Homepage  Homepage     Search on site  Search on site     To write the letter  To write the letter     Site map  Site map
Agro Perspectiva
We are on: 
   
 


Home > News

FAO and partners advocate for inclusive food systems to combat rural poverty

03.12.2020 16:05 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — The implications of agri-food systems transformation for the livelihoods of rural people in the COVID-19 era was the focus of a high-level event today, co-organized by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of China and the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations (UN).

The event «Transforming agri-food systems and fostering inclusive rural development in the context of COVID-19 to end rural poverty» was held virtually, on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly’s Special Session in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants highlighted the key role of agriculture in the transformation of the economy, ensuring food security and nutrition and in ending extreme poverty.

«Evidence shows that in low-income countries, investing in agriculture — especially in family farming and small-scale agriculture — has a greater impact on reducing poverty than investing in other sectors,» noted FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu who went on to stress that pro-poor growth also required creating off-farm jobs, fostering economic diversification and investing in human capital, health, education and infrastructure.

Extreme poverty in rural areas is three times higher than in urban areas. About 80 percent of the world’s extremely poor reside in rural areas and most have to cope with limited access to often degraded resources. The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated this situation, exacerbating inequalities and negatively impacting the lives and well-being of the rural poor -in particular of women, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities and youth.

The President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, in a video message, underlined that «in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must focus on strengthening local and inclusive food systems to ensure sustained, resilient food security and poverty reduction. This includes moving from an agricultural perspective to agri-food perspective where the value addition of agriculture is appropriately recognized.»

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, stressed the importance of working together to address the challenges at hand. «A coordinated international response and recovery effort is very much needed to fight the pandemic, lift rural populations out of poverty, and ensure no one is left behind,» said Liu.

The President of IFAD, Gilbert F. Houngbo, emphasized that «Today’s pandemic increases the urgency to make our food systems not only more sustainable but also more resilient, as well as inclusive and fair. I cannot insist enough on the importance of focusing our attention on the small-scale producers if we really want to boot out poverty and achieve SDG1 and SDG2 by 2030.»

The Director of WFP’s Humanitarian and Development Programme, David Kaatrud, elaborated on the agency’s resilience-building activities in rural communities. «Studies have shown that resilience programmes are a cost-efficient investment for reducing need and preventing crises. For instance, a recent WFP analysis found that each US$1 spent on an integrated package of resilience activities in Niger would generate a return of US$3.67 over a 20-year period,» he said.

As collaborators of the event, the Permanent Representative of China to the UN, Ambassador Zhang Jun, and the Head of the EU Delegation to the UN, Ambassador Olof Skoog, helped set the stage for the discussions in the opening segment of today’s event.

Ambassador Zhang stated that «accelerating rural poverty reduction and transforming food systems should be prioritized for post COVID-19 recovery and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.» Ambassador Skoog stressed the urgency to act. «In the time of COVID-19, one thing became crystal clear: addressing food security and ensuring proper nutrition for all is urgent,» he said, also underscoring the strong interlinkages between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet which are recognized in the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy.

Using and creating opportunities to end rural poverty

The UN Food Systems Summit 2021 and multilateral efforts to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic offer unique opportunities to identify and promote actions in favour of the rural poor. FAO’s Hand-in-Hand initiative is a complimentary, multi-sectoral and partnership-focused approach. It aims to reduce poverty by improving agricultural potential through investing in innovative, inclusive and productive value chains and building human capital.

As the FAO Director-General remarked, «We have nine harvests remaining until 2030 and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and we must galvanize more partners around this urgency to work together on understanding the needs of different agri-food systems around the world, and jointly address how to accelerate solutions.» In line with this, FAO launched in July this year its COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme aimed at preventing a global food emergency during and after the pandemic, while working on medium- to long-term development responses for food security and nutrition.

The event «Transforming agri-food systems and fostering inclusive rural development in the context of COVID-19 to end rural poverty» was moderated by FAO Chief Economist, Máximo Torero.

Agro Perspectiva

< Draft state budget for 2021 submitted to Rada for consideration at second reading All news for
03.12.2020
Thailand: Rice export prices increased 1-3 percent >

