FAO to sharpen focus on the most vulnerable for sustainable food production
Today about 2 billion people – 26 percent of the population of the world do not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food despite the world’s focus on increasing food production.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) aims at tackling the root cause of this disparity. The UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028, launched globally in partnership with IFAD, to empower family farmers, particularly women and youth, to ensure food security, improve livelihoods, better manage natural resources, protect the environment and achieve sustainable development.
Family farms represent over 90 percent of all farms globally, producing 80 percent of the world's food. They also provide over 60 percent of the employment of African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) countries.
Sustainable family farming in African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP)
At the 55th Session of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly and 38th Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, the Assembly discussed the “State of food security and nutrition in the context of sustainable agricultural production”, in which family farming plays a pivotal role.
Addressing the assembly, FAO Director of Liaison Officer to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Rodrigo De Lapuerta stated, “family farms provide healthy, diversified and culturally appropriate foods. They also offer nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change. If we do not change our production and consumption patterns for better, healthier and more sustainable food, we will not be able to either nourish people or nurture our planet.”
De Lapuerta highlighted that FAO views the role of the parliamentarians as paramount in approving the right policies, setting up legal and institutional frameworks and allocating appropriate resources towards a more sustainable planet.
The Parliamentarians asked questions primarily on how the world can sustainably feed the growing population while preserving our natural resources.
The Assembly conceded that member states were not on pace to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and called for increased support and effort from countries towards proper nutrition and sustainable agricultural practices that take into account ecology and biodiversity as well as promoting traditional knowledge.
FAO and EU strengthening family farmers in the region
With the EU as its main partner and donor, FAO has supported projects implemented in ACP member states aimed at stabilizing livelihoods, improving food security, developing the fisheries and aquaculture sector and promoting the marketability of roots and tubers to boost farming incomes and value chains.
Better data on food loss for better responses
During the meeting it was also noted that it is important to have better data on where food loss occurs throughout the food supply chain and the reasons behind it, in order to take the adequate preventative measures.
According to FAO’s State of Agriculture 2019, around 14 percent of food produced is lost from the post-harvest stage up to the retail stage, excluding markets and consumption. ACP countries are specially affected by food loss.