GLOBAL FORUM FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) took place in Berlin on January 19 to 21, 2023. AFC participated with colleagues from six countries and a stand at the innovation forum.

After two years in digital format, the GFFA took place January 19 to 21, 2023 in presence. The GFFA is an international conference on central topics for global agricultural and food policies. Hosted by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), it is held in Berlin on an annual basis at the same time as the International Green Week and features a large number of events that provide an international audience of experts from the worlds of politics, business, science and civil society. In old tradition, AFC participated with a stand and the teams of our seven BMEL-funded bilateral cooperation projects and their project managers from Bonn for a refreshing exchange and fruitful networking (see p. 22).

The 2023 GFFA addressed the issue “Food Systems Transformation: A Worldwide Response to Multiple Crises”. With the 2030 Agenda, the international community has set itself ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, such as ending global hunger. Despite this, the number of people affected by hunger is continuing to rise. In addition to the climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian war against Ukraine has become a new driving force of global food insecurity. The world is currently facing the worst food crisis since World War II.

The overcome the first food shortcut in Ukraine, the AFCmanaged German Food Bridge was immediately established providing food aid to the people in Ukraine. Embedded in measures of the bilateral cooperation project Agritrade Ukraine of the BMEL, our team coordinates official requests from Ukraine with donation offers of the food industry in Germany. The aim is to bring food aid to Ukraine quickly, in line with needs and in a targeted manner. To this end, we are in close contact with the relevant public authorities and non-governmental organisations in Ukraine as well as with the storage hub in Poland. In addition, many companies from the organic food industry offered donations. Our BMEL-funded project “GermanUkrainian Cooperation in organic agriculture (COA)” supports a donation portal to complement the German Food Bridge as a contact point for food aid from the organic sector. (for further information, see p. 63)

At the GFFA’s innovation forum, the German Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir together with his Ukrainian colleague Minister Mykola Solskyi visited the AFC stand. Mr Özdemir highlighted the work of the German Food Bridge and COA project and personally honoured our expert André Pilling (on the right photo below) of the German Food Bridge as well as our COA team leader Dr Stefan Dreesmann (on the left photo below) for their continuous efforts and engagement during these difficult and challenging times.

Daniela Böhm Senior Consultant