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G20 Summits • 2015 Antalya Summit
G20 Agriculture Meetings

Final Communiqué

G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting
Istanbul, May 8, 2015
[pdf]

1. We, the G20 Agriculture Ministers, are committed to meeting the challenge of global food security and nutrition for an expected world population of nine billion by 2050. We stress that intensifying pressures on natural resources and biodiversity and the impacts of climate change mean that we should raise productivity while moving towards food systems that are more sustainable in all their dimensions – economic and social as well as environmental – and in particular minimize food loss and waste. Responsible investment in sustainable and resilient food systems should raise productivity to expand food supplies and increase incomes and quality jobs in rural areas, especially for women and youth, reducing poverty and contributing to the G20's inclusive growth agenda. Our Leaders underscored that food security and nutrition is a top priority for the G20 and endorsed the G20 Food Security and Nutrition Framework in 2014.

2. Food security and nutrition is a concern for G20 members and non-members alike. We appreciate the work of the Development Working Group (DWG) in coordinating the G20's food security and development agendas and in particular in fighting poverty which remains the main cause of food insecurity and barrier to the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. We welcome the progress on the draft Implementation Plan for the G20 Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) Framework.

3. We recognize the achievements of the G20 to date in the areas of agriculture and food security, in particular the 2011 Action Plan on Food Price Volatility and Agriculture and including the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), support to sustainable productivity improvement in particular through the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), support to the development and voluntary implementation of Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI), the promotion of innovation through an annual Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) and the Platforms for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM) and for Tropical Agriculture (TAP). These successful initiatives warrant our continuing support. While AMIS has been a particularly successful initiative, we dedicate ourselves to deeper and stronger collaboration in AMIS to materially improve global data and market transparency by disclosing regular, reliable, accurate, timely and comparable data and we encourage the 'Rapid Response Forum' to address challenges in global agriculture and food security.

4. Adequate nutrition is a prerequisite for human development, productivity and growth. We reaffirm the Rome Declaration on Nutrition adopted by the Second International Conference on Nutrition. We welcome the policy options and strategies proposed in the voluntary Framework for Action and strongly encourage governments and other stakeholders to incorporate them into their national food and nutrition strategies as appropriate. We welcome Expo Milano 2015, with the theme "Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life", and its many related events on food security and nutrition.

5. Sustainable food systems should promote sustainable increases in productivity and production, use natural resources more efficiently, increase resilience and help address climate change in accordance with the UNFCCC. Improvement of soil fertility, water retention capacity and restoration of degraded land are key elements to improve agricultural productivity for food security in a changing climate. Sustainable food systems can help promote not only food security and the more sustainable use of natural resources but also economic and social opportunities through quality jobs especially for smallholders, rural women and youth. Good coordination among responsible government authorities is essential for the identification and implementation of policies to promote responsible public and private investments in infrastructure, irrigation, protection of soils, open and transparent markets, technologies, knowledge sharing, rural services including financial services, extension and advisory services, social protection programs, health and safety at work, employment services and vocational training and education.

6. A comprehensive food systems approach taking into consideration the entirety of food value chains from production through food processing and distribution to retailing and consumption is needed. In addition to public efforts, we recognize the important role of the private sector in making the investments and developing the technologies and good practices needed to enhance productivity, efficiency and sustainability in food value chains and we will dedicate ourselves to making increased efforts to engage with the private sector. We encourage the use of policy guidance, such as the voluntary Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems endorsed by the Committee Agriculture on World Food Security (CFS) in 2014 and the OECD policy framework for Investment in Agriculture as appropriate.

7. Investment at all stages of food value chains is fundamental to raising productivity, generating employment and incomes and reducing food loss and waste. We will promote national enabling environments for investment including infrastructure and policies conducive to well-functioning markets, the integration of smallholders and women into those markets, inclusive financing institutions, secure tenure of land, social protection, the management of risk and measures to limit the adverse impacts of excessive price volatility. We support efforts by countries and international organizations in promoting the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), endorsed by the CFS in 2012 and the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems endorsed in 2014. We call on FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD, the World Bank Group and OECD to provide guidance to interested countries on the operationalization of these principles.

