G7 Agriculture Ministers Meet to Strengthen Food Security and Cooperation

The Agriculture Ministers of the seven most industrialized countries (G7) met on 22 and 23 April in Miyazaki (Japan). Objective: to strengthen cooperation on food security.

“We are committed to promoting policies that support sustainable productivity growth” to strengthen food security, says the final communiqué of the G7 agriculture ministers meeting in Miyazaki (Japan). During this meeting which brought together the representatives of Japan, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada and the European Union, to which some guests joined* , the French Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, insisted on the need to strengthen food security, saying that “Russia’s illegal aggression had shown that food could become a weapon”.

This war caused “an unprecedented shock to the global food system”, agreed the ministers. At the end of their meeting, the ministers called « extension, full implementation and expansion” of a crucial agreement for the export of Ukrainian cereals via the Black Sea. Russia is in fact threatening not to renew, on 18 May next, the agreement on the maritime corridor in the Black Sea, Moscow considering that a “list of requests to facilitate its own grain and fertilizer exports” was not satisfied. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was due to discuss the deal with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York on April 24-25.

Food self-sufficiency

The agricultural G7 also adopted an action plan called « Miyazaki Actions » to increase production and ensure the sustainability of agriculture and food systems. The fear of food shortages has actually worsened in developing countries since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Dozens of countries are experiencing double-digit inflation, while 349 million people in 79 countries are acutely food insecure, warned Qu Dongyu, director-general of the UN Food Organization. and agriculture (FAO). He proposed the implementation of five actions (read framed).

To help these countries, in addition to essential food aid, the Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, estimated that “Innovation is undoubtedly the key to feeding a growing population and doing so in a sustainable way”, she said, referring to Canada’s so-called “clusters” initiative, which forms partnerships between the agricultural industry, government and academia, with state support. This meeting of Ministers of Agriculture was also intended to prepare the next G7 to be held from May 19 to 21 in Hiroshima. Japan holds the rotating presidency of the G7 for the first time since 2016.

Christophe Soulard