Maintaining global food security calls for global cooperation (Global Hotspots)
2024-08-08
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Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
At the China-aided Suriname Agricultural Technology Cooperation Center in Saramacca District, Suriname, agricultural experts explain the seedling transplanting technology in the greenhouse.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Mengxin
A farmer processes maize stalks in Muzi, Zimbabwe.Xinhua News Agency/AFP
The global food security issue has once again sounded the alarm. A United Nations agency recently released a report saying that the pace of global hunger eradication has not improved but has regressed, and the level of food insecurity is comparable to that of 15 years ago. In 2023, about 733 million people in the world will face hunger, and one in 11 people will not have enough food.
Food security is a fundamental issue concerning human survival. In recent years, affected by regional conflicts, climate change, economic recession and other factors, food problems continue to plague the world. Global crises call for global cooperation. The international community should attach great importance to food security issues and explore effective solutions through international cooperation.
The situation is not optimistic
Recently, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a report, adjusting the latest forecast for global grain production in 2024 to 2.854 billion tons, a record high. The increase in the forecast for grain production is mainly due to the upward adjustment of corn production expectations in Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and other countries, while the increase in the forecast for world wheat production is mainly due to the good crop prospects in Asian countries. The latest "Food Outlook" report released by the FAO also pointed out that in 2024-2025, the global supply of important food commodities is expected to remain sufficient, and global rice and oilseed production is expected to hit a record high.
Food supply expectations are good, but the global food security situation remains far from optimistic.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations also stressed that regional conflicts are causing serious food insecurity, and many people in some conflict areas in the Middle East and Africa are facing the risk of famine. In addition, factors such as extreme weather, geopolitical tensions, and sudden policy shifts may lead to an imbalance in global food supply and demand, and global food import costs will continue to increase, making food insecurity more prominent.
"In recent years, the core risk facing global food security is not insufficient agricultural output, but the fact that a considerable part of the population cannot access or cannot afford nutritious, safe and sufficient food," said Hu Bingchuan, director of the Agricultural Products Trade and Policy Research Office of the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and researcher, in an interview with our reporter.
More data continues to sound the alarm for global food security. On July 24, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization jointly released the "2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World" report (hereinafter referred to as the report), which shows that in 2023, about 2.33 billion people in the world will face moderate or severe food insecurity. This number increased sharply in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has not changed significantly since then.
From a regional perspective, regions with fragile economic growth face more severe food security crises. The report shows that between 2022 and 2023, hunger will intensify in West Asia, the Caribbean and most regions of Africa. Among them, one in five people in Africa faces hunger. The report warns that by 2030, about 582 million people will be in a state of chronic food insecurity, half of whom will be in Africa. The goal of eliminating hunger in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is unlikely to be achieved as scheduled.
A united response is urgently needed
"In recent years, the risk factors affecting global food security have increased significantly." Hu Bingchuan analyzed that in the 1960s, a new round of "green revolution" including China's hybrid rice technology emerged, which significantly improved global agricultural productivity and food output. The absolute number and proportion of hungry people in the world once showed a downward trend. However, since 2020, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian crisis, and the "decoupling and chain breaking" by some countries, the global agricultural supply chain and agricultural product trade have been severely impacted, leading to rising international food prices and a global food crisis. At the same time, global economic growth is weak, and some countries, especially developing countries, are facing social problems such as high inflation, high unemployment and low income, resulting in an increase in the number of people on the edge of poverty and an inability to obtain enough food to ensure basic survival. In addition, some regions are facing more prominent food security risks due to the superposition of unfavorable factors such as armed conflicts and extreme weather.
According to recent statistics from the United Nations, the war in the Gaza Strip continues, and about 96% of the population is food insecure. As the armed conflict in Sudan continues, more than half of the population, about 25.6 million people, are in a state of "severe food insecurity" or worse, of which more than 8.5 million people are in a more critical "food security emergency".
The impact of extreme weather cannot be ignored. The Global Food Crisis Report released in April this year by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Program and other international organizations and institutions showed that in 2023, extreme weather caused 72 million people in 18 countries to face serious food insecurity.
Not long ago, UN Secretary-General Guterres delivered a video speech, saying: "The global food crisis requires an urgent global response." He called on governments to increase funding to eliminate hunger, implement various recommendations to support developing countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, provide adequate funding for humanitarian actions, and promote transformation of the global food system.
"The essence of the current global food security problem is poverty. As the report emphasizes, the inability to afford a healthy diet due to economic constraints is a serious problem faced by more than one-third of the world's population." Hu Bingchuan believes that in order to coordinate the response to hunger and poverty, the international community should strengthen unity and coordinate actions, give full play to the effectiveness and role of existing cooperation mechanisms, continuously improve the food security governance mechanism centered on the United Nations, and enhance the integration level and efficiency of international food aid. In the long run, the international community should increase technical support to developing countries and least developed countries, improve their agricultural productivity and the marketization level of agricultural products, and focus on enhancing the food self-sufficiency and endogenous driving force of economic growth in developing countries.
China's contribution
Recently, Hunan Province of China held a ceremony to start the trial planting of upland rice in Barbados, a Caribbean country. Barbados Minister of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security Indar Weir said that Barbados is an island country with scarce freshwater resources, and Hunan Province's successful trial planting of upland rice in Barbados has brought new hope for food security in Barbados.
China has always been a positive force in maintaining global food security. China is the world's largest grain producer. With less than 9% of the world's arable land, it produces about a quarter of the world's food, solving the food problem for more than 1.4 billion people. This in itself is a major contribution to world food security. China has also proposed solutions and taken actions on global food security issues.
Food security is one of the eight key areas of cooperation in the global development initiative proposed by China. According to data released by the China International Development Cooperation Agency recently, since last year, China has continuously provided emergency food aid to more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, benefiting tens of millions of disaster-stricken people. At the bilateral level, China has promoted food production and other technologies and experiences by sending experts to build demonstration farms, promote improved crop varieties, provide technical support, and implement agricultural theme training courses, helping countries improve their agricultural production capacity and food security. At the multilateral level, China has cooperated with the World Food Program to implement food aid projects in more than 30 developing countries, effectively alleviating local food and nutrition shortages. China has become the developing country with the most financial assistance, the most experts sent, and the most projects carried out under the framework of South-South cooperation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and has been widely praised by the people of the recipient countries and the international community.
On July 24th local time, the G20 Working Group Ministerial Meeting held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, unanimously adopted a proposal to submit to this G20 summit to establish a global alliance against hunger and poverty.
At this meeting, China put forward three initiatives: First, give priority to development and help developing countries improve their sustainable food production capacity; second, adhere to the people-centered approach, promote exchanges and cooperation on poverty reduction, and enrich and improve human anti-poverty theory and practice; third, adhere to true multilateralism and work tirelessly to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind with common development and no poverty.
"As a country with a large population, China has implemented the basic strategy of targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty reduction, which has lifted nearly 100 million rural poor people out of absolute poverty and built a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. This is an important action to safeguard food security in China and the world." Hu Bingchuan said that while ensuring its own food security, China has taken the initiative to provide emergency food aid to countries in need, share development experience and technology with developing countries, and carry out pragmatic international cooperation. China has also actively participated in global governance in the field of food security, put forward global development initiatives and international food security cooperation initiatives, and carried out agricultural cooperation under the framework of jointly building the "Belt and Road". It has continued to inject more new impetus into international cooperation in the field of food security and fully demonstrated its responsibility as a major country in promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. (Reporter Li Jiabao)
People's Daily Overseas Edition (Page 07, August 8, 2024)