8. We reaffirm our commitment to the fundamental role of the multilateral trading system in global food security and to the ongoing WTO negotiations with a view to promptly concluding the Doha Development Agenda and to the success of the WTO Tenth Ministerial Conference at Nairobi. We call on WHO, FAO and other relevant international institutions to continue to improve the capacities of the standard setting bodies such as CODEX, IPPC and OIE to provide scientific advice and guidance to all countries.

9. Improving agricultural productivity sustainably is fundamental to the achievement of sustainable food systems and food security. The G20 has launched a number of initiatives in the past to support agricultural productivity growth. These efforts need to be strengthened where appropriate. We support their extension as appropriate to include the whole food system, for example in the areas of processing, storage and distribution, and to consider the special needs of vulnerable farmers, which may include smallholders and family farmers, in the broader context of inclusive and sustainable rural development. The MACS has an important role in promoting international collaboration to identify global research priorities and facilitating collaboration between public and private sector organizations in the key areas most likely to drive sustainable productivity gains. We ask MACS to consider these needs and propose ways to support the G20 agenda on agriculture and food security issues with a particular focus on supporting transition towards sustainable agricultural and food systems. Given the challenge of climate change for food security, we support the work of the UNFCCC and we look forward to the successful outcome of COP 21 in Paris in December 2015.

10. Productivity improvement can be promoted by adopting technologies and sharing knowledge as much as new research and innovation. We recognize that adoption will not happen without favorable policy and regulatory environments and effective and locally adapted technical advisory and extension services. Taking into account the role played by agricultural policy in promoting sustainable food systems and food security, we call for greater cooperation and exchange of information among G20 members on policy experiences and successful practices in these respects and their sharing with non- member countries. We invite the OECD and other relevant international organizations to continue to support the development of the G20 initiated framework for improving agricultural productivity sustainably.

11. We note with great concern the significant extent of food loss and waste throughout food value chains and their negative consequences for food security, nutrition, use of natural resources and the environment. We highlight this as a global problem of enormous economic, environmental and societal significance and encourage all G20 members to strengthen their efforts to address it. We believe the reduction of food loss and waste is a good objective for G20 collective action and that the G20 can provide global leadership in this regard. We recall the CFS's Policy Recommendations on Food Loss and Waste. In the context of policy coherence, we encourage the DWG to continue its efforts to develop actions to reduce food loss and waste as part of its Implementation Plan for the G20 FSN Framework.

12. We recognize that while specific actions to combat food loss and waste may vary by country and food system, priority of action should be based on prevention and recovery of safe and nutritious otherwise wasted food to feed people rather than repurposing it for other uses. We acknowledge the importance of promoting this hierarchy of action to improve food system efficiencies and reduce food insecurity, taking into account national circumstances and market-based approaches. To better target interventions to reduce food loss and waste, there is a need for better estimates of the economic and physical magnitude of food loss and waste and a shared understanding of their economic, social and environmental impacts and their underlying drivers. Sharing country experiences in reducing food loss and waste, including through policy incentives, infrastructure investments, market innovations, consumer education, recovery and redistribution of otherwise lost or wasted food for people to eat, business incentives and private sector investments, will also facilitate global efforts to tackle this issue.

13. There is value in a common definitional and measurement framework that G20 members can consider in order to establish coherent estimates of food loss and waste against which they can monitor progress in the reduction of food loss and waste. We take note of the Global Initiative for Food Loss and Waste Reduction (SaveFood) and invite FAO together with IFPRI and other relevant international organizations to establish a platform, building on existing systems, for sharing information and experiences in measuring and reducing food loss and waste. This platform should include experiences of G20 members and other countries and also focus on low-income developing countries.

14. We request that the Agriculture Deputies in collaboration with the DWG should bring together the conclusions of our meeting today and the recommendations of the Implementation Plan into a G20 Action Plan on Food Security/Sustainable Food Systems for consideration at the Antalya Leaders' Summit. This would be relevant to both G20 members and low-income developing countries.

Source: Official website of Turkey's 2015 Presidency