G20 Agriculture Ministers Declaration

Priority I: Sustainability of Agriculture and Food Systems in Their Multiple Paths

Sustainable agriculture and food systems underpin global food security and nutrition, rural development and revitalization, sustainable management and use of natural resources, and their conservation for future generations. Recognizing that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to the challenges of agriculture and food systems, due to the diversity and complexity of global agricultural and food production conditions, we support targeted policies, which, in combination with other cross-cutting strategies, deliver economic prosperity, environmental stewardship, positive health outcomes and social equity. This requires a focus on outcomes-driven sustainable and innovative solutions that are science and evidence-based, data-driven (including through the use of digital infrastructure), socially inclusive, adapted to local contexts and supported by open, non-discriminatory, and fair markets. In that respect, we welcome the outcomes of the 13th G20 Meeting of Agriculture Chief Scientists (MACS), held in Brasilia, from 15-17, May, 2024.

We recognize the COP 28 Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action and the agreement reached at the Bonn Climate Conference in June 2024 on the elements of the Sharm El Sheikh Joint Work on implementation of climate action in agriculture and food security. We stress the importance of enhanced efforts towards halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. We recommend agriculture and food systems policies and programmes that increase incomes, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and bolster resilience, production and productivity, livelihoods, nutrition, water efficiency, and human, animal, plant, and environmental health, while reducing food loss and waste, and ecosystem loss and degradation, taking into consideration national circumstances.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the basis for a balanced and inclusive path for people, planet, and prosperity, where agriculture plays a vital role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This includes SDG 1, which aims to end poverty in all its forms everywhere, and SDG 2, which seeks to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture for all by 2030. It is projected that approximately 582 million people will be chronically undernourished at the end of the current decade, more than half in Africa (SOFI 2024). In light of widespread food insecurity and malnutrition, strategies must integrate multiple facets, including healthy, diverse, and balanced diets, sustainable production and consumption, poverty eradication, reduction of food loss and waste, humanitarian food assistance, integrated water resource management, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilient and sustainable agricultural productivity growth, and the role of international, regional and local trade.

In line with global efforts towards the full achievement of all SDGs, particularly SDGs 1 and 2, we reaffirm everyone should have access to safe, nutritious, affordable and sufficient food and healthy diets consistent with our commitment to foster the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. We welcome Brazil's proposal to establish a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, recalling that 84% of the world’s poor reside in rural areas. We acknowledge the catalytic role that this G20 initiative can play in mobilizing resources, partnerships, and knowledge whilst highlighting the importance of combining efforts to address the global challenges of poverty, food security and nutrition, and social development, while ensuring the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources.

In addressing global food security challenges, we recognize the urgent need for actions to protect, conserve, and restore biodiversity, forests, freshwater, oceans, to promote the sustainable use and management of biodiversity and soil for food and agriculture, and promote climate-resilient crops, as well as secure tenure rights on land, fisheries and forests and integrated water resource management. In addition, we note the importance of the sustainable use of bioeconomy in strengthening food security and nutrition. This can be supported by the application of biodiversity-friendly, science and evidence-based practices, including sustainable intensification, regenerative agriculture, agroecological practices and other innovative approaches, such as breeding innovations, to improve productivity on existing agricultural land with positive environmental impacts, and for supporting our shared commitments to halting and reversing deforestation and ecosystem degradation.

To foster sustainable agriculture and food systems, we advocate for innovation and technology integration, science and technology exchange on voluntary and mutually agreed terms, and other sustainable approaches, including methods based on traditional and Indigenous knowledges and best practices, having regard to national and international intellectual property law as per the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as applicable, combined with cutting-edge new technologies and approaches, including digital infrastructure. We also need to enhance our efforts to strengthen research cooperation on climate-resilient and nutritious grains. We recognize the need to improve environmental outcomes and food systems resilience. This involves supporting sustainable agricultural models adapted to local realities and characteristics, which contribute to climate resilience and biodiversity conservation.

