If we ignore the problems and needs of rural people in the world’s poorest countries, our attempts to create more equitable and sustainable food systems are doomed to failure, the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on the eve of the United Nations pre-Vertex on food systems opening in Rome on Monday.

“Rural people have long been relegated to the margins of value food chains. In the face of the hard work with which they produce much of our food, they too often receive derisory compensation and are left vulnerable in the face of crises,” said Gilbert F. Houngbo, president of IFAD, the United Nations’ lead agency in the fight against rural poverty and hunger.

“It is imperative at this time to correct the inequity of our food systems. Without decisive action that generates concrete changes for farmers, hunger and poverty will only increase, generating more instability and migration,” he added.

Small farmers produce about a third of the world’s food and provide up to 80 percent of the food in some regions of Africa and Asia. Although they play an essential role in the functioning of food systems, they themselves often go hungry. According to a report released jointly last week by five United Nations agencies, including IFAD, this situation has been exacerbated in 2020 by climate change, conflict and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of hungry people in the world. Currently, one in ten people.

READ THE FULL REPORT: www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/cb4474en.pdf