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G20 agriculture ministers to improve global food security and nutrition
“While the world has yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent geopolitical situation has been exacerbating the global food security and nutrition crisis as it poses a serious threat to the accessibility and affordability of food that affects developing countries the most.
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“While the world has yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent geopolitical situation has been exacerbating the global food security and nutrition crisis as it poses a serious threat to the accessibility and affordability of food that affects developing countries the most. Thus, G20 agriculture ministers address the challenges through accelerating the transformation of agriculture and food systems to withstand future shocks,” said Indonesian Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo at the opening of the G20 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting in Bali on Wednesday.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report 2022 estimates that between 702 and 828 million people in the world were affected by hunger in 2021 and around 670 million people may still face hunger in 2030. With this in mind, at the G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting, Indonesia highlighted the importance of unity among G20 members amid the current difficult situation. Indonesia further emphasized that multilateralism was becoming more vital than ever in addressing global challenges in the agricultural sector, sustainability, climate change and trade.
The G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting underlined the necessity to balance food production and trade to fulfil food for all, given the increasing global demand for food and limited supporting resources. Thus the meeting underscored the need to accelerate the transformation of agriculture and food systems to achieve sustainability and resilience as its utmost objective. Its proposed actions included increasing sustainable food production, diversifying food and reducing food loss and waste. In order to support such actions, the meeting put forward the importance of further research on food science and technology while also reaffirming its commitment to implementing the One Health Approach along the food value chain.
“Smallholder farmers, women and youth are becoming our main focus, noting their importance for supporting the food supply chain. Thus, we agree to improve their capacities toward developing the economy, especially in rural areas,” minister Limpo noted.
To address the current food insecurity and to improve the affordability and accessibility of food, the G20 agriculture ministers further promoted key principles of the global food trade, including openness, fairness, predictability, transparency, inclusivity and non-discrimination. The ministers also expressed their commitment to strengthening the Agriculture Market Information System (AMIS) platform to reduce market uncertainties and promote predictability.
As the last key takeaway, the ministers acknowledged the importance of applying digitalization and technology to improve productivity as well as efficiency of agriculture and food production and trade.
The ministers appreciated Indonesia as this year’s G20 president, especially for the work in the agriculture working group under the theme Balancing Food Production and Trade to Fulfil Food for All. The G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting delivered a summary outlining recent developments as well as commitments to address global agriculture and food system challenges. The document will be submitted to the G20 Leaders’ Summit which will be held in Bali on Nov. 15-16.
