“Paradoxically, this occurs on a planet that has enough food to feed all its inhabitants,” said the Cuban head of state, Miguel Díaz-Canel, before the Regional Conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), held in Georgetown, Guyana, on Monday.
A United Nations report on the compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals predicted that more than 600 million people in the world will live in conditions of famine by 2030, recalled the dignitary, whose full intervention was released on Facebook on Tuesday.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development established among its objectives to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, as well as promote sustainable agriculture, with the premise of achieving the economic, social and environmental sustainability of States.
“But reality has fallen far behind dreams. With only six years to go before the deadline set to achieve these goals, global food insecurity has reached extreme levels,” he reasoned.
According to Díaz-Canel, the promotion of research, scientific-technical development, the transfer of technologies and access to existing technologies in the spheres of food and nutrition have the potential to contribute to the eradication of hunger and poverty. poverty in all its forms and dimensions.
He added that they can help achieve sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth, human well-being and sustainable development from and for the South.
In the Latin American and Caribbean region, he explained, small farmers represent 40 percent of agricultural propriety and contribute significantly to the availability of food. However, 20 percent of this sector faces food insecurity.
Reversing this situation depends, to a large extent, on guaranteeing adequate, preferential access and on favorable terms, to scientific-technical breakthroughs and the creation of capabilities, he considered.
According to Díaz-Canel, “the selfishness of those who have enriched themselves for years at the expense of the people of the South has left us with more hunger and more poverty.”
Furthermore, the application of unilateral coercive measures has devastating impacts on the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to food.
The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States against Cuba has intensified in recent years to unprecedented levels, causing losses to the food sector of more than 273 million dollars, only between March 2022 and February 2022. 2023, he explained.
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