Corinna Hawkes the Director of the FAO Division of Meals Methods and Meals Security says a holistic and sustainable strategy is required that considers financial, social, and environmental components, and that brings folks collectively, to make sure nutritious meals and sustainable livelihoods for all.
She was talking forward of the UN Meals Methods Summit+2 Stocktaking second, which can take into account world agrifood methods.
What’s the agrifood system?
Corinna Hawkes: The agrifood system is all the things that’s linked to meals and agriculture. What we eat in addition to the way in which that meals is bought, distributed and processed. It additionally contains how meals is grown or harvested on land, at sea, and different non-food merchandise, akin to gas and fibre. All these processes contain an entire host of actions, investments, and choices.
Corinna Hawkes, Director of Meals Methods and Meals Security Division at FAO.
An agrifood system pulls collectively all of this into an interconnected system; for instance, if we need to develop vegatables and fruits for folks to eat more healthy, we now have to assume not nearly rising the greens, but additionally about how they’re delivered to folks.
Agrifood methods are additionally an area for options together with for local weather change, biodiversity loss, malnutrition, continual ailments, unsafe meals, poverty and to counter a scarcity of city sustainability. Agrifood methods are the answer to the world’s most essential challenges.
Why does the world want to remodel agrifood methods?
A fisher in Ghana collects the morning catch.
Proper now, the ability to offer these options isn’t there. The agrifood system is sick. The best way it’s designed and capabilities implies that it’s weak, worn out and lacks resilience.
So, the frustration and the problem right here, is that the potential energy of the agrifood system to offer these options is misplaced till we rework it to make it stronger.
A few of the main challenges embrace the way in which meals is grown and produced is contributing to local weather change, which in flip weakens the agrifood system.
What’s an instance of a present main problem in agrifood methods?
One factor we now have executed is to take an excessive amount of variety out of the system which incorporates all the things from what’s on our plates all the way in which again to the farm. So, we have to carry that variety again.
During the last a long time there was a specialization in producing sure key commodity crops. This was an excellent thought from the angle of productiveness and effectivity; it cheapens meals, it means you’ll be able to commerce the meals, and it reduces the price of manufacturing. It can be crucial we produce these crops effectively.
However what we now have seen is that decreasing variety an excessive amount of reduces the resilience of the system. And we now have seen with latest conflicts how reliance on sure key producers additional weakens resilience.
Range can also be good for biodiversity and the setting, in addition to nutritionally for customers.
How can these challenges be overcome?
In Senegal, new farming approaches are being launched to counter the impacts of local weather change.
There are various methods to remodel agrifood methods. Crucial method is to carry all of the methods collectively which necessiates bringing folks collectively.
One of many main challenges is that completely different individuals are attempting to repair biodiversity, diet or meals security, whereas others are attempting to repair poverty and the livelihoods of agricultural producers.
We have to come work collectively within the system and determine present these options. This fashion we’ll start to see that the agrifood system might seem like an issue as a result of it’s weak, but it surely truly is one thing actually highly effective.
What good practices are being superior proper now?
I’m actually enthusiastic about a number of the initiatives which can be happening on the subnational, city and metropolis ranges. There’s a lot power in giant and small cities the place native authorities and a number of stakeholders are actually taking motion.
They’re enhancing market infrastructure in order that individuals are extra in a position to entry meals, in order that meals is protected and loss and waste is lowered.
So, we’re starting to see these essential connections being made, and that’s taking place in tons of of cities around the globe.
What can we anticipate from the upcoming UN Meals Methods Summit +2 Stocktaking Second?
What I’m hoping to see from the Stocktaking assembly two years after the UN Meals Methods Summit is that governments and plenty of different stakeholders will come collectively to truthfully focus on the challenges and to share their successes and their challenges in making change.
I want to see a way of solidarity between governments and different stakeholders who can agree that they’ll do higher collectively in the event that they share experiences and good practices to beat challenges.
The perfect final result of the summit is that the momentum created will proceed and that the dedication to vary is not going to simply keep as a dedication however will result in actions on the bottom to essentially carry change.
