Africa Regional Review Meeting - Session 1: Ministerial Dialogue: Lessons Learned and Building Back Better

FAO Director-General Dr. QU Dongyu

Preparations for the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5)

Africa Regional Review Meeting

22 – 26 February 2021

Session 1: Ministerial Dialogue: Lessons Learned and Building Back Better

22 February, 2021

As delivered

 

Excellencies,

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

1. Africa is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 and the challenges are more prominent for the region’s Least Developed Countries.

2. The latest report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, produced by FAO with other UN partners, paints a stark picture of the food security situation in Africa’s Least Developed Countries.

3. In 2019, even before the pandemic, there were 235 million hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa.

4. The prevalence of undernourishment is highest in Africa - more than twice the global average.

5. These trends are more worrisome for Least Developed Countries with a prevalence of undernourishment of 23%, which is 4 points higher than the African average. 

6. Furthermore, most Least Developed Countries are located in Africa: 33 out of 46.

7. COVID-19 is threatening food security, nutrition and economies in sub-Saharan Africa in unprecedented ways as my colleagues have already mentioned several times.

8. The pandemic and measures to control the spread of the disease disrupted food systems and triggered socio-economic impacts.

9. No doubt, the pandemic has become a significant threat to ending extreme poverty and eradicating hunger in Africa, and risks wiping out the modest gains made towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the Malabo Declaration and Agenda 2063.

10. We need to take bold and urgent action to protect and enhance the resilience of the most vulnerable populations, particularly those in least developed countries.

11. It is a priority to ensure the functioning of domestic agriculture and food value chains and to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on agriculture, food systems and livelihoods of the rural area poor.

12. Without such actions, we risk that the current public health crisis becomes a food and economic crisis.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

13. Food and agriculture hold the key to realizing the 2030 Agenda, as agriculture is the most inclusive and efficient tool to end poverty and hunger.

14. We seek to attain these goals by working for better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life for all – the four betters.

15. FAO is well positioned as a professional UN organization, knowledge hub and facilitator to assist all countries in realizing the goals of the 2030 Agenda, in particular ending poverty, hunger and malnutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture.

16. We established the Office of Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries to ensure that the special needs of these vulnerable populations are met.

17. This dedicated Office coordinates existing resources, cutting across all technical departments and decentralized networks to ensure comprehensive attention and a coherent approach towards SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs.

18. We launched the “Hand-in-Hand Initiative” to accelerate agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development to end poverty, hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

19. This evidence-based, country-led and country-owned initiative also contributes to the attainment of all the other Sustainable Development Goals.

20. The Initiative builds on state-of-the-art tools, including the Hand in Hand Geospatial Platform, the Data Lab for statistical innovation and Big Data tools like Earth Map.

21. FAO strongly believes in the potential of science. Its power must be harnessed to promote agri-food systems transformation. I am glad to hear the honorable President mentions that Malawi also needs to transform your agricultural food systems to feed the demand of the consumers and farmers, and social-economic development.

22. We established an Office for Innovation, to facilitate the adoption of innovative approaches and the use of modern science and technologies including digital solutions.

23. This Office will further consolidate and strengthen FAO’s innovative spirit, including innovation of mind set, innovation of cooperation models, and innovation of application by digitalization.

24. Concrete consolidated efforts are needed to enable the LDCs to reap the full benefit of modern technologies and digital applications.

25. FAO, in collaboration with other partners at country, regional and global level, acted swiftly to help countries take decisive action in response to COVID-19.

26. Within this holistic global Programme, FAO developed the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme for Africa to ensure that the region has a well-articulated and coordinated approach for dealing with the challenge.

27. The programme identifies seven priority areas of work that are being discussed with the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities and Members to ensure alignment with regional and country priorities.

28. True transformation requires the inclusion of stakeholders and key actors – and the private sector has an important role to play in this.

29. That is why, we introduced a modern Strategy for Private Sector Engagement.

30. It allows for expanded areas of mutually-beneficial collaboration, such as technology and innovation, data, investment and innovative financing, while also tailoring the modalities to specific contexts.

Ladies and gentlemen,

31. The challenges are enormous. We must transform agri-food systems to feed a growing population and provide healthy, affordable diets for everyone.

32. We need to do so in a way that is economically profitable and environmentally friendly.

33. Momentum is building towards the United Nations Food Systems Summit to catalyze global efforts for inclusive, healthy agri-food systems.

34. Effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic require focused attention on this transformation of agri-food systems - to ‘build back better’ through higher productivity, diversification, greater resilience, nutrition-smart interventions and supporting a vibrant private sector, including Small to Medium Enterprises, to create quality jobs and enable recovery.

35. Taking an agri-food systems approach to building back better requires innovation and enhanced use of technologies and digitalization to address the complexities of the 2030 Agenda.

36. It also requires partnerships, not only with government, private, civil society, or academia. We also need to learn and share our experiences among us LDCs.

37. Let’s rise to the historic challenge and do so holistically and coherently!

38. Thank you, over to you.