C44 ROUNDTABLE Four Betters for Innovation and Agrifood Systems Transformation Opening Remarks

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

Welcome to this Round Table on the Four Betters for Innovation and Agrifood Systems Transformation, which provides a timely and critical opportunity to discuss and together seek collective solutions to the complex and interconnected challenges facing our agrifood systems.

Around the world, countries are acting to transform agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable, through policy reforms, digital innovation, and inclusive partnerships.

We always start reforming through policy change, this is especially important for policy areas in agriculture, and for rural areas such as on land use and so on.

I always say that we have two worlds: one is the urban world, which came late, only a few hundred years ago, but then became dominant – maybe it will be more dominant in the future.

By 2050, 70 percent of the global population will be living in cities, but we have to protect the rural areas and for that we need an enabling policy. A policy on how to protect farmers' rights, farmers' well-being, and to protect the rural environment.

That is why we have to consider not only One Better, but the Four Betters!

Over the past 45 years, I fought for that, because a lot of agricultural people only focus on production and it is not good enough.

A lot of environmentalists advocate for the environment, but I try to balance both because we need the food first.

So, that is why I started better production and better nutrition as these two are the key parts of FAO’s mandate. If we forget this, it is not necessary for us to exist. It is not necessary to have the Minister of Agriculture and Food in any country.

But then we have to add more: a better environment and a better life. Because better life is linked not only with health, it is also linked with us as biological animals. That is the nature of the human being, no matter whether you are a farmer or consumer, we need a better life. Not only vulnerable people want to have basic food, that is the most challenging part, but even rich people need food.

I joked with Mr Bill Gates when I said, “you have a lot of money, but you do not have a better life”. So, for a better life, you need some level of food and wealth, but you also need a scientific-based way of life.

So, that is why I always promote the Four Betters - not only one Better – which was endorsed by the 2021 FAO Ministerial Conference in the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31.

I hope that all Members are taking it seriously to implement the Four Betters in line with their local conditions. That is my main aim.

That is also why we want to have this dialogue with you, through the Ministerial Conference. I expect more Four Betters in villages, towns, counties, provinces and countries. It depends on the size of the country, whether in Australia – which is one very big state – or Malaysia – which is not that big but has many different towns and counties.

Major challenges persist, so we need more food. That means we need more quantity and to improve productivity first.

Not only due to a population increase, but also because more people are moving from the countryside to the city, meaning that the absolute number of farmers is decreasing.

That is why most of us here are originally from the countryside. We moved to the city. Why? Because the city is our future. The rural areas are not our future. We have to understand this, but we must also find a way to create an attraction for the young people to stay, to be willing to work in the countryside, in the rural areas, for themselves and for the entire world. That is a challenge.

The second challenge is we have to improve the quality of our food. Not only based on the CODEX food safety norms, but all companies also have a food safety standard. But the quality also includes the marketable rate, marketable appearance and the nutrition effect and, more important in my opinion, also flavour. If you do not like the flavour, you can make it as nutritious as possible, but nobody is willing to eat it.

Also texture. A lot of people grew up with different textures. When I arrived here, I really had a problem with eating Italian risotto. Because I grew up in China and am used to eating very soft rice. But here in Italy, risotto for me was always half-cooked. But after six years, I now enjoy that flavour and the texture. Especially the texture. When I eat the normal Chinese rice now, I feel it is too soft.

The same was with spaghetti, in the beginning it felt very hard, like a stick and unlike noodles. Not to offend Italians or chefs, but I cook my spaghetti in my high-pressure wok. Five minutes and it becomes soft.

The quality is not only scientific. My colleagues from the Nutrition Division, the Chief Scientist or Chief Economist, they always talk about standards. But appearance, flavour, texture is even more important. So, that is what comprises the quality of food.

And then there is food diversity. We need to share the different kinds of food from different raw materials. All this offers huge potential for the new generation of agrifood systems. Solutions come, but first you need policy innovations to produce special flavours and special textures from raw materials. For example, durian. It was awful for me at first, but now after I started eating it, I really like it – it’s delicious!

So, you need some innovation policy to support special products and protect the biodiversity by promoting food diversity. Innovation and science. Innovation in policy, innovation in the business model, innovation in the infrastructure, and in hardware. Agriculture people only talk about software and forget the hardware!

So, I think the Four Betters is overarching. But how to land it on the ground? We have to work with farmers, farmers’ organizations, business groups. They are the real game changers.

At FAO, we are willing to promote it globally - and maybe in the next life after I retire from FAO, I will establish a Four Betters Academy - as it is our overarching global view of a balance between agrifood systems, the environment and life, irrespective of the size of a country.

For that, let us work together! We have already started!

Thank you so much.