LESOTHO UN Strategic Dialogue on Agrifood Systems in Lesotho High Level Side Event: “Deepening collaboration to accelerate the attainment of Sustainable, Resilient, and Inclusive Food Systems in Lesotho to mitigate future shocks” Statement

Your Majesty the King of Lesotho,

The Right Honourable Prime Minister,

Successful Entrepreneurs,

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Supporters, Donors, and Colleagues from across the UN system,

Let me start by commending the Government of Lesotho, and the UN Team in the country for this timely strategic dialogue on agrifood systems, particularly within the context of the Bi-centennial Celebrations.

I hope that 200 years from now, the people will remember what has happened today, when they enjoy prosperity and modernization.

Previously, in my work as a scientist, I had to often speak to the public and provide theoretic explanations. But today, I want to provide you with a simple definition of what food security means.

Food security refers to food availability, food accessibility and food affordability. This comprises the three layers of the food pyramid worldwide - and in all countries of the world you will find some issues with one of these layers.

The first layer is quality foods. This is the largest category and comprises staple food such as wheat, rice, corn, and – especially in Africa, casava. This first layer represents your minimum food security

The second level is nutritious foods. The nutritional value of food should consist not only of carbohydrates, but also proteins - both animal and vegetable protein - as well as vitamins.

The third level is healthy foods. For healthy food you need to have a good balance of foods, it is balanced in function.

I hope this simple introduction has provided a clear explanation of what is food security.

Lesotho's designation of August as "Food Month" - which reflects the importance given to food security as one of the most important issues highlighted by His Majesty the King and the whole government of Lesotho -  presents an important opportunity to highlight the importance of the agrifood system as key for achieving the national objectives of food and nutrition security, and to achieving the broader Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

All 17 SDGs need the collaboration of everyone: from the government to the private sector, to civil society, to the ordinary people, as well as the international diplomats gathered here – you provide an important bridge to bring all people together. We need to all work together as a big team.

This dedicated month provides an ideal platform to explore innovative solutions and collaborations to address the challenges affecting agrifood systems.

By the way, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar (7th Month) this month also represents a celebration of the harvest, and it starts a period of two weeks during which we remember our ancestors. It reminds us that it is important every day to remember where we come from and where we are going, and to appreciate what you have.

So, across the continents we share the same humanity, the same common value to appreciate our ancestors, and to appreciate the foods we produce.

I wish to salute His Majesty the King for his decision to dedicate August – according to the western calendar - as the month of food.

Today’s event brings together key decision-makers and partners, and all friends, to discuss how to support Lesotho first, from Lesotho, beyond Lesotho to Africa and other parts of the world – this is the real value, vision and mandate of FAO, and of the other UN agencies.

FAO’s participation today - represented by this high-level delegation consisting of three Assistant Directors-General - shows our appreciation and support for the Kingdom of Lesotho.

You must work together firstly to establish good practices, and to then share these practices with other countries, especially in Africa. 

We are here working together with our collective commitment to end hunger and poverty in Lesotho, in line with our distinctive yet interlinked mandates.

Africa is facing a serious of complex and overlapping challenges, especially over the past five years, due to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and others, which are impacting food security and preventing it from nourishing a growing population.

The 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report - released by FAO and other UN agencies, including our sister agencies IFAD and WFP, in Brazil just two weeks ago at the G20 Development Ministers Meeting - shows that global levels of hunger and food insecurity have remained at the same high levels for three consecutive years, confirming we are at a standstill.

More than 730 million people worldwide faced hunger in 2023, and more than 2.3 billion were moderately or severely food insecure when we look at the health diets level.

Without an immediate transformative change, it is projected that 580 million people will be hungry in 2030.

In Africa, hunger has been steadily rising since 2015, and in 2024 Africa was the region with the largest percentage of the population facing hunger - more than 20%.

The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity stood at 58% - nearly double the global average.

The challenges facing Southern Africa in achieving food security are significant. However, through collaborative efforts and a focus on long-term solutions, we can build a future where everyone has access to safe and nutritious food.

This 'Food Month' presents a valuable opportunity to turn this crisis into a catalyst for positive change.

