Ministers and high-level representatives from across Europe and Central Asia met today at the FAO Regional Conference for Europe (ERC33) to discuss not only the implications of the war in Ukraine on global agrifood systems and world food security but also ways of accelerating efforts to transform agrifood systems to assure inclusive and environmentally-friendly development and achieve better nutrition, both regionally and beyond.
“It is a key moment to discuss appropriate responses and share proven solutions to support policy-makers across the region to address these challenges,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in opening remarks at the Thirty-third Session of the Regional Conference.
The Europe and Central Asia region includes 53 high and middle-income countries that are home to more than 900 million people. The Director-General acknowledged that the region is in a “good position” as one of the world’s food baskets and a global leader in the quantity and quality of agrifood production, even as hunger levels are rising from relatively low levels in the region.
Adding to the discussion, Henryk Kowalczyk, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland, in his opening remarks, said, “the Region plays a key role in worldwide food security” and is an important “source of new ideas and inspiration for the whole world”.
The situation in Ukraine was a primary focus of FAO Members in the region, with a session dedicated to the impacts of the war on agriculture, including global food and fertilizer prices, arising from the hampered access to specific commodities and inputs.
“Peace is fundamental to protecting people from hunger,” Qu said, noting that FAO has been closely monitoring the implications of the war and pledged to continue to develop immediate, medium, and longer-term analysis and policy recommendations for its Members.
Ukraine is the most affected by the war due to human suffering and destroyed value and supply chains, while others impacted include low-income food-importing countries dependent on the Russian Federation and Ukraine for food, feed, fuel, and fertilizer supplies, as well as all consumers everywhere who are grappling with food prices, have reached record highs, the Director-General said.
He urged FAO Members to seize the Regional Conference as an opportunity to discuss “potential approaches to prevent an even greater crisis in the future.”
FAO’s Ukraine team is on the ground with a rapid response plan for Ukraine, where one in five households are estimated to lack the resources to meet basic food needs and help smallholder farmers. Funds to support FAO’s $115 million plan to reach almost one million individuals in the country have not yet been received, Qu said.
Local action for the Four Betters
Emphasizing the importance of political commitment to action plans, FAO’s Director-General noted that the Organization is committed to supporting the key priorities set by Members in the region: empowering smallholders, family farms, and youth; transforming agrifood systems, and managing natural resources sustainably and preserving biodiversity; including the response to the war and the COVID-19 crisis.
A key objective is to move beyond a pure focus on food and production to an agrifood systems approach encompassing nutrition, health, and social and environmental values.
The Director-General highlighted that FAO would launch the Regional Technical Platform on Green Agriculture this week, providing a digital, user-friendly, open gateway for sharing information. He also said that three countries in the region have already joined FAO’s One Country One Priority Product Initiative.
FAO Regional Conferences are held once every two years and serve as an opportunity to debate challenges and promote regional coherence in pursuing Members’ goals. More than 300 delegates were registered to participate in this year’s session, representing almost all Europe and Central Asia countries, making it the most attended regional conference.
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