A comprehensive transformation of the global agri-food system can
significantly contribute to attaining worldwide targets including ending
hunger by 2030, said Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations Director-General QU Dongyu during a virtual keynote lecture at
Italy's Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

"Agri-food systems are the world's largest economic system, measured in
terms of employment, livelihoods, and planetary impact," Qu said,
emphasizing that four billion individuals are directly and indirectly in
food systems, wherein poverty and hunger are rampant. He further
promoted "system thinking", to be applied in a wide array of disciplines
such as policies, entrepreneurship, and culture.

He outlined a strategic approach, which he referred to as the "Four
Betters":

* Better production: ensuring efficient sustainable consumption and
production patterns, inclusive food and agriculture supply chains at
local, regional, and global levels.
* Better nutrition: ending hunger, promoting nutritious foods, and
increasing access to healthy diets, which can be buoyed by tackling
food loss and waste and making sure that markets and trade are
accessible and open.
* Better environment: protecting, restoring, and promoting sustainable
use of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, promoting a good
environment for farming systems, and combating climate change
through reduction, reutilization, recycling, and residual management
approaches.
* Better life: reducing inequalities - between urban and rural areas,
rich and poor, and men and women - and promoting inclusive economic
growth.

FAO - News Article: Transforming agri-food systems is powerful lever for
achieving global goals
[www.fao.org]