Sustainability of the food system, open and fair trade and digital innovations.
Reading time: 5’
The last meeting of the G20 agriculture ministers took place at the end of September in Bali, Indonesia, at a particular historical moment. Although the effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic emergency are diminishing, the war between Russia and Ukraine has forced the whole of humanity to face a serious food security crisis, which has a devastating impact on the path designed to reach the country. ” Sustainable development goal number 2, that is: to end hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.
Unfortunately, as is often the case in these kinds of meetings, even in Bali, ministers were unable to reach a consensus on a joint communiqué outlining how to deal with the upheaval in global food markets caused by the war in Ukraine. Yet Indonesian President Widodo, who has held the presidency since December 1, 2021, highlighted in his report the commitment of G20 members to step up efforts to make agriculture and food systems sustainable and more resilient to future shocks.
There were three priority areas for action identified by the ministers:
1. Promote investment in sustainable and climate-resilient technologies and practices;
2. adhere to the principles of open, fair, predictable, transparent, and non-discriminatory agricultural trade to ensure the availability and accessibility of food for all;
3. Promote innovative agricultural entrepreneurship through digital innovations in agricultural and food systems, to improve farmers’ livelihoods, empower women and provide opportunities for young people.
The talks carried out during the event revealed in a significant and frustrating way, for those who care about the achievement of the Goals set by the United Nations, that the current crisis has already begun to damage food systems, thus requiring action concerted with short, medium, and long-term components.
In a speech, the Deputy Director General of the International Institute for Research on Food Policies (IFPRI) asked:
• the international community to first focus on increased financial support as an immediate response to the crisis to facilitate greater humanitarian assistance and help low-income food-importing countries to curb domestic food price inflation;
• the G20 countries to inject new funds to compensate for the ten-year underinvestment in Research & Study and the underutilization of ready-to-use innovations.
He also reminded those present that encouraging healthier diets and the consumption of sustainably produced food should be a priority, as sustainable diets can substantially reduce the ecological footprint of farmers and food systems.
Finally, he called on G20 members to rethink current agricultural support measures, which cost around $ 800 billion a year in fiscal resources but are not very effective in improving the performance of the food system, suggesting that those resources be used. much more effectively to finance the necessary investments in research and development of food systems and provide incentives to farmers and consumers, motivating them to produce and consume more sustainably and healthily.
Lessons learned during the pandemic and other shocks prompted G20 agriculture ministers to agree on the importance of open, fair, and transparent international business practices that are non-discriminatory and consistent with WTO guidelines, recognizing the role of trade in ensuring adequate food supplies as well as its potential to diversify supplies and make food systems more resilient.
In addition to sustainable food systems and fair trade, the agricultural sector must embrace digital innovations by leveraging smartphone technology to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and provide income and job opportunities in the agri-food sector for women and young people.
Many of these lines of action are reflected in the summary of the presidency of the meeting of agriculture ministers, formulated as general intentions with little specificity. On 11 October, the G20 finance and agriculture ministers met for the first time jointly to define more specific responses to the current crisis. Some of the ministers pledged to use “all appropriate policy tools to address the current economic and financial challenges, including the risk of food insecurity”.
Precise measures for joint action are still under consideration, but would include more resources for humanitarian assistance, more funding and debt relief for importing low-income food to provide fiscal space for the protection of vulnerable populations while maintaining open commercial channels of food and fertilizers and more resources for long-term investments in sustainable agriculture and nutrition.