Ireland's agriculture industry can contribute to eliminating global hunger
Ethiopian refugees who fled the Tigray conflict, receive food at a transit centre in Sudan's border town of Hamdayit in November. Picture: Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images.
800 million people across the world experienced food hunger during 2020; a child dies every five seconds from food hunger; and the world is losing the equivalent of one football pitch every minute to tropical deforestation.
These were just some of the stark global realities that Agriculture Minister Charlie McConaloue faced when he addressed the pre-summit of the UN Food Systems Summit in Rome earlier this week.
The two-day summit has set the stage for the global food systems event in September by bringing together diverse people from around the world to leverage the power of food systems to deliver progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“So many countries around the world are coming together to set out a platform for how we can develop a food systems approach globally over the next number of years,” the Minister said.
“The next nine years are going to be crucial in making progress on this and time is certainly not on our side.
“The 17 SDGs provide a very strong platform for which we must act on and central to those goals is the development of a food systems approach.
“In Ireland over the last two years, we have progressed a new 10-year food strategy building on what we have from all stakeholders working across the domestic food sector over the last 20 years.”
Minister McConalogue highlighted how the strategy is being “sectorally led” and will help the country to bring forward its agriculture industry as part of a global effort to make food more sustainable and available to everyone.
“We have combined the strategy with the food systems approach that is happening and being promoted at UN level to set out a platform to ensure that the environment and health are intertwined and central to the production of food,” the Minister continued.
“The financial stability of our primary producers is vital and must be at the very centre of how we move forward in achieving a food systems approach globally.
“There have been challenges nationally developing this strategy and in putting together a platform for a food systems approach; that will be massively amplified at global level where we are trying to move the whole world to a food systems approach that is so vital to our futures.
“This pre-summit is important in building the momentum towards that and in relation to the food-summit which takes place in September.
“We must take forward that journey to a food-systems approach together.”
Meanwhile, Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General said the 2030 agenda outlined many targets and goals that have helped to shape the global ambitions ahead.
It has encouraged national governments to engage in dialogue with stakeholders and then define through their national plans the pathways to transforming food systems, she explained.
“There needs to be investment; there needs to be a division of labour; and there needs to be inclusion of governments and how they will co-create the solutions to all of that,” she added.
“The UN is supporting the capacities that are needed for this around science, civil society and in how we make food sustainable.
“This summit is about inclusion - including everyone; it is about the inclusion of all voices and ensuring that when the private sector does participate, that the rights of people are protected."
The summit also heard that the global livestock sector comprises over 1.3bn farmers, ranchers, producers, processors, and companies around the world who collectively provide most of the world’s animal products including milk, meat, eggs, aqua and other products.
These range from smallholders to larger operations - the scale and diversity of animal agriculture means it plays a vital role in sustainable food production.
And, with the growing efforts globally to strengthen food systems, it is necessary to evaluate the contributions of livestock and identify how these efforts can deliver positive, productive proposals that will re-ignite efforts to achieve the SDGs.
Meanwhile, one in six people worldwide depend on animal agriculture for their livelihood, creating a sector that contributes US$1.27 trillion to global economies and 40% of agricultural GDP.
Livestock offers a form of financial security and during drought, flood, or conflict it is relocatable.
With women representing 66% of the world’s poor livestock keepers, this directly supports the UN’s goal of strengthening their resilience.
Livestock can, and in many areas does, produce nutritious food with practices and technologies that sustainably manage the planet’s natural resources.
The UNFAO estimates global ‘lifecycle emissions’ for livestock are 14.5%, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates direct GHG emissions are 5%.
Farmers are working to reduce it further through new technologies such as innovation in animal nutrition, digital monitoring, new vaccines and more.
Industrialised nations have reduced land use for livestock by 20% in recent decades while doubling production, thanks to innovation in animal nutrition, animal health, genetics, etc.
It is estimated that livestock emissions can fall a further 30% through increased adoption of best practices and technologies.
Livestock is central to regenerative agriculture, and its integration with cropping systems provides environmental and nutritional gains.
