The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in commemoration of World Food Day on October 16, called for smallholder farmers and fishers to be at the center of transformation of agri-food systems.
“Smallholders need to be at the center of the global agri-food system transformation,” FAO representative in Indonesia and Timor Leste Rajendra Aryal said, as noted in a release issued by FAO on Friday.
This year, World Food Day launches a resounding call for action and global solidarity to transform agri-food systems in a bid to foster inclusive economic growth, address inequalities, increase resilience, and achieve sustainable development, according to FAO.
“Leaving no one behind: Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment and Better Life” is the theme for World Food Day this year.
“The theme reflects that today the world faces profound food security challenges as a result of conflict, economic crises, climate emergency, environmental degradation and the knock-on effects of COVID-19,” the FAO stated.
Nevertheless, we need to continue our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 Agenda for everyone, everywhere, it said.
The food and agriculture organization highlighted that food prices had soared to record high this year, fertilizers were becoming too expensive for several farmers, and the number of people facing food insecurity had been rising unabated.
“Rising food prices affect all of us, but the impacts are felt the most by the vulnerable and by countries already experiencing a food crisis,” Aryal said.
Based on the FAO data, today, 3.1 billion people around the world still cannot afford a healthy diet, and hunger continues to rise. Such a condition has affected 828 million people in 2021, an increase of about 46 million people since 2020 and 150 million since 2019.
In just two years, the number of acutely food insecure people had risen, from 135 million in 2019 to193 million in 2021, and 2022 is likely to prove worse, according to FAO.
The organization also projected that some 970 thousand people are living or expected to live in famine conditions in five countries — Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen — ten folds higher than six years ago when only two countries had populations facing similar conditions.
“We need decent rural employment and services and end child labor while fostering gender equality and supporting rural people, who are the custodians of much of the earth’s biodiversity,” Aryal remarked.
To honor the pledge to leave no one behind, he deemed it critical to transform the agri-food systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable for better production, nutrition, environment and life for all.
“Agriculture is among the most cost-effective humanitarian interventions,” he concluded.
Source: Antara News