SDG Fund - Food and sustainable development: an open conversation with the Roca Brothers

 

 

 

 

SDG Fund

Food and sustainable development: an open conversation with the Roca Brothers

Remarks on behalf of the Rome-based agencies FAO, IFAD and WFP

18 January 2016, UNHQ, ECOSOC Chamber

 

Thank you for giving the floor.

 

I would like to thank the SDG-Fund for organizing this event.

 

Today I am speaking on behalf of FAO, IFAD and WFP. We are partners in promoting food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture for all. And we are partners of the SDG-Fund, participating individually or together in 14 out of the 20 SDG-Fund Joint Programmes in implementation.

 

Working together, and with partners such as the Roca Brothers chefs, we can realise the vision of a world free from hunger and malnutrition set out by the United Nations Secretary-General in his Zero Hunger Challenge and fulfil the commitment of the 2030 Development Agenda to leave no one behind.

 

Food is necessary for life and a part of our heritage. The work of chefs like the Roca Brothers highlights anew this personal relationship with food, that recalls where we grew up and the diverse foods that we ate.

 

It also highlights how, nowadays our diets are increasingly dominated by just a few crops. In fact, today, three crops – rice, maize and wheat - count for over 40 percent of the world’s food calorie supply.

 

We must rekindle our personal relationship with food, diversify diets, shift to more sustainable and diverse food systems, preserve biodiversity, and increase food security and nutrition, by rediscovering minor crops and neglected or under-utilized species.

 

Let me give you an example of how we can do this, an example that those gathered here helped make happen: quinoa.  

 

The 2013 International Year of Quinoa introduced to the world a crop with great nutritional value and environmental adaptability that was virtually unknown outside a few countries.

 

And, like quinoa, there are many other nutritious forgotten and minor crops waiting to be rediscovered.

 

In cases such as quinoa, recovering these crops also recognizes the contribution of rural and indigenous populations to sustainable development. It can also promote improved food security and nutrition and create income generating opportunities.

 

To make this work we need to combine traditional knowledge and science, technology and innovation. The Roca Brothers are part of this effort to diversify our diets and recover traditional crops, transforming them into something new, attractive, and healthy.

 

For example, Joan Roca contributed a “Quinoa salad with red fruits” recipe to the International Cookbook for Quinoa: Tradition and Innovation. This was one of the initiatives that promoted quinoa during its International Year.

 

If you are interested in trying out its different quinoa recipes, you can scan and download the book from the QR cards available in the room.

 

To celebrate this year’s International Year of Pulses we also brought you a cookbook on pulses.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

As a final point, I would like to speak briefly on the kind of policies that can support a movement towards healthier, and more sustainable and inclusive food systems.

 

There are many different ways to do this   and I want to emphasize the importance of family farming. Family farmers already produce most of the food consumed in the world. At the same time, however, over 70 percent of the world’s food insecure people live in rural areas.

 

Investing in family farming and small-scale production contributes to healthier, and more sustainable and inclusive food systems, and also to improved food security and nutrition.

 

Support can come in various forms, through strengthening of farmers’ organizations, facilitating their access to markets and financial services, ensuring access to quality seeds, agricultural inputs and technologies that respond to their needs and build on the knowledge they possess.

 

Finally, I want to emphasize that the benefits of supporting family farmers also has an effect on their communities. And there are ways to strengthen this positive impact, for instance, by linking family farming to school meal and cash transfer programs. This creates new markets for family farmers and ensures locally produced, healthy and fresh meals for schoolchildren.

 

Thank you for your attention.