WORLD FOOD DAY 2022 Side Event: “Agricultural Aid - A game plan to tackle the hunger crisis” Opening Remarks
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
13/10/2022
WORLD FOOD DAY 2022
Side Event: “Agricultural Aid - A game plan to tackle the hunger crisis”
Opening Remarks
By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
13 October 2022
Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. As 2030 nears, we are moving further and further away from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
2. Across the world, acute food insecurity is increasing and intensifying as multiple global and local shocks overlap.
3. Currently, Somalia is the most extreme example with famine projected from this month, but there are many other contexts in which people are dying of hunger,
4. And the current trends are daunting.
5. Up to 222 million people are experiencing high acute food insecurity this year,
6. With 1 in 5 who do not have enough to eat and are facing immediate threat of severe malnourishment and death.
7. A further nearly 1 million people will be in famine-like conditions without urgent humanitarian assistance.
8. The situation is dire, but it is not hopeless.
9. There is time to turn it around and bring back from the brink of hunger those who have been left behind.
10. FAO believes that investments in agriculture and in resilient agrifood systems can make the difference.
11. People in crisis situations do have a livelihood on which they depend.
12. They have knowledge and skills,
13. And above all, they have a desire to preserve and improve their agricultural livelihoods, to provide for their families.
14. To create new opportunities and to thrive.
15. In the middle of crisis, agriculture offers hope, and solutions.
16. At least 2 out of every 3 persons experiencing acute food insecurity today are rural people - they are farmers, herders, fishers and foresters.
17. And they are particularly exposed to the impacts of extreme weather or violent conflict.
18. Social protection systems that provide essential safety nets in times of shock, often do not reach rural populations, and especially rural women.
19. At FAO we are committed to help them continue producing, to help them produce better, to help them produce more nutritious food and to safeguard their lives, their livelihoods and their future.
20. Yet, only 8% of humanitarian funding is channelled to urgent time-sensitive agricultural assistance in emergencies.
21. Planting seasons are being missed, and livestock – a unique and vital source of nutrition, particularly for children – are left to die,
22. While funds are directed to meet other priorities.
23. Clearly, a new approach is needed to stop and sustainably reverse these hunger trends.
24. It is time for a rethink.
25. Prioritization, programming, advocacy and funding allocations should be evidence-based, and guided by people’s needs and priorities.
26. If our current way of dealing with humanitarian, and more specifically food crises, is not contributing to effective solutions, then this is part of the problem!
27. Today’s event is an opportunity to look at how we can change the humanitarian game plan to better meet people’s needs and priorities,
28. To address the root causes of the multiple crises they are facing, and ultimately help them to lead their own recovery and strengthen their resilience in the face of inevitable shocks.
29. I wish you impactful and solutions based discussions!
30. Thank you.