FAO DG: Agri Production Must Change

The current model of agricultural production is no longer acceptable to achieve food security. That is according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director General José Graziano da Silva, who delivered a talk at the International Forum on Agriculture and Climate Change on February 20, 2015 held in France.

Increasing food production has been the predominant strategy in ending food hunger. However, at present, food production has increased but still hunger prevails. "This model must be reviewed. We need a paradigm shift. Food systems need to be more sustainable, inclusive and resilient," he said. He suggested a new approach known as climate-smart agriculture, which promotes changing farming practices to make them more adaptive and resilient to environmental pressures, while at the same time decreasing farming's impacts on the environment.

FAO has formed a coalition of stakeholders called Global Alliance on Climate-Smart Agriculture with an objective of promoting sustainable and equitable increases in agricultural productivity and incomes; building greater resilience of food systems and farming livelihoods; and achieving reductions or removals of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

Read the press release on FAO website.