(AGENPARL) – Mon 01 December 2025 [NewsMedia_NewsRelease]
Four key pathways to transform agrifood systems and promote global food security
FAO Director-General opens FAO Council in Rome with a call to action
01/12/2025
Rome – The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, today urged FAO Members to focus on four key transformational pathways to tackle the pressing challenges affecting global food security and agrifood systems as he addressed the 179th Session of the FAO Council (1–5 December) at the Organization’s headquarters in Rome.
“We are all aware that our world is defined by an overlap of interconnected crises that test our resilience, and which demand a radical rethinking and redesigning of our approach,” the Director-General said, highlighting a landscape of geopolitical tensions, economic instability, environmental crises, and deepening social inequalities.
“Yet, within this complexity lies immense opportunity,” he noted, as FAO prepares to enter a new biennium with the Programme of Work and Budget 2026/27. Qu emphasized four key transformational pathways:
• From crisis response to resilience building: The increasing frequency and intensity of shocks render reactive measures insufficient, requiring focus on resilience at national and local levels. This involves scaling up climate-resilient agriculture and supporting shock-responsive social protection systems.
• From input-intensive to knowledge-intensive Agrifood Systems: Rising input costs, such as fertilizers, demand a transition to biotech-based agriculture and digital innovations. “By leveraging FAO’s data platforms like the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform, we can provide farmers and governments with targeted, context-specific advice and live situation services,” Qu said.
• From silos to synergies: FAO aims to enhance its role as a central hub for partnerships, deepening country-led, data-driven collaborations to reduce poverty, hunger, and inequality.
• From global commitments to localized action: Bridging the gap between international frameworks and on-the-ground impact is essential. “Through our Country Programming Frameworks, we will ensure that global goals are translated into concrete, localized actions that meet the specific needs of our Members,” Qu emphasized.
FAO as a key player in the international agenda
The Director-General also provided an overview of FAO’s key achievements in technical work in 2025, highlighting the Organization’s commitment to placing agrifood systems and food security at the forefront of the international agenda.
This includes, for instance, how FAO has been entrusted by the Brazil COP 30 Presidency to lead several key initiatives under the Action Agenda, such as: the Resilient Agriculture Investment for Net-Zero Land Degradation, aimed at accelerating investment in agricultural land restoration. At COP30, FAO also supported two new forest initiatives: the Tropical Forest Forever Facility and a Call to Action on Integrated Fire Management.
In the realm of urban development, the First International Green Cities Conference during the World Food Forum 2025 resulted in the adoption of the FAO Green Cities Principles, which guide local governments in implementing integrated urban solutions. FAO’s Green Cities in Action for Africa project, for example, focuses on developing climate-adaptive plans for ten cities across five African nations.
FAO also continues to be a partner of choice for financing agrifood systems in Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), successfully securing over USD 400 million for projects in 2025 through its partnership with the Global Climate Fund.
Innovation and digital transformation
The Director-General highlighted FAO’s strategic enhancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve internal operations and increase its impact with Members. The Organization aims to strengthen collaboration within the UN and pilot safe applications of Generative AI (GenAI) to enhance compliance and service quality.
Through the FAO Efficiency Roadmap, FAO is focused on reducing costs and time in strategic areas such as finance, procurement, logistics, and human resources. Guided by the FAO Science and Innovation Strategy and the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, the Organization is advancing its capabilities in science-policy interfaces and digital agriculture.
FAO has deepened collaboration with the Asian Development Bank under a new agreement to scale private sector investment in agrifood value chains and promote digital, AI-enabled, and climate-resilient solutions. The launch of the FAO Risk Monitor Platform allows proactive management of agrifood crises using geospatial data and automated alerts, enabling timely decision-making to mitigate food security risks.
Additionally, the Financing for Shock-Driven Food Crises Facility (FSFC) introduces innovative solutions in collaboration with re-insurance partners to provide rapid financing for vulnerable households affected by shocks.
179th Session of the FAO Council
The FAO Council serves as the executive organ of the FAO Conference. The 179th session, which concludes on 5 December, will address important subjects such as adjustments to the Programme of Work and Budget 2026-27, FAO emergency interventions in crisis settings and global food security challenges and drivers.
For more details, the agenda can be found here.
The sessions can be followed via webcast here.
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