August 03, 2021 - من خلال المشرف
His Excellency the Governor of the General Grain Corporation, Engineer Ahmed Al-Faris, confirmed that the Kingdom has adopted many strategies and programs; To promote sustainable agricultural development and increase the agricultural area, to contribute to achieving food security at the national, regional and international levels, and to preserve natural and environmental resources, including the Food Security Strategy and the Rural Development Program. It has also built its agricultural strategy to be flexible, responsive to developments and critical situations that are sweeping The world, as happened during the Corona Virus pandemic, where the Kingdom relied in its mechanism and measures on innovation and technology, to improve productivity and efficiency of the use of natural resources and agricultural inputs, achieve sector sustainability, and secure safe and abundant food during the crisis, and to face food losses, which exceed (18%) annually. An initiative to reduce food loss and waste was launched in order to raise awareness of the importance of rationalizing food, thus promoting sustainable and inclusive agricultural and food systems and achieving sustainable development.
This came during his speech today while presiding over the activities of the "National Dialogue for Sustainable Food Systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", which was organized by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, with the participation of the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021, and in the presence of His Excellency the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture for Agriculture Affairs, Engineer Ahmed Al-Ayada, and a representative The Food and Agriculture Organization of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Abu Bakr Muhammad, and a number of officials, experts and interested parties.
His Excellency Eng. Al-Fares added that the objective of the United Nations Food Systems Summit seeks to achieve measurable progress towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, raise awareness, and enhance the level of public debate on how to help reform our food systems in order to achieve these goals, by implementing a number of From reforms that benefit the people, the planet and identify the solutions needed for them, and establish principles to guide governments and stakeholders looking to benefit from their food systems, in addition to establishing a system of follow-up and review to ensure that the results of the summit continue to advance new actions and progress that allows the exchange of experiences, lessons and knowledge, and ensuring that all on safe and nutritious food, to bring hunger levels back downward, transform agricultural and food systems to feed people, care for the planet, build resilient livelihoods and ecosystems, commit to rural transformation and invest in vulnerable populations to reduce disparities.
For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture for Agriculture Affairs, Engineer Ahmed Al-Ayada, confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken several important steps to work at all levels of food systems and the lunch chain, and was able to make remarkable progress towards achieving sustainable development.
The engineer added that the ministry launched an ambitious rural development program that had an impact in supporting small farmers and empowering youth and women in agricultural work and food systems, noting the importance of the efforts of the Kingdom’s government represented by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in implementing the national strategy for agriculture, which contributed to Providing strategic food commodities in local markets.
The clinic indicated that the ministry, through its global, regional and local companies, adopted systems, technology, and innovations that contributed to raising the operational efficiency and agricultural productivity of large and small farmers in the Kingdom, and took into account in adopting these technologies that they should be low-cost, easy to implement, high-efficiency, and suit the climatic conditions in the Kingdom. .
He pointed out that the ministry directed a flexible program of support; To stimulate the agricultural sector to reach the targets set by the National Strategy for Agriculture, it also presented a number of investment opportunities; To enhance the productivity of the agricultural sector, and provide food products with a comparative advantage in the Kingdom in the local markets, pointing out that all this contributed to the Kingdom achieving high rates of self-sufficiency in a number of food products, including animal products such as milk by about 12%, and table eggs by 116%, Poultry meat by 65%, fish by 45%, red meat by 42%, vegetable products and agricultural crops such as dates by 111%, vegetables by 87%, and fruits by 38%.
At the conclusion of his statement, the engineer affirmed the Kingdom’s continued fulfillment of its commitments towards the United Nations sustainable development goals, noting the Kingdom’s participation in the United Nations Summit on Food Systems for the year 2021 AD, believing in the achievement of many goals, and taking measures to support the 2030 sustainable development plan, and raising awareness, raising the level of public debate on food systems reform, establishing principles to guide governments and stakeholders; With the aim of benefiting from diets, and establishing a follow-up system to ensure the continuity of results.
In turn, the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Kingdom, Dr. Abu Bakr Muhammad, stressed that this dialogue comes in light of the Kingdom’s efforts to make change through its strategy and ambitious plans, and in response to the invitation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to hold national dialogues for food systems, which take place at three levels, with the aim of Determining the future trends of food systems and transforming them into the overall goal, which is to achieve sustainable food development.
Abu Bakr added that global food systems are currently not working as required and optimal, as the Corona virus pandemic revealed many weaknesses that led to an increase in the number of food insecure people in varying proportions in many countries, which led to the need for food systems to work in the world. To be more sustainable, the United Nations proposes to develop a concept of food systems to include all actors, and their value-added activities, that participate in the process of manufacturing and assembling food products and their resources, thus providing sustainability for natural resources, and providing job opportunities for many societies.
The representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Kingdom indicated that the Food Systems Summit reflects the need for change through 5 action tracks to achieve sustainability, which is to ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all, shift to sustainable consumption patterns, and enhance production with a positive impact on nature. Promote equitable livelihoods and build resilience to shocks and challenges.
Dr. Abu Bakr summarized the challenges of sustainable food systems in the Kingdom in several points, stressing that they are represented in the scarcity and limited water and land resources, the appropriate climatic and ecological conditions to adequately cover demand, and the heavy reliance on imports as the Kingdom imports approximately 70% of its food needs, and concerns related to Food safety represented in food-borne diseases, consumption patterns and the high rates of food loss and waste that the Kingdom faces, and unhealthy diets that led to high rates of obesity.
At the conclusion of his speech, the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization “FAO” in the Kingdom presented proposals to solve these challenges, that the national dialogues in their three phases cover several axes, including support for innovation, research and technology for the sustainable transformation of local food production systems, and support for investment and diversification of information systems to create a flexible system for the food supply chain. , as well as support measures, policies and systems; To ensure access to safe food, shift to healthy and sustainable diets, work to enhance the participation of all segments of society, women and the private sector, and work to strengthen national capacities.
In addition, the meeting included a series of dialogues and sessions, where the first session, which came under the title “Food Systems in the Kingdom”, discussed the national food production systems in the Kingdom, the food security strategy, the development and improvement of food systems for the Saudi society through the vision of the Food and Drug Authority, and the role of the private sector In strengthening the national food systems in the Kingdom, while four other parallel dialogue sessions reviewed the Kingdom’s efforts to combat food loss and waste and its management strategies, and the importance of the sustainable agricultural rural development program. The experts participating in the sessions recommended supporting the role of innovation and modern technologies in the Kingdom’s national food systems, in addition. Because of the importance of future trends of innovation and modern technologies in food systems, the empowerment of women and youth to participate in food and agricultural systems, the importance of institutional support, and societal acceptance of the role of women in active participation.