22.12.2024  
05:26 FAO transfers 185 generators, 6,474 grain hoses to Ukrainian farmers in 2024
03:53 The EU agri-food trade surplus increased by 15% in September 2024, reaching EUR 6 billion
19.12.2024  
09:05 World coffee production for 2024/25 is forecast 6.9 million bags higher
18.12.2024  
23:11 China’s Expanding Coffee Consumption
17.12.2024  
22:37 Bangladesh Soybean Import Recovery Expected to Continue
14.12.2024  
21:03 World apple production for 2024/25 is forecast to fall nearly 350,000 tons to 84.0 million
13.12.2024  
09:11 U.S. Fresh Pear Exports Fall on Historically Low Harvest
10.12.2024  
21:03 Indonesia Grain Imports to Subside after 2023/24 Record
08:14 Higher vegetable oil quotations drive up FAO Food Price Index, but lower cereal and sugar prices temper the rise
07:45 Cereal trade revised downwards amid weaker demand
02.12.2024  
23:17 Prime Minister: Some 50 partner countries have joined the humanitarian demining coalition
22:56 Norway pledges additional $4.5 mln to Ukraine's Grain from Ukraine initiative
01.12.2024  
03:30 EU agri-food trade slowed down in August 2024
26.11.2024  
00:06 Global sugar production, compared to last year, is estimated up 2.8 million tons to 186.6 million
24.11.2024  
04:43 During the Operation of Our Grain From Ukraine Program, We Have Managed to Save 20 Million People from Hunger – Zelenskyy
04:15 Ukraine Is Ready to Share Technologies, Military Experiences and Processing Methods with African Countries – the President
22.11.2024  
10:15 South Africa Sugar Production and Exports Estimated Down
19.11.2024  
23:04 Global Olive Oil Production Forecast to Rebound in 2024/25
22:47 Vitalii Koval discusses Ukraine's European integration with European colleagues
16:06 EBRD, European Union and United States help Kyiv prepare for winter
18.11.2024  
09:21 Agriculture Development Strategy 2030 – a roadmap to the EU
09:19 Ukrainian farmers have sown 96% of projected winter crop area
01.11.2024  
20:31 Ukraine has officially joined the International Fund for Agricultural Development
20:29 Ukrainian farmers harvested 63.7 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds
25.10.2024  
22:50 Agriculture hit hard: October port strikes rack up 30-40 million dollars in losses
21:04 Ministry of Agrarian Policy expects exports to rise in dollar terms
10:57 Ukrainian corn seed flows to Europe in further farm trade shift
24.10.2024  
23:02 Tree Nut Import Markets Highly Concentrated
23.10.2024  
11:18 Prime Minister UK warns Russian threat to global stability is accelerating as Putin ramps up attacks on Black Sea
15.10.2024  
09:35 Brazil Continues to Dominate Growth in Global Chicken Meat Exports in 2025
11.10.2024  
23:33 China Cottonseed Imports Show Strong Demand in Recent Years
20:30 India Removes Rice Export Ban, Spurring Additional Trade
30.09.2024  
17:27 List of agricultural machinery with cost compensation expanded to 11,300 items
29.09.2024  
20:21 1 in 11 people worldwide faced hunger in 2023, 1 in 5 in Africa If current trends continue, about 582 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, half of them in Africa
17:13 EU agri-food surplus increased in the first half of 2024
27.09.2024  
09:02 BASF presents new corporate strategy: BASF is setting a new direction for portfolio steering, capital allocation and performance culture
26.09.2024  
10:25 BASF sets new direction with corporate strategy and maintains high level of shareholder distributions
21.09.2024  
18:30 Three new sites recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)
17.09.2024  
09:52 Cargill and Ducks Unlimited Working Together to Restore Watersheds Across North America
08:44 FAO calls for G20 cooperation as hunger targets continue to elude
06:40 FAO sees open trade as a cornerstone of global food security
13.09.2024  
07:08 U.S. Soybean Meal Hits 10‐Year High for Export Sales
12.09.2024  
21:26 U.S. Corn Exports Buoyed by Large Supplies
11.09.2024  
04:30 Global cereal production 2024 forecast on par with 2023 output, cereal trade likely to contract
06.09.2024  
11:35 FAO Food Price Index down marginally in August: lower sugar, meat and cereal quotations offset higher dairy and vegetable oil prices
10:34 Cargill acquires two US feed mills, strengthens production and distribution capabilities to grow with customers
05.09.2024  
09:23 PM: Plan to develop small generation facilities to reduce vulnerability to terrorism
30.08.2024  
05:03 Taras Vysotskyi discusses agricultural cooperation with Hungarian counterpart István Nagy
19.08.2024  
12:00 OTP BANK RECEIVED A $2.76 MILLION GRANT FROM USAID INVESTMENT FOR BUSINESS RESILIENCE ACTIVITY FOR CONCESSIONAL LENDING TO MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
16.08.2024  
17:10 Cargill and Goanna Ag Pilot Irrigation Efficiency Technology on Mississippi Delta Cotton Fields

Also available: 


NewsNews - News - News - News - News - News
BriefWeekly Reports - Free article
SubscriptionTariff - News&Reports
AdvertisingMagazine - Site
ConferencesForum AGRO-2013 - DAIRY WORLD-2008 - FERTILIZERS-2010
Statistics
For our clientsAgroNewsDaily - Ukrainian Grain&Oilseed Market - Fertilizers - Milk Monthly - Milk Weekly
About usAbout project - Contact
2002 -2024 © Agrarika, ltd.
tel.: +380 67 4473802; +380 67 5964652
e-mail: client@agroperspectiva.com