th edition of the GFFA was held in Berlin from 16th to 18th January 2019. The Forum is an international conference that focuses on the future of the global agri-food industry and boosts cooperation in food policy. Attendances came from politics, business, science and civil society. Besides, it hosts the world’s largest informal Conference of Agriculture Ministers.