Seminar on China-Africa Rice Value Chain: Rice Processing, Storage and Quality Control

A recording of these remarks can be found on YouTube and Tencent Video

Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Greetings!

I thank the World Food Programme (WFP) China Centre of Excellence for Rural Transformation for the invitation to address the Seminar on China-Africa Rice Value Chain: Rice Processing, Storage and Quality Control.  

Eradicating hunger and malnutrition is fundamental to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. There is a global consensus on sustainably increasing food production and improving agricultural productivity.

However, the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-related shocks, growing conflicts, and rising food prices may have resulted in as many as 828 million people globally suffering from hunger in 2021. The number of people facing acute food insecurity has soared – from 135 million to 345 million – since 2019. A total of 50 million people in 45 countries are teetering on the edge of famine.

With less than eight years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Decade of Action, many of the world’s food systems are clearly fragile and leave us unable to fulfil the right to adequate food for all. Hunger is on the rise again, especially in developing countries.

This is not acceptable.

Unless we address this problem now, we will continue to face global food shortages in the future.

Rice is consumed regularly and is vital for the food security of over half the world’s population. Building a sustainable rice value chain from production to sales can contribute to ending hunger and improving food security.

In many African countries, rice is a staple or alternative food crop. Africa has a large amount of land suitable for rice production. However, due to funding and technology constraints, the potential of food production has yet to be unlocked in Africa. Many African countries that need to import large amounts of food to feed their populations are now suffering from even more severe shortages.

China, as the second largest economy in the world and the most populous developing country, has a significant role to play in sharing its lessons, experiences, and resources with other developing countries. Here, China can leverage comparative advantages in advancing rice value chain development through South-South Cooperation, including in aspects such as superior crop varieties, production technologies, processing machinery, industrialization, investment, and marketization.

There is clear and complementary potential in China-Africa rice value chain cooperation. The UN in China is keen to act as a bridge to leverage China’s development experiences for the benefit of other developing countries.

Global challenges require global solutions. And global solutions are found through multilateralism. The world must come together to strengthen multilateralism to enhance food systems globally.

As the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, said at the Global Food Security Call to Action Ministerial Meeting, “The food crisis has no respect for borders, and no country can overcome it alone. Our only chance of lifting millions of people out of hunger is to act together, urgently and with solidarity”.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Improving food security is within our reach. Following the UN Food Systems Summit and the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, today’s event provides another timely opportunity to refocus public attention on the resilience and transformation of food systems in developing countries and to rethink our approach to addressing food security.

But our ambition to achieve the SDGs and leave no one behind will not be met without the voices of the developing world.

The UN will remain actively engaged in supporting affected populations to recover from food losses, improve their value chains, increase the resilience of their food systems, and promote inclusive agricultural development through South-South Cooperation projects.

The UN Country Team in China that I lead is committed to promoting South-South Cooperation and facilitating mutual learning and exchanges between China and Southern partner countries on improving food security and enhancing local capacities. 

I wish you successful deliberations. Thank you.