BRICS Ministers of Agriculture Address Global Food Security at 14th Meeting in Moscow

On June 28, 2024, we, the BRICS Ministers of Agriculture, held the 14th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture in Moscow under the Russian Federation chairmanship general motto “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”.

We are delighted to welcome the countries that joined the BRICS on January 1,2024, and express our confidence that they will be integrated into the established mechanism of interaction. We recognize that the BRICS countries, being dynamically developing markets accounting for more than 45% of the world's population and more than 30% of the world's agricultural land, are the backbone of the global food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture.

The participation of each BRICS member state will ensure the creation of sustainable, just and equitable food systems.

Food security: It is with great concern that we realize the world is still facing the challenges of food security and nutrition.

We reiterate the importance of food security and nutrition for all countries. This makes it more important to increase agricultural productivity and promote rural development, taking into consideration the specific needs of women, children and youth, indigenous peoples, smallholders, family farmers, local communities and people with disabilities, among others.

We also recognize the main challenges threatening food security, such as natural disasters, climate change with associated disasters, inequality, conflicts, global population growth, a potential pandemic of new diseases, and call on all countries to refrain from introducing unilateral coercive measures and trade restrictions inconsistent with relevant World Trade Organization and other multilateral trade rules that might have a direct or indirect negative impact on trade flows thus undermining food security and nutrition.

We acknowledge the need to increase global food production to cater for the needs of the growing population, and we are seriously concerned about the deterioration of the global food security and the increase in malnutrition rates in a number of developing and least developed countries. We reaffirm our commitment to accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at achieving zero hunger, food security and improving nutrition through innovation and technology, promoting indigenous, nutrient-rich and climate-resilient crops, such as ancient and orphan crops. We emphasize the significance of agrobiodiversity contribution to food security to increase productivity, and enhance the stability and sustainability of the agri-food system.

We recognize the importance of reducing food loss and waste as the significant method to strengthen food security and nutrition. We confirm our cooperation and partnership towards ensuring our active contribution to the global food security and nutrition. We welcome the results of the Conference on Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural Development held on June 27-28, 2024 in Moscow. We commit to continuing the vital transformation towards more sustainable agricultural and food systems. We recognize the urgent need to enhance our efforts to strengthen agricultural and food systems to ensure food security and nutrition, promote stability and stimulate economic growth.

Mutual trade: We recognize that strengthening agricultural trade is crucial for achieving sustainable development, food security and nutrition, as well as agricultural economic growth. We reaffirm the importance of a sustainable, fair, open, transparent, rules-based, inclusive, equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core, highlighting special and differential treatment for developing countries, as well as agricultural diplomacy and cooperation among member countries and principles of mutual respect and partnership in trade.

We commit to minimize disruptions and promote fair and rules-based trade in agriculture and fertilizers, with the view to ensure a continuous flow of food and essential inputs for agricultural production. These should be exempted from undue restrictive economic measures, in particular those that are discriminatory or tailored out of political considerations, including those affecting producers and exporters of agricultural products as well as business services with regard to international shipments. We emphasize that international trade along with domestic production provides astable and diverse supply of safe and nutritious food globally. However, global food supply chains are potentially at risk due to unjustified trade restrictions, extreme weather conditions, outbreaks of pests and diseases. We would like to stress the importance of avoiding unjustified trade restrictions, sanitary or phytosanitary standards that are not conforming to the international standards or, otherwise, SPS measures that are not scientifically justified, that are imposed in a manner that undermine global food security. We would like to support nonpoliticized and unbiased nature of international organizations work engaged in global food security and agricultural development, within the framework of their mandates.

We emphasize the importance of accelerating and scaling up science-based solutions by the international organizations to avoid any barriers that may affect the trade. We recognize that global trade and investment continue to be important drivers of agricultural growth thus contributing to economic growth and development, job creation. We acknowledge the potential of the BRICS countries in the field of agriculture, agroindustry, and intraregional trade and co operation. We therefore encourage the exchange on information and technology in order to increase production, reduce poverty and ensure food security as envisaged in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We emphasize the importance of continuously developing sustainable agri- food value chains. We emphasize that BRICS has the potential for qualitative and quantitative increase of mutual trade. In this regard, we welcome the initiative of the Russian side to create a grain trading platform within the framework of the BRICS (the BRICS Grain Exchange), and to subsequently develop it, including other agricultural sectors.

