G7: FAO Director-General cites reasons for hope to reduce global hunger

Syracuse –  Agriculture ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries met here and reiterated their broad commitment to make agrifood systems more efficient, inclusive,  resilient and sustainable, to improve global food security and nutrition and explicitly noted that sustainable agrifood systems can help address the climate crisis and biodiversity losses.

Without greater levels of financing and upscaled actions, “the world will continue to be off track towards ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030 – or any time soon thereafter,” QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), told the ministers, along with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, the African Union Commissioner for Agriculture and the heads of major multilateral and international organizations.

At a Friday session on “Profitable, resilient, equitable and sustainable agrifood systems”, Qu presented some of the stark findings as compiled in the latest FAO flagship report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 (SOFI).

About 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, or 9.1 percent of the world’s population, and that number is projected to decrease only to 582 million by 2030, far short of the Zero Hunger goal for that year, the Director-General said.

Still, he cited “reasons for hope”, noting there has been encouraging progress in many subregions of the world, especially Latin America. That said, Africa’s hunger level, the highest in the world, increased by a further half a percentage point from 2022 to 2023, he added.

Progress is notably uneven. Qu noted that FAO is now monitoring economic access to a healthy diet. an essential policy indicator, and that while globally there had been a modest post-COVID19 decline in the number of people who could not afford a healthy diet in 2022, the number had increased substantially in Africa and that it is above pre-pandemic levels across low-income and lower middle-income countries.

FAO supports the deliberations of the G7 and the G20 with evidence-based policy advice, technical inputs, thematic reports and proposals for actions that support the provision of global public goods in the area of food security and sustainable agriculture. This edition of the G7 Agricultures Meeting had a special focus on Africa, deemed a key priority by Italy, the current holder of the G7 presidency, as well as on migration, the climate-energy nexus and food security, and the need for governance mechanisms to ensure that the innovations offered by Artificial Intelligence can benefit all.

Scaling up investment

Investments, both more and better, in agriculture and food security were a central focus of the meeting.

“The time for transformative change is now,” the Director-General said. He pointed to a SOFI 2024 finding that nearly two-thirds of 119 low- and middle-income countries have limited or moderate ability to access financing. Those with the least access had a higher prevalence of undernourishment, he added.

Moreover, 74 percent of countries analyzed were negatively impacted by at least one of the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition, namely conflict., climate variability and extremes and economic slowdowns and downturns, highlighting the need and the opportunity for embedding food security and nutrition objectives in humanitarian, climate and development finance, he said.

“We must meet the challenge of increasing access to financing for countries most in need,” using existing financial tools in more innovative, inclusive and equitable ways. Qu said. SOFI 2024 offers a lengthy assessment of options ranging from linking taxation to food security outcomes to fostering partnerships with a blended finance approach.

Qu also asked G7 to support climate insurance for small holders.

Geographic indications

One demonstrated way to contribute to sustainable rural development and agrifood systems is to promote Geographical Indication (GI), a sign indicating a tradeable good has qualities or a reputation due to its specific place of origin.

FAO has for more than 15 years been working with partners in more than 30 countries to leverage GIs so they can help generate better incomes for all actors along local value chains, have positive impacts at the environmental level, and support and improve social fairness and gender equity.

GIs are also a powerful lever for “the protection of traditional know-how, and the preservation of regional cultural identity and heritage in many countries,” the Director-General said at a conference hosted by Italy on the margins of the G7 meeting on 26 September on “Conference on Italian Geographical Indications” noting that they have “enormous untapped potential” in many African countries.

FAO, together with Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, will organize and host an International Conference on Worldwide Perspectives on Geographical Indications from 18 to 21 February 2025.