FAO Calls for Collaborative Efforts to Address Global Food Crisis

Risk factors that could push the present food crisis into the future's food availability crisis are increasing. QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, mentioned this to international policymakers at the G20 Joint Finance and Agriculture Ministers Meeting. “We must all work together to prevent such a scenario,” he stressed.

The FAO DG pointed out the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine as successive global crises that led to a severe food access crisis. Furthermore, the FAO Food Price Index indicates increasing prices for internationally traded food commodities. Risk factors such as declining stocks for some commodities, higher energy and fertilizer costs, poor weather conditions in several key producing countries, uncertainties related to trade policies, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine are all causes for concern.

With these growing problems on food, he asked the ministers to focus on supporting food access for all poor and vulnerable countries and populations, expanding social protection programs and humanitarian assistance, and committing to an open, predictable, and well-functioning global market and trading system. He also encouraged the Finance Ministers to maintain a close dialogue with the Agriculture Ministers of the G20 members.

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