CGIAR News – Oct. 18 2022

Figure: Header photo by G20.

In the aftermath of COVID-19, the world continues to face a severe food security crisis, exacerbated by the ongoing war in Ukraine, putting the world further off track to achieve the SDG of ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030.   

The G20 Agriculture Ministers met under this cloud on September 8 in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Even though, the chair’s summary did reflect G20 members’ commitment to step-up efforts to make agriculture and food systems sustainable and more resilient against future shocks, ministers were unable to reach a consensus on a joint communiqué. They could not reach full agreement on how to address the upheaval in global food markets caused by the war in Ukraine. Nonetheless, the ministers discussed three priority areas for action:

1. Promote investments in improving sustainable and climate-resilient technologies and practices;
2. Adhere to principles of open, fair, predictable, transparent, and non-discriminatory agricultural trade to ensure availability and affordability of food for everyone; and
3. Promote innovative agriculture entrepreneurship through digital innovations in agriculture and food systems, to improve farmers’ livelihoods, empower women and provide opportunities for youth.  

CGIAR was present as an observer during these meetings, through a delegation led by Johan Swinnen, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR, and Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and consisting further of Gianpiero Menza, Senior Manager Partnerships & Innovative Finance at the Alliance/CGIAR and Rob Vos Director, Market, Trade, and Institutions at IFPRI/CGIAR. While addressing his speech, Swinnen emphasized that the present crisis has already started hurting food systems, thus requiring concerted action with short-, medium-, and long-term components.  

He called upon the international community to come together around four priority areas for action. First, more financial support is needed as immediate crisis response to facilitate more humanitarian assistance and allowing food-importing low-income countries stem domestic food price inflation. Second, G20 countries should make a push to urgently make up for decades long under-investment in R&D and under-utilization of ready-to-use innovations. Third, healthier diets and consumption of sustainably produced foods should be a priority, as sustainable diets can substantially reduce farmers’ and food systems’ ecological footprint. Lastly, Swinnen called upon G20 members to rethink present agricultural support measures, which cost around $800 billion per year in fiscal resources but are not very effective in improving food system outcomes. Instead, as joint CGIAR and World Bank research has showed, those resources could be deployed much more effectively to finance necessary investments in food systems R&D and provide incentives to farmers and consumers, by motivating them to produce and consume in more sustainable, healthy and resilient ways. 

See more: https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/g20-agriculture-ministers-underscore-importance-of-food-system-sustainability-open-and-fair-trade-and-digital-innovations-as-long-term-food-crisis-responses/