Of course we need to identify the solutions needed for the change. We need innovative, creative solutions. If we follow a business-as-usual approach, it will not work.

During the past three days I had a lot of discussions with representatives  from all sectors and levels of government, including His Majesty the King, the Right Honourable Prime Minister and His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture, and we tried to identify what are the real, concrete game-changing solutions with which we can start to provide a small yet consistent support, leading to big impactful change.

That’s my aim. And my request to all of you is to think together, learning together, and working together, so that finally we can all contribute together.

Our focus is on accelerating the transformation of Southern Africa's agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

This must not just be an aspiration – it is a priority for the region. It is critical and we need critical action, now.

Dear Colleagues,

This event will be a catalyst for deeper collaboration with the UN system, under the political coordination of the Resident Coordinator. I recently met her for the first time and got the sense that she is really hands-on, in touch with the ground. I encourage all our sister agencies to support her. We need the political coordination and more professional deliverables on the ground.

We should work as One UN, as one big team. We have no time to waste, we have to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

Of course we need resources, even though Lesotho is not big, it has a strong leadership, industrious people and a favourable environment – this is your comparable advantage on which you can build up your confidence and strength to find the solutions leading to concrete actions.

To enable us to better address the root causes of food insecurity in Lesotho, let me first provide you with some general thoughts and then some concrete suggestions for you to debate upon:

• First: we need to look at the existing Nutritional Deficiencies, based on the data provided by FAO and other UN agencies, especially the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Report. The situation in Lesotho is not very promising, and we have to do more to change the situation;
• Second: Limited Youth Employment;
• Third: Unequal Economic Participation;
• Fourth: Limited Private Sector Investment: and
• Fifth: the Climate Crisis which is causing extreme weather events.

With regard to the latter, we must prioritize "climate-adapting" agriculture and building climate resilience, including through strategies such as by introducing improved drought tolerant crops, livestock varieties; improved irrigation, and new commodities production.

We must focus on the three “Rs”: Reducing resources usage, especially water; Recycling; and Re-utilizing.

Subsequently, we need to urgently revisit and re-design the agrifood system based on the Lesotho plateaus and mountains.

You have a unique advantage that other African countries don’t have: Lesotho is regarded as the “water tower” of Southern Africa due to the abundance of water resources - but we need to focus on how to use this advantage at the local community level.

Yesterday, I met with local government leaders, and they have a lot of technical solutions that are already applied in other parts of the world. Now you should focus on new industries like aquaculture and functional food production.

Now, I want to come to a concrete solution: due to the high mountain level of your country you can develop bamboo terraced greenbelts to stop soil erosion, intercropping with potato seedtuber production and other bulb crops like onions.

We need the technical solutions, but we also need donors to support them.

Amongst the cash crops you have, you could develop small reservoirs for aquaculture and aquatic foods production along with the different valleys.

When we were planning the UN Food Systems Summit, together with the UN Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General, we agreed to focus on aquatic foods, not only aquaculture – aquatic foods are much broader and can effectively impact on food security and nutrition.

This could be a comparative advantage for Lesotho, with a holistic design for the country, with different focuses in different parts of the country.  

I look forward to the debate which will follow. As Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) for eight years, I was used to having to face thousands of scientists and I know how to appreciate the ideas thrown at me because it is only through scientific debate that we find real solutions – it’s a true participatory approach.

When you have concrete solutions on the ground, it gives you ownership, which remains even once governments change. This is where true revolutionary change starts.

Your Majesty, this is my contribution to your invitation.

Dear Colleagues,

Collaboration is key in addressing regional food security challenges, while prioritizing national objectives, as reflected in the FAO Country Programming Framework.

This Framework, together with the other UN agencies’ strategies, are complementary in ensuring that Lesotho achieves its national objectives of defeating poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

Yesterday, for the first time since taking office, I witnessed the simultaneous signing of three Technical Cooperation Programmes (TCPs) – this reflects small but concrete support to lead the change.

I hope that the relevant partners can work more closely, supporting His Majesty the King and the Right Honourable Prime Minister.

This is FAO’s commitment. You can count on FAO, and you can count on me.

Let us continue to work together as One UN, and one family on this planet because we should all look after each other on this planet for a  better future for all.

Thank you.