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.

Investments in agriculture – both domestic and foreign – are one of the most effective ways to alleviate poverty, reduce hunger and improve food security, but we are lagging in this area. The global agriculture orientation index, defined as agriculture’s share of government expenditure divided by the sector’s share of gross domestic product (GDP),  fell from 0.38 in 2001 to 0.24 in 2013 and to 0.21 in 2015.

The share of aid allocated to agriculture from member countries of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also fell from nearly 20 per cent in the mid-1980s to 7 per cent in the late 1990s, where it remained through 2015. The decline reflects a shift away from financing infrastructure and production towards a greater focus on social sectors.

In 2016, 21 countries experienced high or moderately high domestic prices, relative to their historic levels, for one or more staple cereal food commodities. Thirteen of those countries were in sub-Saharan Africa. The main causes of high prices were declines in domestic output, currency depreciation and insecurity. Localized increases in fuel prices also drove food prices higher.

Luckily, there has been some progress in preventing distortions in world agricultural markets; global agricultural export subsidies were reduced by 94 per cent from 2000 to 2014, and, in December 2015, members of the World Trade Organization adopted a ministerial decision on eliminating export subsidies for agricultural products and restraining export measures that have a similar effect.