The countries within Latin America and the Caribbean have designed a work agenda that seeks to put the region on the path towards sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture, which will foster prosperous rural societies and give rise to a food system that guarantees healthy food for all.
The Regional Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) brought together virtually all the Ministers of Agriculture of Latin America and the Caribbean this week for two days, who agreed on the need for a profound transformation of agricultural food systems.
The FAO regional representative, Julio Berdegué, cited three concerns shared by the ministers: "We must move towards agri-food systems that provide healthy and nutritious food for all; move towards a prosperous and inclusive rurality, without poverty and with opportunities; and ensure environmental sustainability and climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience".
And for this purpose, the ministers stressed, it is urgent that additional resources be made available at the regional level.
Participants at the event also addressed the problem of poor nutrition and food insecurity. "We cannot continue to coexist with hunger, overweight and chronic child malnutrition. Not only because it is an injustice, but because we cannot afford it," stressed Ecuador's Vice President, María Alejandra Muñoz.
The ministers also stressed the key importance of international trade in ensuring food security. "The promotion of open and transparent food systems is fundamental to improving access to food for the most vulnerable people," said Chile's Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker.
FAO data also indicate that hunger and malnutrition in the region are not caused by lack of food, but by poverty and inequalities: "In this region it is too cheap to eat badly, and it is the most expensive place to eat healthily," lamented the regional representative.
Response to the Pandemic
The speakers affirmed that agriculture must be one of the pillars of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The agricultural sector is called upon to play a priority role in overcoming the pandemic. All countries must establish policies to strengthen it," said Panama's Minister of Agricultural Development, Augusto Valderrama.
For his part, Berdegué recalled that the countryside is not just about food. "It is also freshwater, landscapes, biodiversity, clean energy, and tourism," he said.
To eradicate rural poverty, FAO is proposing a multidimensional strategy - the Mano de la Mano Initiative - focused on the countries and territories that lag furthest behind and with special attention to rural women, family farmers, indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples.
"The Mano de la Mano program is a proactive response to overcome the structural crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that has generated a reflection on the state of agriculture worldwide," said the Vice President of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa.
The Minister of Agriculture of Uruguay, Carlos Maria Uriarte, said that the region must move "toward an economically profitable, socially responsible and environmentally regenerative agriculture.
Another point of agreement was the need to create public-private partnerships to strengthen and develop the sector in a sustainable manner.
Berdegué explained that FAO will seek to strengthen its collaboration with civil society, science, academia and parliamentarians, and will strive to "close the collaboration gap with the private sector.