Jeffrey Sachs at the Interactive Dialogue on Targeting Hunger

On February 12, Jeffrey Sachs participated at the United Nations General Assembly Interactive Dialogue on Targeting Hunger: South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Transforming Agriculture. 

As SDG Advocate and the Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Jeffrey Sachs opened the second panel discussion on The role of South-South and Triangular Cooperation in facilitating knowledge-sharing and knowledge-building and leveraging investments in agriculture and food systems to combat hunger. He pointed out that poverty and hunger are recalcitrant in certain parts of the world, while highlighting the interconnectedness of the SDGs 1 and 2: “fighting hunger is fighting poverty”, he said. He noted that the essential challenge is not increasing food production, but increasing household incomes. 

Jeffrey Sachs laid out three channels to target hunger: first, raise the value of production of subsistence and small-holder farmers, through knowledge and organization, but in particular financing; second, diversify the household income beyond farming; and third, increase urban opportunities. He emphasized that this needs to be underpinned by a broad-based strategy that includes improving schools, health care, basic infrastructure and connectivity. 

Moderator Ms. Coco Ushiyama, Director of the UN System, African Union & Multilateral Engagement Division at the World Food Programme underscored the disheartening state of the world, noting that global hunger has been rising for the 4th consecutive year. She highlighted recent figures showing that over 820 million people suffer from hunger: more than 60% live in Asia, and another 30% in Africa. She noted that hunger has roots in extreme poverty, which is reflected in the data on poverty in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, two of the most impoverished and populous regions of the world.

This Interactive Dialogue provided a forum to share experiences, identify challenges and explore opportunities for South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the agriculture sector, in order to address the issue of increasing hunger around the world. It gave an added impetus to international efforts aimed at achieving SDG 2 of Zero Hunger, which is one of the key priorities of the 74th Session of the General Assembly.

Watch the full session here.