FAO participates in ADB annual meeting, strengthens cooperation in key agricultural areas
(328).png)
Figure: FAO Director-General QU Dongyu (L) shakes hands with Masato Kanda, president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). ©FAO/Pier Paolo Cito.
FAO 07/05/2025
Milan – The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, today took part in the 58th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Milan, where he emphasised the need to strengthen cooperation for furthering the transformation of agrifood systems as the world faces a “critical juncture” in the fight against global hunger.
In his address to the meeting, Qu reminded the audience that according to FAO’s latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, about 733 million people experienced hunger in 2023. Even more alarmingly, more than one-third of the global population, approximately 2.8 billion people, could not afford a healthy diet in 2022.
“We are at a critical juncture,” Qu said. “Around the world, we face complex and interconnected challenges that directly impact food security and access to healthy diets.”
The drivers of these challenges are well known: conflicts, economic disruptions, natural and man-made disasters, rising inequalities, and the growing frequency of climate-related shocks such as floods, droughts, and extreme weather events.
These setbacks have slowed progress toward achieving Zero Hunger and are making it harder to ensure that food is available, accessible, and affordable for all.
“To address these challenges and turn them into opportunities for all, we must take bold and coordinated action to transform global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable. This means rethinking how we produce, distribute, and consume food. Essentially it means producing more with less,” the Director-General said.
Such a transformation also requires money, and the ADB plays a key role in mobilizing the capital needed to help bridge the existing financing gap.
Views: 121