Heads of five international agencies jointly call for urgent response to global food security crisis

Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsfood security cris.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic, disruptions to international supply chains and the war in Ukraine have severely disrupted the closely-linked food, fuel and fertilizer marke.
WFP data shows that by June 2022, the number of people facing severe food insecurity in 82 countries has risen to 345 milli.
These people have difficulty accessing food in the short term, putting their lives and livelihoods at ri.
At the same time, some 25 countries have imposed export restrictions in response to rising food prices, affecting more than 8% of the world's food trade, making the situation wor.
[1] In addition, the food supply situation is further complicated by the doubling of fertilizer prices over the past 12 months as the cost of inputs such as natural gas has hit record hig.
At the same time, global grain stocks, which have grown steadily over the past decade, must be released to lower pric.
Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic has severely constrained governments’ fiscal space; in the longer term, climate change is having a structural impact on agricultural production levels in many countri.

 

To prevent further setbacks in progress towards the SDGs, short- and long-term action is needed in four key areas: 1) immediate support for vulnerable groups; 2) boosting trade and international food supplies; 3) increased production; 4 ) to invest in climate-resilient agricultu.

 

Immediate support for vulnerable groups: There is an urgent need to rapidly strengthen safety net measures at the country level to support vulnerable households, while ensuring that WFP has adequate resources to reach those most in ne.
Recent pledges by WTO members not to impose export restrictions on food purchased by the World Food Programme for humanitarian purposes can facilitate WFP operatio.
Energy and food subsidies, if not targeted, will only result in costly and inefficient resul.
In contrast, cash transfers should instead be used to help the most vulnerab.
Over time, effective social protection systems can be expanded to cover larger populatio.
An ideal social security system should make full use of technological power, have clear goals and precise efforts, and have an efficient system of participation, distribution and payme.

 

Facilitating trade and international food supplies: In the short term, the release of food stocks, where appropriate and consistent with WTO rules, and a diplomatic solution to allow the export of grain and fertilizer currently blocked in Ukraine would help increase food supply and lower food pric.
As stated in the WTO's Ministerial Declaration on an Emergency Response to Food Security, facilitating trade and improving the functioning and resilience of global food and agricultural markets, including grains, fertilizers and other agricultural production inputs, are critic.

The 2008 crisis showed that restrictions on global trade lead directly to higher food pric.

Removing export restrictions and introducing more flexible inspection and licensing procedures can help minimize supply disruptions while reducing pric.

In addition, improving transparency and monitoring of trade measures through compliance with WTO notification commitments will also play a key ro.

 

Increase production: Take action to encourage farmers and fishers in developing and developed countries to increase sustainable food production and strengthen supply chains to help connect the world's 8 billion consume.

This requires the private sector to act as the backbone of the market, providing affordable fertilizers, seeds and other inpu.

Providing working capital for competitive producers is also a key eleme.

Going forward, efforts by the FAO, the World Bank Group and others to disseminate best practices through the rapid adoption of soil infographics, extension services and diffusion of precision farming techniques will be key to improving the efficiency of fertilizer u.

Producers will gain important expertise to help maintain production levels and promote sustainable use of natural resourc.

 

Investing in climate-resilient agriculture: Supporting investments to build the resilience of the agricultural sector and support for climate adaptation, smallholder farms, food systems and climate-smart technologies will help develop resilient climate-smart agriculture, ensure stability producti.

Actively developing food safety norms and standards and building value chain infrastructure (storage, cooling, financial and insurance infrastructure) can also play an important role in increasing development opportunities and reducing inequali.

 

Experience shows that there is an urgent need to support developing countries affected by rising prices and supply shortages to meet their immediate needs without compromising long-term development goa.

It is critical to ensure that the most vulnerable countries facing serious balance of payments problems can absorb the costs of increased food import bills to minimize the risk of social unre.

Development finance should provide clients with viable alternatives to self-only inward-looking policies such as export bans or fertilizer import packag.

Investing in scalable safety nets, climate-resilient agriculture, and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture is an example of how all parties can work together to achieve win-win outcom.

 

We call on countries to strengthen safety nets, facilitate trade, increase production, and invest in climate-resilient agricultu.

Country-specific needs should be clearly defined through a country-led proce.

This will facilitate the mobilization of multilateral development banks to carry out investment and fully seize short-, medium- and long-term opportuniti.

We pledge to support this process together through the Global Alliance for Food Security, co-sponsored by the G7 presidency and the World Bank Group, to monitor the drivers and impacts of price increases, and to help ensure that investment, financing, data and the most efficient delivery are available to countries in ne.

Best practice knowled.

 

[1] As of June 30, 2022, based on monitoring results of trade policy changes from February 2022 by the WTO, the Global Trade Early Warning System, and the World Ba.