Acknowledging the crucial role of fertilizers in agriculture, we encourage efforts for enhancing their sustainable and more efficient production and use, while minimizing negative impacts on biodiversity. It is important that we focus on research and development, including the development in scaling up their availability by increasing investment, and facilitating international trade and access to affordable, safe, and sustainable fertilizers. We aim to address the challenges of fertilizer shortages, including through trade, increase fertilizer efficiency, and utilize biofertilizers while addressing the need to improve soil health and minimize water pollution. We emphasize the importance of increasing access to fertilizers, including through strengthening local fertilizer production.

As G20 members, we are committed to making agriculture and food systems more sustainable through technical cooperation, sharing best practices, and fostering innovations that address global food security and nutrition and sustainable development challenges.

Our discussions and initiatives, such as the proposed G20 Global Initiative on Bioeconomy (GIB) and the emphasis on combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) following the One Health approach, reflect our collective ambition to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth in agriculture and food systems while protecting human, animal, and plant health, and the environment.

To this end, we promote the prudent and responsible use of antimicrobials and commit to the principles laid down in the Codex Alimentarius “Code of Practice to Minimize and Contain Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance”, and emphasize the importance of promoting and implementing measures against AMR in all relevant sectors based on cooperation, scientific evidence, surveillance, and risk analysis. We remain committed to promote the One Health approach driven by the Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action. In this context, we take note of the 4th Global High Level Ministerial Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance, which will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November 2024.

By leveraging our diverse experiences and embracing a holistic approach to agriculture and food systems transformation, and by addressing health issues such as foodborne diseases and food contamination at the human-animal-plant-environment interface along the food supply chain, we aim to foster a more food-secure and sustainable future for all.

Priority II: Enhancing International Trade's Contribution to Food Security and Nutrition

We stress the fact that international, as well as regional and local trade, plays a crucial role in alleviating food insecurity and malnutrition, and building sustainable and resilient food systems, including by facilitating the movement of food from surplus to deficit regions, thereby improving food availability, promoting access, and helping to stabilize prices. It can also foster dietary diversity, crucial for nutrient intake and health. Besides not imposing export prohibitions or restrictions in a manner inconsistent with relevant WTO provisions, concrete steps should be taken to ensure agricultural and food products trade to flow.

We look forward to World Trade Organization discussions on how trade rules can contribute to the sustainability of agriculture and food systems. We stress the need to engage constructively in the long-standing WTO reform process on agriculture at the 14th Ministerial Conference. A transparent, fair, predictable, open, non-discriminatory, inclusive, sustainable, equitable and rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core, is fundamental to foster fair and well-functioning global markets, especially in times of global food security uncertainty and crisis. We emphasize that policies and regulations intended to improve sustainability and resilience of agriculture and food systems should be in compliance with WTO rules, including avoiding unjustifiable regulatory burdens.

The role of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) in providing robust, reliable, and transparent market analyses of staple commodities, vegetable oils and fertilizers is invaluable. We reconfirm our commitment to actively support the initiative by providing the necessary data, and resources as well as broadening the donor-base. Strengthening country participation in AMIS through routine and regular country engagement on supplying information is key to providing timely data on the food market situation and contributing to early warning systems for acute food insecurity.

We acknowledge that reducing food waste at retail and consumer levels by 50% and reducing food losses along production and supply chains (including post-harvest losses) to achieve SDG 12.3, alongside improving storage conditions, infrastructure is critical for enhancing food security and nutrition globally, while contributing to fighting climate change. Furthermore, improving market and supply chain access for women, family farmers, including small-scale farmers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, is vital. Sharing technology, on voluntary and mutually agreed terms, knowledge, and best practices plays a crucial role in this effort. This includes facilitating access not just to markets but to the entire supply chain, thereby improving income opportunities and can contribute to biodiversity conservation, and the preservation of traditional agricultural knowledge. We also reiterate the importance of improving the measurement and strengthening policy dialogue on food loss and waste to enable targeted action, developing and implementing national strategies, and consider including food loss and waste in our national communications.

