FAO opens fifth Science and Innovation Forum with three "reality tests"

The fifth Science and Innovation Forum (SIF) opened on Tuesday, 13 October, at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, with Director-General QU Dongyu calling for the benefits of science and innovation to reach those most in need while 645 million people still face hunger, FAO said.

Set up by the Director-General in 2022, the forum is a pillar of the World Food Forum, whose theme this year is "Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow." It runs until 16 October. FAO says biotechnology, remote sensing, robotics and artificial intelligence are increasingly available, yet one in four people worldwide still face food insecurity, one in three cannot afford a healthy diet, and 96 percent of the world's offline population lives in low- and middle-income countries.

"Leaving no one behind is not a slogan. No farmer left behind is not an aspiration, but a reality test," the Director-General said.

He set out three "reality tests". Reach: does an innovation reach the farmer, the fisher, the herder, the young entrepreneur and the woman who grows most of the food in her village, in her language, on her device, at a price she can afford? Rigour: science must be robust to be trusted, so the forum concentrates on evidence synthesis, science communication and links between scientists and policymakers. Resources: good ideas need funding, and FAO's first dataset on Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) is meant to help countries track research trends, find investment gaps and plan agrifood R&D.

Speakers at the opening included Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan, FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the Near East and North Africa; Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov, Uzbekistan's minister of agriculture; Armando Rodríguez Batista, Cuba's minister for science, technology and environment; and Alexander Alimov, Russia's deputy minister of foreign affairs.

Sessions will cover science communication, AI governance, climate adaptation, One Health and innovative financing, with joint sessions with the WFF Youth Initiative. The Young Scientists Group will present the experiences of young women in agrifood systems in conflict settings and launch its report.

Photo: Scopritore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: FAO Newsroom