The Secretary General of Agriculture underlines the importance of restoring trade flows of food and fertilizers for global food security

The Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, Fernando Miranda, today highlighted the need to restore trade flows of food and fertilizers to guarantee food security in the world, threatened by the war situation in Ukraine, and especially in the most vulnerable countries. . particularly indicating that it is necessary to maintain the Black Sea Grain Agreement, to guarantee trade in these products.

At the G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting, which will be held from June 15 to 17 in Hyderabad (India), Fernando Miranda referred in particular to the importance of the agreement for the export of grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea , which will be valid until July 18 after the last extension agreed with Russia.

The Hyderabad meeting aims to outline a roadmap to improve global food security and nutrition, strengthen international efforts to achieve sustainable agri-food systems and make agricultural livelihoods inclusive, equitable and economically viable for people. producers.

In this edition, as in the previous edition, under the Indonesian presidency, the consensus raises difficulties in relation to the consequences on food systems of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. The Secretary General has valued the efforts made by India, which holds the current presidency of the Agriculture forum, to advance the negotiations within the G20.

Fernando Miranda has highlighted that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has aggravated the problems faced by food globally and has caused a disruption in the trade of food and fertilizers. There is a situation of great volatility, with an increase in input and food prices, with consequences that are felt in all countries, particularly in the most vulnerable ones because they are more dependent on food imports.

The Indian presidency has identified four priority areas to hold discussions and seek consensus, namely: Food security and nutrition; Sustainable agriculture with a climate-smart approach; Agricultural value chains and inclusive food systems; and Digitalization for agricultural transformation.

In the afternoon session, the Secretary General of Agriculture participated in a round table on the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services and food security, in which he highlighted the role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), through of conditionality and eco-regimes, to promote agriculture adapted to climatic conditions that is sustainable and profitable for farmers. In this regard, he has highlighted the need to engage farmers through training and knowledge transfer to facilitate the change towards more economically and environmentally efficient practices.

G20 MINISTERIAL AGRICULTURE MEETING

In addition to seeking new areas of cooperation, the G20 meeting reviews the progress made in the initiatives promoted in previous editions and attempts to adopt a consensus statement.

The G20 agricultural training has contributed over the years to the consolidation of various initiatives that contribute to international cooperation in these matters. Such is the case of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), the Group of Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM), the Wheat Initiative, the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), the Platform for the Management of Agricultural Risks (PARM), and the Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste (TPFLW).

In its last edition in 2022, the G20 agricultural training commissioned the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to conduct a study to review and evaluate the responses that from different institutions they addressed the food security problems derived from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. That document was published last April, and will also be examined at the meeting.

The document, in English, is available at the following link:

https://www.fao.org/3/cc5392en/cc5392en.pdf