Addis Ababa, November 1, 2024 (FBC) – Over 1 500 participants will convene in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 5 to 7 November 2024 to deliberate on the greatest challenge of our time “ending hunger” leveraging technology, investment, and innovation in the food and agriculture sector.
Hosted by the Government of Ethiopia, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) collaborates with the Federal Ministry of Industry, and the African Union with a technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to organize the conference that brings together Heads of State, UN agencies, policy makers, international financial institutions, private companies and leading scientists.
“Hunger and food insecurity have continued affecting millions of people around the world. Recent figures (2023) indicated that more than 733 million people still suffer from hunger which equates to 1 out of 11 worldwide and 1 out of every 5 people in Africa despite SDG-2 target to end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round by 2030. In recent years, the decline in domestic and public investments as well as FDI has adversely affected sustainable development and fall short in addressing developmental challenges,” UNIDO stated.
“Sustainable investment in agribusiness and food systems must be the focus of government actions if the Sustainable Development Goal of a world without hunger to be achieved,” said Melaku Alebel, Industry Minister of the Federal Government of Ethiopia. “The world without hunger conference will be a great platform to reiterate our commitments to combat hunger through addressing the issues of agriculture and agribusiness policy, infrastructure development for agribusiness, innovation and digitalization, climate change and energy transition, and fair trade.”
The recent progress in combating hunger has been reversed due to new challenges such as slowing economies, climate change, and conflicts.
Hunger is far from over, said Dejene Tezera, Director of Agribusiness and Infrastructure at UNIDO, adding that “investing in agro-industrialization is pivotal to unlock sustainable agricultural practices and building resilient food systems in the effort to solve the problem of hunger.”
“There is a need to redouble our efforts to realize a world free from hunger,” added Dejene. “The conference will facilitate forums on mobilizing investments for sustainable food security initiatives.”
The conference will be concluded by a high-level political forum on Global Action against Hunger, in which governments and the private sector deliver statements about their efforts to combat hunger.