State of Food and Agriculture Report, 2022 | 07 Nov 2022

For prelims: State of Food and Agriculture Report, 2022, Food and Agriculture Organization, Sustainable Development Goals

For Mains: State of Food and Agriculture Report, 2022, Government Policies & Interventions

Recently, the 2022 edition of the State of Food and Agriculture report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was released.

The flagship report is produced each year.
The report looked at how automation in our agrifood systems can contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals and offers recommendations to policy makers on how to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks.

Agricultural automation, which includes anything from tractors to artificial intelligence, plays an important role in making food production more efficient and environmentally friendly.
But it can also deepen inequalities if it remains inaccessible to small-scale producers and other marginalised groups.

The report looked at 27 case studies from all over the world, representing different technologies.
- Only 10 of the 27 service providers are profitable and financially sustainable.
There is an unequal progress toward mechanization among regions, according to available statistics on the number of tractors per 1,000 hectares of arable land.
High-income countries in North America, Europe and Oceania were highly mechanised by the 1960s. But regions dominated by low-and middle-income countries were less mechanised.
Crucially, there are wide disparities in the spread of automation between and within countries, with adoption being particularly limited in sub-Saharan Africa.
- For instance, Japan had more than 400 tractors per 1,000 hectares of arable land, compared with just 0.4 in Ghana in 2005.
- Agriculture reliant on human and animal power continues to dominate in sub-Saharan Africa, limiting productivity.

An agricultural automation policy should ensure that agrifood systems are sustainable and resilient.
Policymakers should avoid subsidising automation in such labour-abundant contexts.
- Agricultural automation can lead to unemployment in places where rural labour is abundant and wages are low.
Policymakers should focus on creating an enabling environment for adopting automation.
Social protection should be provided to the least skilled workers, who are more likely to lose their jobs during the transition.

About:
- FAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
- World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16^th October. The day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the founding of the FAO in 1945.
- It is one of the UN food aid organisations based in Rome (Italy). Its sister bodies are the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Initiatives Taken:
- Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS).
- Monitors the Desert Locust situation throughout the world.
- The Codex Alimentarius Commission or CAC is the body responsible for all matters regarding the implementation of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.
- The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was adopted by the Thirty-First Session of the Conference of the FAO in 2001.
Flagship Publications:
- The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA).
- The State of the World's Forests (SOFO).
- The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).
- The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO).