The sustainable road to Zero Hunger

With the 2030 Agenda deadline looming, we must act fast to deliver on the global community’s commitment of achieving a Zero Hunger world.

It is estimated that global food production needs to increase by at least 50 percent during this decade to ensure the planet’s growing population is adequately fed. However, we must do so sustainably, moving beyond yield- or output-centric metrics, and embracing a long-term, holistic approach to food production – one that also takes into account the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

Drivers of unsustainability

Unsustainability in agriculture and food systems is driven by a variety of factors. These include the growing demand for food, the need to create an income and livelihoods, the reliance on outdated approaches or technologies, all of which can lead to overuse of natural resources, causing phenomena such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity and increased greenhouse gas emissions.  Over time, these practices can eventually result in a decline in yields, lower incomes, reduced resilience to shocks and increased food insecurity, in particular among the most vulnerable communities.

Climate change and agriculture: A complex relationship

Climate change further complicates the situation, both because of the unprecedented threat it poses to life on the planet, and because of its intricate relationship with agriculture.

In fact, while agriculture sectors are among the hardest hit by the effects of climate change and climate variability, they are also a key driver behind climate change itself. Widespread, unsustainable food production practices over the decades have been major contributors to the climate crisis we are experiencing today.

By eradicating unsustainable food and agriculture systems, we can unlock a virtuous circle that benefits the environment, curbs the impacts of climate change and helps sustainably increase production to feed the world.

The challenges to countries

Adapting to the challenges posed by climate change, an ever-growing population, and a degraded natural resource base requires major transitions in food production systems.

The transformative nature of the SDGs, which seek to address those challenges, demands a profound shift away from current unsustainable approaches – one that must embrace and engage local communities as well as national governments. Farmers, fishers, herders and other food producers must be made aware of, and benefit from, the latest methodologies and tools that can help them sustainably increase production and safeguard natural resources.

While a variety of data has been gathered, and methodologies and tools conceived to drive such transitions, governments and local stakeholders can find it challenging to use them for decision making and policy formulation, and assessing which options are the most suitable for their specific context. When we consider that agriculture has a key role to play in achieving a broad set of SDGs, it is a challenge to create integrated systems that achieve optimal co-benefits and reduce trade-offs.

Furthermore, countries’ capacities, and the traditional knowledge base they could rely on in the past, are increasingly inadequate in the face of the disruption caused by climate change. Climate change proofing and the enhancement of resilience to current and future shocks are therefore imperative.

Sustainable productivity growth in agriculture project

In order to provide clear, actionable and evidence-based answers to issues such as these, FAO is launching the Sustainable productivity growth in agriculture project. 

By leveraging the Organisation’s experience and expertise, the project will develop the guidance and tools to promote effective transitions to more productive and sustainable agriculture at national policy and local production levels, spurring countries’ progress towards the SDGs. 

The project – which is grounded in SDG indicator 2.4.1 “Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture” and has been formulated to measure progress towards more productive and sustainable food production systems and monitor the adoption of resilient agricultural practices – will provide the policy and data analysis support measures to allow transitions to approaches such as Agroecology and Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), designed to sustainably increase production, tailored to the specific social, economic and environmental circumstances of the country, or community.  

Led by the FAO Strategic Programme for sustainable agriculture, the project will assist farmers by providing guidance in selecting the best approaches to address their specific challenges. At the national level, the tools will facilitate the selection of optimal transitions to more productive and more sustainable agriculture and the establishment of the needed policy and enabling environment for local stakeholders.

Furthermore, the project will develop a stronger evidence base by considering the trade-offs and synergies within the context of sustainable agriculture and will ensure relevant tools are accessible to policy-makers, decision-makers and communities, to inform action in support of sustainability transitions. 

These tools include guidance materials for governments, such as a manual detailing practical steps to design or update policies that can facilitate the transition to SFA. A mobile application is also being developed under the project: leveraging global, regional and national data where possible, and integrating them with context-specific, farm-level information, the app will facilitate assessment, planning and decision making through an intuitive user-friendly interface. 

Data itself are a core element of the project: the collection, analysis and sharing of data and information relevant to production and sustainability in agriculture are essential to the formulation of effective strategic plans by countries.

Through the project, decision-makers and stakeholders, including governments and farmers alike, will enhance their ability to assess the sustainability and productivity of their current systems, and identify suitable, sustainable solutions to the challenges they face, spurring progress towards the SDGs.