Agroforestry is a key climate solution with huge
potential to simultaneously improve food security and nutrition and alleviate
poverty, while halting deforestation, conserving biodiversity, building
resilience, and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the
Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) QU Dongyu said today.
He delivered his
opening remarks at a special joint event of the FAO’s Committee on
Forestry (COFO) and the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) on Agriculture-Forestry Linkages. The event
entitled “Scaling up agroforestry” took place on the sidelines of the 174th
Session of FAO Council (4-8 December 2023).
In his address, the
Director-General highlighted the need for scaling up agroforestry and its
numerous environmental and socio-economic benefits, noting that it will require
concerted efforts to foster greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing between
forestry and agriculture sectors.
According to the FAO’s State of
the World’s Forests report in 2022, agroforestry
can help restore over one billion hectares of degraded agricultural land, to
increase soil fertility and agricultural productivity, while enriching
ecosystem services and livelihoods.
The Director-General also
emphasized agroforestry’s vital importance for millions of smallholder farmers
whose livelihoods depend on it. He also noted that it was paramount to create
enabling environment to attract investors to help smallholder farmers apply
innovative approaches.
“Farmers need access
to training, technology, markets, and financial support to adopt agroforestry
practices effectively,” the Director-General said.
To this end, Qu underscored
the need for increased research and innovation which
will improve our understanding of agroforestry systems and their benefits along
the value chain and make it an attractive integrated business model for
investment.
The Director-General
called on all relevant partners to work together to develop appropriate
policies and practices. FAO is committed to support sustainable transitions to
agroforestry in ways that meet the needs of smallholder farmers and transform
agrifood systems for the better.
Other
participants included Julie Emond, Chairperson of COAG (Canada); Guenter
Walkner, Chairperson of COFO (Austria); and Michael
Taylor, award-winning silvopastoral farmer (Australia).
The participants
highlighted the potential of agroforestry as a cross-cutting solution to
sustainably transform agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive,
resilient and sustainable. The event showcased FAO’s work on agroforestry to
Members, national experiences from Members and discussed ways forward for
addressing the remaining barriers to agroforestry uptake.
