UNFSS+4 OPENING CEREMONY Statement

Your Excellency the UN Deputy Secretary-General,

Your Excellency the Prime Minister of Ethiopia,

Your Excellency the Prime Minister of Italy,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to be with you here in Addis Ababa for this second Stocktake after the successful first Stocktake in Italy held at FAO In 2023 — four years after the UN Food Systems Summit brought agrifood systems transformation to the centre of the global agenda.

My sincere thanks to our hosts, the Governments of Ethiopia for UNFSS+4, and Italy for UNFSS+2 and as FAO host country since 1951, for convening this dialogue at such a pivotal time.

Agrifood systems offer solutions for food security and nutritional improvement, adaptation and mitigation to climate crisis, efficient use of nature resources, and equity.

The problems are not only a source of challenges — they are also powerful engines of opportunity.

Countries that act across these inter-connected dimensions are already seeing returns: in resilience, food security, and economic growth, among others.

Since 2021, governments have moved from commitment to implementation — redesigning policies, aligning sectors, and shifting investments.

Transformation is underway, including right here in Ethiopia. With FAO’s support, net export countries for wheat and post-harvest grain losses have been reduced by up to 40 percent in some areas, directly boosting food security and incomes.

This Stocktake is essential for the urgent need to accelerate our efforts in transforming agrifood systems.

The global context has shifted dramatically. Shocks are more frequent and more complex, and the path forward demands stronger political will, strategic partnerships, and bold investments.

Allow me to share three thoughts that could help us move from vision to action:

First: Youth should be recognized as the drivers of agrigood systems transformation.

Youth are the next generation of producers, processors, service providers and policymakers. They bring energy, innovation, and a deep stake in a more sustainable future.

Earlier this month, FAO released the first-ever global assessment on Youth in Agrifood Systems, which revealed that 85 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion youth live in low- and lower-middle-income countries – in regions where agrifood systems are central to employment and livelihoods.

Forty-four percent of working youth are engaged in agrifood-related jobs, yet over 20 percent are not in employment, education, or training – and young women are disproportionately affected.

In the coming decade, 1.2 billion youth will enter the job market, but we risk leaving many behind. Closing the gap could boost global GDP by USD 1.5 trillion—with nearly half of that growth coming from agrifood systems.

That translates into more inclusive access to land, finance, markets, education, and especially decision-making spaces for youth and young women.

Second: Technology and Innovation are key to overcoming systemic barriers.

We must embrace innovation to address the many challenges threatening our agrifood systems - from the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, to hunger and market volatility.

Science, technology, and innovation are not optional, they are essential accelerators. And they are fundamental to turning challenges into opportunities.

Since 2021, FAO has well established the World Food Forum (WFF) with its three pillars: Hand in Hand investment; Science and Innovation; and Empowerment of youth and women. And we also launched the Agrifood Systems Technologies and Innovations Outlook (ATIO), a global platform to track innovative trends and provide evidence for scaling impactful solutions.

From AI and digital agriculture to climate-smart farming and precision technologies, we are working to unlock the potential of innovation across the value chain.

Scaling innovation requires investment—and partnerships. That is where FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative, bringing together 80 Members, now plays a vital role.

This country-led initiative uses geospatial targeting and data analysis to direct investment where it is needed most. From USD 1.5 billion in 2022, the Hand-in-Hand-supported investment has grown to over USD 4.5 billion in 2024.

And Third: we need to have enabling policies on agrifood systems, with rural development as a priority, and putting the basic human right of the Right to Food at the foundation of all our work.

We must ground our efforts in human dignity and humanity.

The right to food provides a normative framework for making agrifood systems more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient, more sustainable, and more equitable.

It emphasizes transparency, participation, and accountability—principles we must apply when designing policies, allocating resources, and building institutions.

To operationalize all these actions, the G20 under Brazil’s Presidency launched the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty—a multi-stakeholder platform that mobilizes coordinated financing and technical assistance aligned with national priorities, and with technical assistance by FAO.

FAO has proudly served as a technical backbone since 2021 — helping countries turn their national pathways into coherent, integrated action.

As the UN’s lead specialized agency on agrifood systems, we support transformation in over 120 countries — not just with advice, but with tools, science, data, and smart investment.

We help countries align agrifood systems transformation with national development plans, agricultural strategies, climate targets, biodiversity priorities, and nutrition goals.

FAO’s flagship initiatives like the Hand-in-Hand, One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) and the Digital Villages connect food production with markets, value chain, higher productivity, profitability and sustainability.

Our approach is systematic — identifying strategic entry points where action can generate broader change.

Trade-offs exist, but so do powerful synergies. That’s how we drive progress across the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life — leaving no one behind.

The Four Betters are not just a vision — they are a results framework, helping us track whether agrifood systems are delivering on their fundamental promise: good food for all, for today and tomorrow.

We know fragmented approaches create bottlenecks, and countries are showing that systems thinking works — by creating shared visions, coordinating across sectors, and delivering actions with co-benefits.

The challenge now is not only action, but acceleration.

Are we scaling fast enough? Are we joining efforts? From FAO’s side, the answer is yes.  We can do more and better together.

We are adapting how we operate, how we invest, and how we measure results.

We are making systems transformation the new normal — hand in hand with governments, investors, academia, civil society, and the private sectors.

To support this, FAO co-led the 2024 Financing Flows and Food Crises report — providing critical guidance to align funding with the most urgent needs and highest-impact opportunities,

And we are hosting the support mechanism of the Global Alliance Against Poverty and Hunger to accelerate the implementation of best practices.

Transformation is not a distant ambition. It is already happening. But the pace, scale, and coordination of our collective action will determine whether we succeed.

Let us commit to learning, to designing, to delivering and to scaling together.

The path to more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agrifood systems is clear. The time to act is now.

Let us use this Stocktake to reflect and act boldly, and to strengthen our partnerships to turn vision into action.

Together, we can ensure that the transformation of global agrifood systems becomes a shared reality—for people, for planet, and for generations to come.

Thank you.