FAO Director-General speaks at UNIDO Forum on Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development
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| FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva says industry and agriculture should complement each other to bolster economic development and reduce hunger |
Vienna—Industrialization
can be an important tool for poverty and hunger reduction but should not come
at the expense of agricultural development, FAO Director-General José Graziano
da Silva said today. “Industrial development and agriculture should complement
each other,” he told participants at the Second Inclusive and Sustainable
Industrial Development Forum (ISID Forum II) in Vienna
(3-4 November).
Mr. Graziano da Silva
stressed the need to strengthen links between agriculture and other sectors of
the economy to build sustainable food systems.
United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also speaking at the event organized by the
United Nations Development Organization (UNIDO), underscored this
point, saying that promoting food security should be a priority for industrial
development.
Supporting farmers to add
value to the food chain goes beyond the monetary dimension of increasing their
incomes, Graziano da Silva argued, saying: “It means more nutritious and
healthy foods, produced sustainably.”
There is no one-size-fits-all
formula to creating sustainable and inclusive industrialized economies, he
added, underscoring the role of FAO and UNIDO in assisting developing countries
in finding their own way forward by building on and adapting the successful
experiences of other countries.
Landlocked Developing Countries
Developing a strong, sustainable agribusiness sector is
particularly important for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), who
experience a disadvantage in access to resources, tend to have less arable land
than their seafront neighbors and experience significantly higher food price
volatility.
“Being a landlocked
developing country does not condemn you to food insecurity,” Graziano da Silva
said earlier this morning in opening remarks at an event at the
Second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries,
also in Vienna. “There are ways forward, and success stories to inspire action.”
The FAO Director-General
highlighted a number of landlocked countries, including Kazakhstan and Mali,
who have not only halved the proportion but also the total number of hungry
people, regardless of such structural constrains.
From climate change to climate smart
One major challenge in building strong agricultural
industries in LLDCs is climate change, which puts additional pressure on
agriculture and natural resources and increases the need to build climate
resilience into local agricultural production techniques.
“We must recognize that
agricultural systems are very diverse, and very differently affected by climate
change,” said Mr. Graziano da Silva, who added that FAO is currently active in
all landlocked developing countries, “helping them increase food security,
strengthen healthy and sustainable food systems, and build resilience.”
These efforts will be further
bolstered by a new "Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture"
launched during the September 2014 UN Climate Summit, which will be housed in
FAO. And the upcoming Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), organized by FAO
and the World Health Organization (WHO), November 19-21, aims to create broad
and concrete global commitment at the highest political levels towards such
improved, more nutritious, food systems for all.
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