In one of the rush hours we cross Rome by public transport to go to FAO, the UN agency for food and agriculture, which is in the historic heart of the capital. The metro takes you close to the entrance gate. After a few steps and past the entrance you are in an international context in stark contrast to the city and its daily chronicles, it is like having crossed a gap in space and time that projects you into another dimension. The occasion we are here for is the World Food Day, established in 1979 and celebrated in 150 countries around the world to commemorate 16 October 1945, the anniversary of the foundation of FAO. The slight advance with which we arrive gives us time to go up to the top floor, where there is the bar, and take advantage of the extraordinary view of Rome. Down there millennia of history collected in a look that leaves you amazed every time.
The FAO building is a privileged point of view. Let's go. We have an appointment with Piero Conforti, Senior Economist of the Economic and Social Development Department, with him we want to talk about World Food Day and also address the issues of food waste and the correlation with migration. Doctorate in economics and agricultural policy in Siena, master's degree in agricultural economics a Oxford, degree in agriculture in Naples, Conforti has been with FAO for almost 16 years after having also developed a long career in other national institutes of great importance in the same field; high-level qualifications, experience and profile. Let's start. What is the significance of World Food Day. What is its purpose? “Draw the world's attention to a very serious problem of food security, in particular chronic hunger and inadequate access to food. FAO is present in many countries, with small offices in those of the north of the world and with large offices in those of the south, the Day is celebrated above all there not only in Rome". Thus Conforti introduces us to the subject of our conversation.
Every year FAO gives a title to the day. “This year's theme is the promise that was made with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: achieve zero hunger by 2030. The numbers that we publish annually in the report on the state of food and nutrition security in the world tell us that there has been a reduction in the problem but in the last few years, however, there has been a small setback. Efforts must be multiplied to achieve the goal”. Fighting poverty and hunger is a huge undertaking. What road is FAO following? “We are a technical agency of the United Nations, our first dialogue is intergovernmental, the first thing we have to do is talk to governments but we also have strong interaction with the world of NGOs and we work more and more also with the sector private. Our idea is that to make an impact, you talk and do with all these subjects”, continues Conforti, “FAO is above all a knowledge organization, it takes knowledge from many parts of the world, systematises it and then tries to influence policies and choices. The cases of success for improving the living conditions of the populations have been those in which there has been a convergence of government authorities, non-governmental organizations and the private sector in the countries”.
Our interlocutor specifies. "We seek to promote inclusive economic growth in which people are not excluded from the production process, leave no one behind, leaving no one behind, in accordance with the spirit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". How is FAO organised? “Around 5 strategic objectives: hunger and food security; the sustainable development of agriculture; the reduction of rural poverty; the formation of inclusive and sustainable production systems; the increase of resilience towards emergencies. Then there are the big committees. International forums in which all member countries, NGOs and the private sector sit. They meet more or less once a year and establish the work to be done and check what has been done. The largest committee is the one on food safety”. Dr. Conforti clarifies complex topics that have many implications and connections. Today we are 7.5 billion people in the world, in 30 years it is estimated we will be 9.5 billion. Will there be food for everyone?
“This is a question that has been questioned for some centuries. The first to do so was Sir Malthus, a prominent economist. He noticed that if you take the population growth rate, which is an exponential growth rate, and compare it to the agricultural production growth rate, he says that sooner or later we will starve. However, this scenario has been systematically contradicted to date. Increases in productivity, the ability to cultivate the land, the growth of progress in agricultural development and the food industry have always bypassed the increase in population. Of course we don't know if this will always happen. The problem is not having enough food for everyone but distributing it better”, specifies Conforti. A world swinging between malnutrition and obesity, between lack and excess, food waste is a question about imbalances and inequalities. “If we already made an effort today to rationalize and improve the use of the resources we have available to produce food and we did it respecting the environment, we could easily produce much more, if we substantially reduced waste we would have much more food available.
The estimate for this year is 821 million people in the world are chronically undernourished and almost 2 billion who misuse the food at their disposal, malnourished because they eat too much or badly or not balanced. There are some areas of the planet where the population's ability to consume food depends more directly on what is produced locally and where we could actually have traps like the ones Malthus thought about, i.e. a problem of imbalance between population quantity and resources . These are the areas exposed to great precariousness, both of a natural type, fragile ecosystems, and of a socio-economic type, in which there is no stability due to wars or violence. An example is the Sahel belt. There, they are among the youngest populations on the planet and are growing rapidly but have a weak production base and a very disturbed social situation. Many people directly depend on what is produced there”. We enter the conversation. The search for food, the escape from wars and violence cause huge flows of migrations.
“One thing that is very evident when looking at the numbers of migration is that international migration, the one that reaches Italy, is the tip of a very large iceberg. For example that which comes from the Sahel is about 7/8% of the total. In poor countries people emigrate from rural to urban areas, the opposite also happens, sometimes to other rural areas, perhaps temporarily and according to the seasons. Only a small share comes from us and it is the most expensive investment for families. Fostering agricultural development and that in general of the countries that have such tumultuously growing populations can help reduce migratory phenomena". In the West, more and more attention is paid to food waste and food safety. The expense also concerns water, energy, resources, workforce. Estimates say that 1.300.000 tons of food are wasted every year. Like other European countries, Italy too, for a couple of years, has had a law that facilitates the recovery of food surpluses. Are these initiatives useful for requalifying world agricultural production and distributing it more fairly?
“Very useful”, continues Conforti. “We have made a decalogue for children that educates on how to better manage the refrigerator in one's household consumption. It's a very useful thing” adding a personal episode “I try to get my children to do it. Trivial things like always having the oldest things ahead for example” but he points out “the other important issue is i postharvest losses, the production losses that occur due to inefficiency after production. These are very strong. In many poor countries it is essential to try to have production chains, storage and more efficient transport that reduce waste”. Is there a concrete action to be taken for World Food Day that can have a positive impact? "One thing we can certainly do right away is to reduce food and water waste, small daily gestures are enough, the other is to try to learn to perceive the world as a common home in which we are all responsible for what happens". There would still be a lot to say but time has gone by quickly, they will be occasions for other times. We salute Dr. Conforti, we thank the efficient staff who welcomed us, we go through the gate again. The metro takes us back to Rome and its chronicles.
