Group of Friends of Food Security and Nutrition, Expert-level Meeting, Mission of Italy

Thank you for inviting me to this expert group meeting and giving us the opportunity to speak about the latest global trends in food and agriculture.   

Around 735 million people in the world faced chronic hunger. More than 3 billion people in the world are unable to afford a healthy diet. Conflicts, economic downturns and climate change continue to be the biggest challenges for food security.  

We are also witnessing a worsening of acute food insecurity due to conflicts. Conflict reduces agricultural productivity, displaces farmers from their lands, destroys agricultural assets, disrupts markets, supply chains and services, increases prices and can even introduce new risks for human health.  

The IPC reports from December and the latest FAO-WFP food security update published this month for Gaza and the Sudan point to very worrisome situations in both countries, and we are seeing unprecedented levels of acute hunger and famine-like conditions in Gaza specifically. 

Decisive action needs to be taken to address the challenges we face when it comes to food security and nutrition. 

Allow me to share with you actions that need to be taken by the international community: 

1. Prioritize investment to build resilient agrifood systems and ensure that the most vulnerable, including women, youth, indigenous peoples and rural farmers are able to cope with crisis and shock. These investments should also work towards ensuring a more diverse and productive agrifood systems. 
2. Foster inclusivity and create opportunities for the poor to increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods. 
3. Countries must re-allocate and re-purpose agricultural support towards the production of nutritious foods, which can improve access to healthy diets and provide strong incentives to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. 
4. Expand and innovate when it comes to social protection programmes, especially linking them to climate shocks, and scale-up conditional cash transfers.  
5. Harness technology and innovation as key drivers of productivity growth that are indispensable in the transition to a more sustainable pathway. 

Guided by its vision of 4 Betters, better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, FAO is dedicated to supporting the 2030 Agenda through the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems. 

FAO utilizes its flagship initiatives, including the Hand-In-Hand Initiative, the One Country One Priority Product initiative, “1000 Digital Villages” Initiative and the Green Cities initiative to accelerate achievement of SDGs relevant to FAO mandate and beyond. Thanks to our Hand in Hand investment forum, we have mobilized over $3 billion in resources and aim to keep increasing this amount.