Alvaro Lario, the president of the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD), said that India's G20 presidency has the potential to transform global food systems and he appreciates the focus on reviving millets. He added that it is part of thoughtful leadership in South-South cooperations.
The IFAD is a specialised agency of the UN focused on financing projects in various poor and vulnerable countries to help them battle poverty, hunger, and food insecurity. Lario was in India for the G20 agriculture ministers meeting.
"We've seen that millets are an important crop for farmers to adapt to climate change, given that they're drought resistant, and to ensure nutrition in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world," he added.
Lario further said that the IFAD appreciated India's exports of wheat to 18 countries that faced acute shortages in the wake of the Ukraine war.
Speaking about transforming food systems, he said: "A food system includes all the aspects of feeding and nourishing people: growing, harvesting, packaging, processing, transporting, marketing, and consuming food. Food systems have been shaken to the core in the last few years -cumulative shocks have reversed years of progress and exposed their weaknesses."
He highlighted the covid-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and climate change as factors that majorly influenced global food security and even triggered food crises in African countries.
"The war in Ukraine has led to a humanitarian crisis. It has led to increasing food and fuel prices globally, which in turn is impacting the world's most vulnerable people. In addition to limiting the provision of grains, it is limiting affordable access to energy and fertilisers. This has been catastrophic for the ability of small-scale farmers - who grow at least one-third of the world's food -to keep producing food and also their ability to access markets," said Lario.
He further said the ripple effects of the Ukraine war are reminders that the world needs to invest heavily in medium to long-term development to avoid being caught in a similar costly crisis.
"The key areas identified by the Indian G20 presidency for food systems transformation - ensuring global food security and nutrition; promoting climate-smart agriculture; building inclusive and pro-poor value chains; and using digital technology to create smart solutions - are the same areas IFAD is concerned about," he said.
The IFAD head said New Delhi's focus is in sync with the UN body's priorities. He added that the agency supports India to strengthen its focus and share its experience on local production systems and building markets and resilience.
"It is estimated that we need between USD 300 billion to USD 350 billion per year to revamp food systems. This is not even 3% of the money wasted through the inefficiencies of the current global food systems each year. It is less than 0.5% of the global GDP. The IFAD's expertise and long-standing partnership with governments can help make public investment more efficient, and food systems more attractive to private investors," said Lario.
Speaking about climate change, he highlighted that small-scale farmers produce up to 70% of the food consumed in low and middle-income countries. Because of this, farmers often bear the consequences of the climate crisis and other natural disasters. "We need climate finance both to mitigate emissions and to help economies adapt to the change. The current pace of action is not enough to meet global commitments under the Paris Agreement. Between 2017 and 2018, small-scale producers received only USD 10 billion, or 1.7% of climate finance."