The main objectives of the platform creation are to strengthen trade relations between the countries of the association, meet the nutritional needs of4the population and ensure food security in the BRICS countries. We agree to further discuss the development of this initiative. We intend to develop active cooperation, to ensure that the BRICS’s countries sanitary and phytosanitary measures are science-based and do not create unjustified barriers to trade.

Sustainability of agricultural production : We commit ourselves to developing and exchanging farming methods and high tech, conducting research and implementation of joint projects in order to enhance sustainable growth in agricultural production and productivity. We further commit ourselves to sustainably improve livestock and fishery production and productivity. Leveraging emerging technologies, supported by appropriate Digital Public Infrastructure, holds promise in transforming the agricultural sector and advancing farmer welfare amidst prevailing food, environmental, and socioeconomic challenges. The member countries need to promote the exchange of technology related to mechanization, automation and robotics for the reduction in input cost and food loss and waste. We support further development of the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform(BARP) in order to ensure effective cooperation between the BRICS countries on sustainable agricultural development and transformation, conducting joint research, exchanging personnel.

It is important to create mechanisms to convert deserts, degraded pasture and agricultural land into sustainable, diversified agricultural and forestry production systems. It contributes to the implementation and development initiatives to reduce deforestation and desertification and to restore native vegetation, strengthening global food security, and climate resilience. We urge to continue cooperation between the BRICS countries within the framework of the Basic Agricultural Information Exchange System (BAIES) aimed at exchanging information between the BRICS countries, current policies, trade, investment, scientific achievements, legislation in the agricultural and food sector, and other relevant information.

We support an approach to sustainable agriculture that helps to preserve natural resources, enhance soil health management, prevent desertification, promote biodiversity conservation and restoration in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, effective waste management, increase carbon sequestration, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For the greening of BRICS countries we enhance the implementation of community based participatory watershed and forest management. We recognize the need to improve integrated water resources management, including efficient, sustainable and fair use of water resources.

In this regard, we acknowledge the Sharm el-Sheikh joint work on implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security and the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) Partnership launched at COP27. We also acknowledge the positive impact of the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action launched at COP28, aimed at agricultural and food systems adaptation and transformation in order to respond to the imperatives of climate change. Recognizing the value of resilient traditional farming practices for achieving sustainability in agriculture, improving smallholders' livelihoods, exploring multifunctional agriculture and realizing rural revitalization, we call on BRICS countries to enhance cooperation in promoting indigenous and traditional systems, including Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), through exchanges and mutual learning among different agricultural civilizations for common development. We will strive to significantly enhance the positive environmental impact of agriculture and food production to achieve food security through, inter alia, circular economy, sustainable intensification, bioeconomy, agroecology, climate resilience agriculture and other innovative approaches when applicable.

We encourage the exchange of best practices in rural development and innovation as an essential element of sustainable development and poverty alleviation. We will promote experience exchange in the field of sustainable tourism development(agrotourism and ecotourism) to improve resource capacity in the field of agriculture, as well as socio-economic conditions and infrastructure in rural areas. We recognize the importance of incentivizing agricultural development as an engine to achieving sustainable development goals, eradicating hunger, and building resilient food systems to transform agriculture to bring economic prosperity and social progress in BRICS member states.

We note that South-South Cooperation in agriculture has played a positive role in enhancing the food production capacity of developing countries. Such cooperation provides an important avenue for helping host countries with human resource and institutional capacity building, technical assistance and best practice sharing regarding food security and nutrition, poverty alleviation and sustainable agriculture.

We highly appreciate the accomplishments of the Agricultural Cooperation Working Group of BRICS and express our satisfaction with the implementation of the Action Plan 2021-2024 for Agricultural Cooperation of BRICS Countries.

We agreed that within the framework of the chairmanship of the Federative Republic of Brazil in the BRICS during 2025, a new Action Plan 2025-2029 for Agricultural Cooperation of BRICS Countries will be prepared, so as to strengthen further cooperation to enhance food security in line with BRICS Strategy on Food Security Cooperation. We express our gratitude to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation for the preparation and holding of the 14th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture and express our support for the Federative Republic of Brazil which is to host the next meeting in 2025.

Source Joint declaration of the 14th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture - brics-russia2024.ru