Coordination with international financial institutions and other development partners to promote responsible investments in sustainable agricultural practices in developing countries is encouraged. Such investments should consider the needs of developing countries, LDCs, and NFIDCs, Small Island Developing States and Landlocked Developing Countries, thus promoting a non-discriminatory fair-trading environment, while promoting high environmental standards.

In light of the dynamic interplay of global agriculture and food trade, which has notably benefited emerging economies and contributed to shifting global trade patterns, we must recognize the interdependence of countries in achieving food security and nutrition, food safety, and sustainability through open trade policies consistent with WTO rules. While recognizing the importance of domestic production, diversifying international, regional and local supply routes is also an important way to strengthen the resilience of world food supply chains to external shocks.

Priority III: Elevating the Essential Role of Family Farmers, Smallholders, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Sustainable, Resilient and Inclusive Agriculture and Food Systems

Family farmers, including smallholders, are central to the transition to sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food systems and to the promotion of healthy diets, producing 80% of the world’s food in value terms across more than 550 million family farms (FAO, 2021). We also note that rural populations, constituting more than 40% of humanity, include over 80% of the world’s population living in extreme poverty (UNGA, 2023). Family farmers, including smallholders, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and women and youth, are not only pivotal in ensuring food security but also play a central role in the sustainable management and use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation. However, these populations are significantly affected by climate change, forest and land degradation, and biodiversity loss. Recognizing their crucial role and specific needs, it is imperative to prioritize locally led and adapted solutions, and develop targeted policies with the meaningful and effective participation of these groups and their organizations in decision-making processes to enable them to thrive worldwide, with a special focus on those in vulnerable situations[1].

We acknowledge the diverse structures of family farms globally, the existence of varying definitions of family farming across different countries, and that such farms may be supported by combinations of specifically tailored policies, including, as appropriate, access to land, financial services, technical assistance, rural extension, insurance, and public procurement of food from family farmers, with a holistic perspective, and in line with international obligations and commitments. We commend the efforts of the FAO and IFAD in supporting countries to create, fine-tune and expand such policies, as the core objective of the ongoing UN Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF 2019-2028).

Recognizing the varying needs of family farms according to scale and capitalization levels, we underscore the need for tailored policies that promote their sustainability and resilience. We recall in this respect that small-scale family farms (under 2 hectares), comprising over 84% of the world’s farms, operate on only 12% of agricultural land yet produce approximately 36% of the world’s food (FAO, 2021). We therefore highlight the significant potential of targeted sustainable agricultural innovations – such as mechanization and modernization of small-scale family farms – in increasing productivity and adding value while safeguarding natural resources. We therefore support enhancing fair trade, responsible investment, and voluntary technology transfer of machinery and equipment designed for small-scale agriculture on mutually agreed terms.

We highlight the importance of promoting access to finance, innovative technologies, training, capacity development and extension services for under-represented and people in vulnerable situations to reduce inequalities, especially for women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Such advances need to be scaled according to local contexts to protect the environment, manage natural resources, mitigate and adapt to climate change, revitalize rural areas, address the lack of generational renewal, promote the economic autonomy of rural women, increase access to markets, create decent jobs, and thus generate social equity and the sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems.

30. We acknowledge that different multilateral negotiation forums (such as the UNFCCC, the UNCCD, and the WTO [2] ) and international initiatives (such as the UNDFF 2019-2028, the UN 2030 Agenda, and the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, to be launched in November 2024) can contribute to the creation and implementation of policies targeted at the persons and groups involved in small and medium scale agriculture, livestock rearing, fisheries and aquaculture, and forestry activities. We reaffirm the important role and inclusive nature of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) as a major intergovernmental platform for a broad range of stakeholders to work together towards ensuring food security and nutrition for all, and its recognition of the essential role of small-scale food producers in reaching this goal. We thus recognize the need for international and domestic concerted efforts to foster a coherent and enabling policy environment, in line with international obligations and commitments, to strengthen small- and medium scale farmers’ livelihoods.

