Latin America and the Caribbean “are truly a pillar for world food security,” said FAO’s Director-General QU Dongyu while addressing the Third Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture of the Americas.

The UN food agency’s chief hailed the region’s contribution to preventing the COVID-19 health crisis from becoming a food crisis.

Notably, Latin America and the Caribbean region accounts for 14 per cent of global food production and 45 per cent of net international agri-food trade.

It must be mentioned here that FAO has responded to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with a programmatic approach, supporting a new regional innovation and Digitalization Action Plan.