Transforming agrifood systems more urgent than ever with only seven agricultural seasons to 2030

The need to transition to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems was the core message shared by FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol to Member States and UN partners in New York this week in remarks to the Group of Friends on Food Security and Nutrition and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Coordination Segment 2023.

"Never has there been such a need for the work of an organization like FAO”, emphasized the Deputy Director-General, noting the impacts of COVID-19, climate change, conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, and economic slowdowns and downturns in progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda. She added: “We need all hands-on deck if we are to get the world back on track.”

Bechdol reaffirmed FAO’s search for excellence in delivering the results that its Members and rural communities need. She enumerated institutional improvements that are making the organization more fit-for-purpose, forward-looking, and capable of realizing the potential of agrifood systems to achieve SDG 2 on Zero Hunger and the Sustainable Development Goals at large. FAO is committed to working with the UN System and other partners to get there, including by hosting the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, Bechdol reaffirmed.

A forward-looking agenda on food crisis response, advancing Food Systems Summit commitments 

Chaired by the Permanent Representation of Italy to the United Nations, the Group of Friends on Food Security and Nutrition convened last week to discuss the response to food crises and the follow-up to the UN Food Systems Summit in the context of the upcoming SDG Summit.

Speaking on FAO’s scaled-up assistance in the face of global food insecurity, Bechdol framed the importance of working collectively from a lens of closely interwoven social, economic, environmental, and technological components that make up a food and agriculture system.

“Agrifood systems is a very intentional use of vocabulary to us – it is one that acknowledges the contribution of agriculture, but importantly also of farming – from field to table,” she said. 

Bechdol underscored the need to invest in building more resilient agrifood systems as “a transformational accelerator to achieve the SDGs.”

She added that FAO has also had to adapt, mobilize, and innovate in the face of complex drivers of hunger and food insecurity. From a new Private Sector Engagement Strategy endorsed by Members, which brings a new roadmap and new approach for FAO’s deeper collaboration and engagement with private sector partners, to first of its kind strategies on climate change and on science and innovation, FAO is optimistic and forward-looking in working for “long-term solutions, investments in resilience, and partnerships,” Bechdol said. 

Read her full remarks here.

On the road to 2030, digital transformation to help catalyze actions and Zero Hunger solutions

Last week also saw the convening of the 2023 ECOSOC Coordination Segment, under the ‘Accelerating the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels’.

Bechdol addressed the session on digital transformation for health and food security, warning that “we have seven [agricultural] seasons left” before reaching 2030 – the deadline to deliver on the SDGs, in particular SDG2 on Zero Hunger.

Data, digitalization and innovation, she added, are core to FAO’s work and key accelerators to delivering on the SDGs, pointing to how digital technologies can have transformational effects on our economies and societies, especially for small-scale and family farmers and rural communities.

Bringing digital technologies into agrifood systems – collectively and symbiotically – will play a key role in improving food security. From improving availability and accessibility to knowledge and information to supporting targeted and transformative policy interventions, digitalization can “democratize, or level the playing field, in a ‘have’ and ‘have-not’ world of agriculture,” Bechdol said. 

The Deputy Director-General also outlined key FAO initiatives, such as the 1000 Digital Villages Initiative fostering community-led development and connectivity in rural areas, the Hand-in-Hand Initiative that builds on robust data-driven assessments and provides for matchmaking investments with development opportunities in countries, and the modernization of the FAO Farmer Field School rural extension and advisory model to have a wider reach and ensure that the digital divide does not continue to widen. 

FAO recognizes that digital transformation is a critical element of national food systems transformation pathways. This will be central to follow-up discussions on the UN Food Systems Summit and the Stocktaking Moment, due to take place in Rome, Italy from 24 – 26 July 2023. 

Read her full remarks here or watch the recording.

Hear more from Deputy Director-General Bechdol following her visit to the United Nations in New York.