QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has stated that digital agriculture can drive the transformation of agri-food systems necessary to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and build a better future for all humankind.

“Digitalization is the way of the new life and the new economy. This is both a tremendous responsibility and an unprecedented opportunity for all of us”.

Mr. QU made these remarks whilst speaking at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2021 on Tuesday, 18 May 2021.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) organized this year’s Forum under the theme: ICTs for Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable Societies and Economies. The Chairman for the event was Maxim Parshin, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, more than 11, 000 participants from 80 countries participated in the series of virtual events.

Final proceedings

One of the speakers at today’s event, marking the Forum’s final proceedings was the ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. Others were heads, deputies and senior officers from other UN agencies including UNESCO, UNIDO, UNDP and UNCTAD.

Moreover, participants acknowledged how the pandemic has damaged and disrupted the global economy. More importantly, they highlighted how digital technologies played an important role in the response. Also, they emphasized that the world will not return to ‘business as usual’ when the pandemic ends. Participants also warned of a digital divide. This is because almost 50% of the people in the world are not connected to tools that are now playing a bigger role in people’s everyday lives.

Furthermore, FAO’s Director-General hinted that nowhere are the digital gaps persisting across countries and communities more apparent than in agriculture. He noted that agriculture is becoming more data-driven and data-intensive. This, he said, “can improve efficiency and reduce negative environmental impacts”.

Moreover, he indicated that ICTs can help the sector meet the growing need for safe and nutritious food and better manage natural resources. Also, he believes that it can contribute to high-quality productivity growth. More importantly, he said, it will also ensure inclusion and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Our action needs to be collective and holistic in harnessing science, technology and innovation” .
Qu

What FAO is doing

Additionally, he pointed to a number of programmes and initiatives that FAO has introduced to translate its vision into concrete support for its Members. Some of them include FAO’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, and the flagship Hand-in-Hand Initiative. Others include the International Platform for Digital Food and Agriculture and FAO’s 1 000 Digital Villages Initiative. He also pointed to a robust scientific and digital agenda in its traditional areas of expertise. Also, FAO has actively deployed programmes to spread access to ICT’s potential for smallholder farmers. This also include other participants in agri-food systems.

The e-Agriculture Community of Practice, for instance, is a knowledge-sharing platform with 18,700 members from more than 190 countries. The Director-General also said that promoting rural e-commerce “accelerates the transformation of mobile phones into new agricultural tools to ‘reach the last mile‘”. He added that it will also help “small-scale and family farmers to benefit from economic and technological development”.