FAO Global Conference on One Health in Agrifood Systems Opening Remarks

Your Excellency the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania,

Honourable Ministers,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

Good morning from Rome at FAO Headquarters.

I am so pleased to open this Global Conference on One Health in Agrifood Systems.

This event brings together High-Level Government Representatives, with scientists, farmers, Indigenous Peoples, youth and civil society from around the world.

This diversity is the very essence of One Health leading to Overall Health.

One Health is an approach - Overall Health is our goal as human beings (Acronym is the same OH in English).

As I have often said: One Health is a farmer's agenda, a scientist's agenda, and a Minister's agenda,

And is cross-cutting to ministries responsible for agriculture, environment, finance, and health, among others, and requires working together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner.

One Health begins on the farm, in a barn, in a field, in a forest, in rivers and oceans— wherever animals, plants, and people share the same air, soil and water. 

One Health starts where life is interconnected.

And nowhere is that more visible than in our agrifood systems.

For more than 80 years, FAO has been working at this intersection, but too often that work has remained divided across sectors, plans, and budgets. I am so encouraged by the leadership of The Honourable Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, who previously has also been the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Agriculture.

He knows well that we cannot only speak of Vitamins A, B and C, we also need Vitamin M – Money! Vitamin M is critical for agriculture, but unfortunately the Ministers of Agriculture are always the poorest – with unlimited responsibility and limited resources!

No matter how big the country – even in the United States of America - no matter how big the budget, only a small amount gets allocated to agriculture. I was also the Vice Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in China and know what it means to fight for more finances to assist the most vulnerable. That is why, over the past seven years since taking office as FAO Director-General, I have worked day and night for smallholder farmers, for the most vulnerable, and trying to support my fellow agriculture ministers as much as possible. I always tell them, you are too humble! Remember, we are not asking for money for ourselves, but for those who need us the most.

One Health is our common mission. One Health is not a new agenda item, it is a different, holistic approach to making decisions.

The FAO One Health in Agrifood Systems Framework brings these connections together, breaking down silos, and turning shared knowledge into collective action.

It allows us to think systemically, find solutions together, act jointly, and progress together.

These principles underline FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-31 and our commitment to transform agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable,

Under the overall arch of the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life - leaving no one behind.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Healthy soil is where food security and feed safety begin. For animal production and value chain, we need to start with feed safety first, and then you can enjoy safe animal products. That is the starting point; the entry point for animal health is feed safety. This is science-based.

But when soil is degraded, crops and feed become weaker, ecosystems, people and animals become more vulnerable, putting nutrition and livelihoods at risk.

Plants provide 80 percent of the calories we consume.

Yet, pests and diseases destroy up to 40 percent of global crop production each year, at a cost of over USD 220 billion.

Poor water quality carries pathogens between animals and people, increasing reliance on antimicrobials, which in turn leads to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). That’s why over the years I have emphasized that we cannot work on zoonotic disease or AMR alone, we need to work holistically. Prevention and preparedness are key – starting with healthy plants, healthy animals, healthy water and healthy soils.

The same inter-connections run through our crops, forests, fisheries and oceans.

Despite progress, our agrifood systems are still failing too many people.

 In 2025, 645 million people faced hunger, and 2.7 billion people could not afford a healthy diet.

These numbers point to inter-connected challenges – and call for inter-connected solutions – One Health solutions!

For every USD 1 invested in a One Health approach to AMR could have a return of around USD 11 in ten years’ time. We need to start with healthy feed, for healthy food, for a healthy life.

Prevention is not a cost – it is an investment.

FAO, together with our Members, is already acting on this principle.

2026 is the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists — recognizing the vital links between livestock, land (soil), livelihoods and ecosystem health.

It is also the International Year of the Woman Farmer, highlighting the critical role of women in One Health - safeguarding human nutrition, animal welfare and ecosystem health through stewardship of land, livestock and food production.

Two months ago, Members endorsed a proposed UN Decade on Soil Health, from 2031 to 2040. We need to start from the ground!

And in July, the One Health in Agrifood Systems Forum in Hainan, China, produced the Sanya Consensus - calling for stronger research, innovation, investment and technology exchange to bring One Health solutions to villages, communities and cities, aiming at Overall Health.

We need to take one small step foreward for One Health, and it will lead to one giant leap forward for Overall Health of mankind!

Dear Colleagues,

Today we are taking another important step forward as we launch Sustainable Livestock Transformation and One Health Intelligence & Knowledge Hub.

The Hub will connect data, knowledge, analytics and tools to strengthen early warning, preparedness and evidence-based decision-making - linking information across sectors and turning knowledge into action.

But we cannot achieve this alone.

We need to change how we research, govern, plan and invest.

That is why Ministers from across different ministries are sitting at the same table this week - as co-owners of the same, shared agenda.

And it is why farmers, Indigenous Peoples, youth, scientists, civil society and the private sector are also sitting here with us.

Ministries are bureaucratic! They sit together, alone, without bringing all the stakeholders to the table. That is why I established the World Food Forum, and the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative – to bring all partners together, working together to achieve our collective goals. We cannot work alone!

One Health requires everyone to play its role and to contribute by actions.

The outcomes of this Global Conference must go beyond Rome.

On Friday, the United Nations will convene its High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in New York. I will be there, and look forward to discussions with my colleagues in the other UN agencies, as well as with the President of the General Assembly from Bangladesh – but not just to talk, but to do concrete things, together!

We must ensure that the message from Rome is clear: there can be no effective pandemic prevention without One Health.

And there can be no effective One Health without transformation of agrifood systems. One Health comprises the five Fs: Food, Feed, Friendly environment, bioFuels and Fibre.

Dear Colleagues,

One Health in Agrifood Systems is everyone's health, everyone's responsibility, and everyone's action.

Let us leave this Global Conference with three commitments:

First: Integration

Break down the institutional silos that separate agriculture, health, environment and finance.

Second: Investment

In farmers and other agrifood system actors, in the health of our natural resource base, and in integrated research and knowledge for better decision-making.

And Third: Action.

Take One Health from global commitments to farms, communities, laboratories, markets and cities.

Let’s move from principles to practice, from dialogue to delivery, and from commitment to concrete action.

I wish you a good meeting with real, impactful outcomes!

Thank you.