In light of these considerations, of the fruitful discussions between G20 and invited delegations at the AWG Meeting on Public Policies for Family Farming held on 29-30 April 2024 in Brasilia, and given the key role of such policies in jointly addressing the global poverty, hunger, and environmental crises, we express our intention to convene a dedicated session on Family Farming alongside one of the regular G20 Agriculture Working Group meetings during future G20 presidencies.

Priority IV: Promote the Integration of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture into Local and Global Value Chains

Aquatic food systems play a pivotal role in enhancing global food security, nutrition, and social and economic inclusion, serving as a vital source of essential nutrients important to human health, such as high-quality proteins. Providing equitable access to these aquatic resources is particularly important for artisanal fishers and coastal and riparian populations. With global demand for fish on the rise, sustainable aquaculture contributes as an important sector for meeting this demand in partnership with sustainable wild capture fisheries. Global fisheries face a number of serious challenges such as overfishing, climate change, marine pollution, increase in invasive species and loss of habitat and biodiversity. In this regard, strengthening regional and international commitments and ensuring a science-based approach to managing stocks of aquatic biological resources are essential for a long-term sustainable management of resources and access to aquatic living resources.

We recognize the importance of implementing science-based and sustainably managed fisheries for the recovery of fish stock. This underpins the urgent need to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which poses a significant threat to the sustainability of fisheries resources worldwide. In order to tackle IUU fishing, strengthening the implementation of existing regional and international commitments including agreements such as the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures and promoting inclusive governance and management of fisheries are essential to ensuring long-term, sustainable management of resources and access to aquatic living resources.

We urge WTO members to submit their instruments of acceptance for the 2022 WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies so that it can enter into force. We call for effective disciplines on certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, in line with SDG Target 14.6. We seek to conclude negotiations on a comprehensive and well-balanced agreement as soon as possible, following the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13).

To ensure an integration of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture into value chains, we emphasise the fight against IUU fishing and encourage the implementation of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, and the FAO Guidelines on Sustainable Aquaculture. Sustainable fish production must reconcile increasing demand with the conservation of oceans and other aquatic resources, in alignment with SDG 14.

We should foster a holistic approach to sustainable food production that acknowledges the synergies and trade-offs between land and aquaculture systems, in light of the recently adopted FAO Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture, in promoting the health and the sustainable use of fisheries resources and marine ecosystems, based on the best available scientific evidence. The G20 draws attention to the need to increase knowledge on the state of the oceans in those regions where exhaustive information of the state of their resources is not known.

The Blue Transformation Roadmap proposed by FAO is a guide on how to maximize the contribution of aquatic food systems to food security and nutrition, employment, economic growth, social development, and environmental recovery in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We emphasize the importance of sustainable aquaculture intensification and expansion, effective fisheries management, adoption of new technologies in fisheries and aquaculture and strengthened value chains to ensure the social, economic, and environmental viability of aquatic food systems. In that regard, we look forward to the United Nations Ocean Conference to be held in Nice/France, in June 2025.

In conclusion, we express our gratitude to Brazil for steering the G20 Agriculture Working Group throughout the past year. As we wrap up our discussions in Chapada dos Guimarães, we eagerly welcome the upcoming Presidency of the Republic of South Africa in 2025. We anticipate their fresh perspective and continued commitment to the shared goals of enhancing sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Notes

[1] Lowder, S.K., Sànchez, M.V. & Bertini, R. 2021. Farms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: What do we know today? FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper 19-08. Rome, FAO. ↩

[2] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, World Trade Organization. ↩

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