Third Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture of the Americas

Third Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture of the Americas 

SPEECH BY FAO DIRECTOR-GENERAL DR QU DONGYU

15 April 2021

As delivered

 

Honorable Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture,

Distinguished Delegates,

1. I am pleased to join you in this dialogue today and thank Minister Tenorio for inviting me.

2. Having started my professional journey many years ago in Peru, as a young scientist working with the International Potato Center in Lima and I learned to appreciate the potential of agriculture in the Andes and the region as a whole.

3. Latin America and the Caribbean are truly a pillar for world food security.

4. They account for 14% of global food production, and an impressive 45% of net international agri-food trade.

5. In the 1960s, the Green Revolution grew out of Mexico, moved to Asia and from there to all corners of the world.

6. Your region was instrumental in ending famines all around the world.

7. Today Latin America and the Caribbean, have a new mission: to drive the necessary transformation so that we can feed 10 billion people by 2050.

8. For this, we need toincrease agriculture productivity in a sustainable agri-food system;

• with safe and healthy diets;
• using less water;
• preserving the precious tropical forests and the biodiversity of the Americas;
• regenerating soils;  
• emitting fewer greenhouse gases;
• sequestering millions of tons of carbon in soils, forests and oceans; and
• making sure that smallholder family farmers, indigenous peoples, and rural youth and women, can have a fair share of the opportunities and benefits of sustainable development.

9. I am convinced that by embracing transformation, your region can be a leader in shaping future
agri-food systems.

10. This will require enormous innovation: technological and scientific innovation, in particular digital technologies; and innovation of policies and institutions.

11. Innovation will require investments and partnerships, in which the private sector will have a prominent role to play.

12. This transformation is also the key to meeting the enormous challenge of overcoming the impacts of the pandemic.

13. In the region, hundreds of thousands have lost their lives, and many millions more have lost their livelihoods.

14. The economies of the hemisphere suffered the deepest recession in decades.

15. Agri-food systems must be a dynamic for social and economic recovery.

16. In many of your countries, the agri-food system as a whole, from the farm to the table of the consumer, is responsible for up to 50 % of total employment, and between 30 and 40 % of GDP, and in some countries, this figure is even higher.

17. Clearly, we need the engine of agri-food systems functioning at its full capacity.

18. You and your national and regional producers were instrumental in preventing the health crisis from becoming a food crisis.

19. Now, you need to be the architects of recovery, a recovery with transformation.

20. This will require large investments, and the question is will you rebuild the old, or will you invest in transforming agri-food systems, so that they become fit to meet present and future challenges.

21. Take the case of digital technologies.

22. The pandemic greatly increased the use of mobile phones to buy foods.

23. It also raised food safety and traceability standards, which are almost 100 % digitally based by now.

24. To avoid disruptions in the international supply chains, companies upgraded their logistics systems, making use of big data and artificial intelligence.

25. Investing to rebuild analogue solutions would be misguided, when the world has moved fast forward to digital technologies.

26. The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of agriculture and food production.

27. Like never before, millions of consumers show greater interest in the food on their table.

28. But there is a change. In these times of pandemic, consumers associate food with health and healthy diets became even more relevant.

29. Your region is a great producer of seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables: this growing demand for healthy foods is very good news for your region.

30. The pandemic has also enhanced the concern of humanity with the health of our planet.

31. Many of you are farmers or agronomists, and you know that nothing good can come out of production at the expense of our soils, our oceans, or our climate.

32. Markets will increasingly put a premium on agri-food systems that produce nutritious foods for a healthy planet.

33. Your region is rich with vast natural resources, including productive soils and fresh water, and with a diversity of ecosystems that house a wealth of biodiversity.

34. This is to the 21^st Century what oil was to the previous one.

35. Transformed, efficient agri-food systems of the Americas, with a small environmental and climatic footprint, will contribute to the recovery.

36. The renewed FAO is ready to work with you for this future.  

37. In order to serve you better, we have reformed our Headquarters structure last year, and 2021 is the year of transformation for our offices worldwide.

38. This process is well on its way.

39. The Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean is moving from a project-based to a programmatic approach that will allow us to be more efficient and have more impact on the ground.

40. We are also integrating the subregional and regional offices, cutting layers and breaking silos.

41. We are moving fast in creating the mechanisms that will allow our teams worldwide to work as a coherent One FAO.

42. We have launched the Hand-in-Hand initiative in six countries, including Peru, the country that is hosting today’s Hemispheric Meeting, and Ecuador, which will host our Regional Conference in March next year.

43. Three Hand-in-Hand countries are in Northern Central America, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and we are confident that this initiative will make a significant contribution in addressing the root causes of migration that grows out of despair and lack of opportunities.

44. With the support of different partners, by the end of this year, we will be channeling over 400 million dollars in investments in these three countries, and we expect to increase that, as Hand-in-Hand completes the development of portfolios of private and public investments.

45. Today, the digital FAO is a reality – with direct benefits for its Members.

46. I have asked the Regional Office to develop a knowledge platform on family farming as an instrument for global learning, knowledge management, South-South Cooperation, and to mobilize new investments. 

47. Furthermore, our One Thousand Digital Villages initiative is well underway in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 15 participating countries in the first phase.

48. These digital villages will enable farmers to use digital technologies, information and communication tools to promote local sustainable development.

49. With the support of our Chief Scientist, the region has approved its new Innovation and Digitalization Action Plan.

50. In a short time, every single FAO project in Latin America and the Caribbean will make a concrete, tangible contribution the transformation of agri-food systems and rural societies.

51. These are deeds and actions, not only words or promises. We have mobilized the necessary resources to turn these plans into realities on the ground.

52. In fact, in the present biennium, the voluntary contributions for our work in Latin America and the Caribbean will grow by 75 % at least.

53. I thank all resource partners that have placed such great trust in FAO.

Honorable Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture;

54. As you know, we have presented a new Strategic Framework that will guide FAO’s work in the next decade.

55. The strategy is grounded in the Agenda 2030, with a primary emphasis on SDG 1, no poverty, SDG 2, zero hunger and SDG 10, reduced inequalities.

56. We have set out four ambitions – the Four Betters -, which also reflect our ambitions for the region’s agri-food systems: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life.

57. And in order to accelerate progress and maximize our efforts in meeting the SDGs and to realize the four betters - FAO will apply four cross-sectional “accelerators” in all our programmatic interventions: technology, innovation, data and complements (governance, human capital, and institutions).

58. Sustainably feeding close to 10 billion people by 2050 is an unprecedented challenge with a crucial role for your region to play.

59. You can count on FAO to be at your side, as you build a bright future for the region and contribute to making the world free of hunger and malnutrition.

60. Thank you.