Reduce the Need for Antimicrobials on Farms
Why RENOFARM?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most complex threats to global health security, and food safety and security. It is primarily driven by the increasing use of antimicrobials.
Currently, more than 70 per cent of antimicrobials sold worldwide are used in animals for human consumption. This situation is expected to worsen as global demand for food increases. It is therefore paramount that the agrifood systems are progressively transformed to reduce the need for antimicrobials.
FAO commitment
If not addressed, AMR threatens to compromise progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). IFAO supports countries in building efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient agrifood systems that contribute to the 2030 Agenda.
During the Third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, held in Oman in November 2022, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu referred in his opening remarks to the calls of the Global Leaders Group on AMR in August 2021 and the 2022 session of the Sub-Committee on Livestock of the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) to reduce the need for antimicrobials in agrifood systems.
In line with these calls, FAO is working on the Reduce the Need for Antimicrobials on Farms (RENOFARM) initiative.
This is a 10-year global initiative to provide comprehensive support to Members in reducing the need for antimicrobials in their agrifood production. This initiative will directly contribute to the implementation of Muscat manifesto and commitment to promote the development, review, and implementation of national action plans.
RENOFARM at a glance
The initiative will allow all Members to contribute to achieving this common goal of reducing the need for antimicrobials – both those already reducing the need as well as those with limited resources or capacity to ensure that no one is left behind in this endeavor.
This initiative will be action-oriented, engaging the entire production chain in a collective effort to strengthen capacities at the primary production level, making extensive use of science and innovation technologies, strengthening public-private partnerships, the Hand-in-Hand Initiative and more.
RENOFARM will also directly contribute to better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind. Farms will become healthier and more sustainable by introducing or improving best practices, health and vaccination programmes, biosecurity measures and antimicrobial alternatives. Animals and crops will be healthier, agriculture products safer, and agrifood businesses will be more profitable.
Led by FAO, the global action will be based on the broader collaboration, from international bodies and institutions to the public and private sectors that the One Health approach promotes, and will extend to all Members who wish to join.
RENOFARM aspirations
RENOFARM’s overall objective is a substantial and proportionated reduction in the need for using antimicrobials at the end of the ten-year initiative. However, health, food security, environmental and social benefits, are expected to contribute to the broader objectives:
- Achieving the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and related SDGs.
- Facilitating the transformation toward healthier and more sustainable agrifood systems with less reliance on antimicrobial use.
- Promoting the implementation of global and national action plans on AMR through improved inclusion and functioning of the food and agriculture sector.
- Strengthening the position and contributions of the food and agriculture sector in AMR risk management at country level through concrete activities.
This ambitious initiative recognizes the scale of the task. It is therefore designed for a period of ten years (2023-2033) during which RENOFARM will aim to achieve the following goals:
- Zero use of medically important antimicrobials for human medicine, in animals for non-veterinary medical use, and in crop production for non-phytosanitary use in the agri-food systems.
Limit antimicrobial prophylaxis and metaphylaxis in animals and plants to well-defined situations, with a goal of significantly reducing use and ensuring that all use is under regulatory supervision and the direction of an authorized prescriber.
- 30-50% reduction in the total amount of antimicrobials used in the food and agriculture sectors from the current level.
This aspirational goal, not sector or country-specific, aims to contribute to a global reduction in the amount of antimicrobials used in agrifood production at the end of the ten years period. RENOFARM will monitor it only at the global and/or regional level through the ANImal antiMicrobial USE (ANIMUSE) Global database from WOAH.
- 100 countries participate in the initiative, with their NAPs for AMR fully implemented in Food and Agriculture.
Joining RENOFARM is voluntary. UN agencies, partners, corporations, Members, institutions, civil society, and any other global initiatives, are encouraged to join, as are the countries themselves. It is understood that there is no one-size-fits-all. Therefore, everyone will be able to participate in the capacity that most suits them at any time during the estimated ten years.
The 2020‒2021 Tripartite AMR Country Self-Assessment Survey (TRACSS) shows that, out of the 163 submitting countries, only a 20 per cent had identified funding sources and were implementing their national action plans in all relevant sectors with a defined M&E process in place. RENOFARM aims to increase the number to 100 at the end of the ten--year period, in those countries where NAPs for AMR are fully implemented in Food and Agriculture sectors.
- 50% animal/plant health workers trained.
Veterinarians and agrovet paraprofessionals play a pivotal role in this initiative. They are the main professionals supporting producers in transforming their systems. Hence, special attention will be given to support these professionals and producers alike.
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