Intersessional Multi-stakeholder Hearing In preparation for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)

Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to take the floor today on behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to provide our vision for how the FFD4 could advance objectives to meet SDG1 and 2: No Poverty and Zero Hunger.

The Summit of the Future, and the subsequent Pact of the Future, emphasized the importance of supporting countries and communities impacted by food insecurity and malnutrition, assisting countries to manage debt crises and food price volatility in international markets, and the importance of promoting equitable, resilient inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems to ensure that all people have access to safe, affordable and nutritious food.

The upcoming FFD4 in Spain can play an important role in ensuring that these objectives are met, particularly ensuring that we increase financing to transform agrifood systems and prevent and mitigate food crises.

To do so, a number of changes and innovations in the existing offer of finance for food security and agrifood systems are required. FAO emphasizes the need to 1) ensure that domestic support to agriculture is sufficient and reoriented towards public goods, sustainability and inclusivity; 2) ensure ODA for the sector is channeled towards the most impactful interventions which would support agrifood system transformation and reduce hunger; 3) given that less than 4 percent of climate financing is currently going to agriculture, forestry and other land-use activities and considering that these are the sectors where there is great space to reduce GHG emissions, ensure that a greater percentage of financing for climate change is directed towards agrifood systems, and reaches smallholder farmers and vulnerable people; and 4) ensure that gender transformative actions for the sector are financed at scale.

This will require us to harnesses both public and private expenditures at a large scale. Following on recent and forthcoming work on financing SDG 2 and agrifood system transformation, including the State of Food Security in the World 2024, FAO will launch our first report on Financing for Development to prevent and mitigate food crises and transform agrifood systems in early 2025. FAO stands ready to ensure that policy recommendations, articulated in conjunction with other UN actors and partners, treat these problems holistically and in relation to other important financing priorities.

As we look forward to the FFD4 in Spain, we must prioritize commitments from all sectors that facilitate access to financing for developing countries, especially those disproportionately affected by crises. This means leveraging existing funds, fostering an enabling environment for investment, and enhancing the capacities of local actors.

Together, we can transform our aspirations to ensure that all people have access to safe, affordable and nutritious food.

Thank you.