Accelerating joint actions towards building better future food systems World Economic Forum’s Board of Stewards for the Food Systems Initiative

Accelerating joint actions towards building better future food systems

 

World Economic Forum’s Board of Stewards for the Food Systems Initiative

8 June 2020

Virtual Meeting

 

Dr QU Dongyu

FAO Director-General

 

 

Fellow Stewards, colleagues:

 

COVID-19 has focused even greater attention on the fragilities and vulnerabilities of many of our food systems.

Before COVID-19, we knew that many food systems fell short of the aspirations of the 2030 Agenda.

Poverty and hunger remain entrenched and obesity with its health and economic costs is rising rapidly.

Food systems contribute up to 29 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions and have been a key driver of biodiversity loss.

The importance of preserving environmental resources and biodiversity to maintain the buffer capacity of nature against diseases such as COVID-19 has now been widely recognized, and although COVID-19 is not a food-borne disease, the pandemic reminds us that food safety considerations must be integral to food systems transformation. 

 

Impacts and responses during the pandemic

During the pandemic we have observed many challenges for producers, especially those involved in the production of higher value perishable products.

Demand from the food service sector and public institutions such as schools effectively disappeared as lockdown measures were implemented. 

Other producers have been unable to deliver product to markets.

For many producers, these lost markets have been compounded by other shocks, whether climate related or the locust outbreaks in Africa and Asia.

With reduced revenues, producers are facing significant liquidity constraints which will result in reduced levels of productivity in the coming growing seasons.

We have also seen increases in the number of households that are vulnerable to food insecurity, not just in those locations that we traditionally associate with hunger, but in some of the richest cities worldwide.

With forecasts of a significant and prolonged global downturn, we need to monitor the impacts on vulnerable groups.

We need to be able to target the most vulnerable and identify where the new hunger hotspots are likely to arise.

At FAO, we have been monitoring these impacts to help inform actions of governments and other food systems actors to mitigate the risks of a global food crisis.

This includes FAO’s new Big Data lab which gathers and analyses real time information showing the pandemic’s impact on food prices, value chains, and food security.

But while we often focus our attention on the primary producer and consumer ends of the supply chain, we should also recognize how quickly many actors throughout the food system have been able to respond to the crisis.

This is most evident in the middle part of the value chain – from post-harvest management to processing, from distribution and trade to retail.

Many agri-food enterprises have moved away from business-as-usual approaches.

They are using alternative input sourcing channels, creating new and more localized markets, changing inventory management systems, staggering their investment plans, and reviewing staff occupational health and safety practices in the workplace.

 

An opportunity to build better food systems

 

We need to better understand how these shifts and innovations will play into our efforts to set a leadership agenda for the longer-term recovery phase that results in a different way of doing business

Short term adjustments will have longer-term implications for organizational and social innovations in food systems and for the use of technology:

 

• automatization of production and processing,
• digitalization of cash payments and voucher distribution,
• e-commerce linking producers directly to markets.

 

How do we ensure that this happens in a way that is inclusive of all food systems stakeholders?

Similarly, the promotion of shorter supply chains can improve resilience and reduce losses in food systems.

But this must be complemented with more efficient, lower cost trade to ensure adequate supply of strategic food products in net importing countries and to provide viable markets for net exporters.

In creating new market opportunities, accelerating intra-regional trade will provide significant opportunities for adding value locally - lifting millions out of poverty

 

But it is also critical that efforts are made to keep global food trade open, using platforms such as the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) to inform well informed and transparent market responses. 

To sum up, it is critical to commit to collective actions to catalyze food systems transformation that increases resilience to shocks, ensures individuals’ health and wellbeing, while at the same time promoting environmental sustainability.

We have an opportunity to collectively define the path to food systems transformation, both during and after the current crisis, and to commit together to building more inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems. 

At FAO we are committed to supporting this process and look forward to our joint efforts.

Let’s work together, learn together and contribute together!

Thank you