Human civilization depends on food security and prosperous agriculture systems. Yet, at the current rate of progress, we will not meet the zero hunger target for 2030. With millions hungry around the world and a world population expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050, we need to rethink how we grow, share and consume food.  Agriculture, forestry and fisheries can provide nutritious food for all, generate decent incomes, support people-centered rural development and protect the environment if we act to solve the growing pressure on the global food and agriculture systems.

The climate crisis is putting pressure on resources, increasing disaster risks and impoverishes rural women and men who can no longer generate income from their land.  Poor food security causes severe malnutrition, resulting in millions of children to be stunted.

About 815 million people are hungry today, mostly in Asia and Africa,  and it is estimated that an additional two billion will be undernourished by 2050. Investments in agriculture are crucial to increasing the capacity for agricultural productivity and sustainable food production systems are necessary to help alleviate the perils of hunger.

In order to sustain our food production systems, we not only need to employ resilient agricultural practices, but also maintain the genetic diversity of plants and animals. Diversity increases the ability to adapt to changing environments and human needs, and 4.7 million samples of seeds and other plant genetic material for food and agriculture were preserved in 602 gene banks across 96 national, regional and international centres in 2016.

Approximately 15 per cent of national animal breed populations’ genetic material has been cryo-conserved, which would only be able to reconstitute 7 per cent of these populations should they become extinct. As of February 2017, 20 per cent of local breeds were classified as at risk. We need to accelerate our progress to conserve genetic resources from plants and animals in order to achieve this SDG target.