Agri-food systems worldwide are facing enormous challenges. And after steadily declining for a decade, world hunger is on the rise again, affecting nearly 10 percent of people globally.
At the same time, prices of farm inputs and food products are rising, exacerbating poverty and food insecurity among the world's most vulnerable populations. As a result, creating a world free of hunger as set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations appears to be an ever-more distant prospect.
There is no single reason behind the current challenges. Rather, we are facing multiple, interconnected crises — from climate change to loss of biodiversity and healthy soil, global pandemics, and wars and conflicts in many parts of the world.
In light of these challenges, the German Commission on the Future of Agriculture has developed pathways for a sustainable transformation of the country's agricultural sector. The proposed solutions range from creating more environmentally friendly livestock production systems to the promotion of organic agriculture, and the reduction of fertilizers and pesticides. Efforts at the level of the European Union, such as the EU's Green Deal or its Farm-to-Fork strategy, also aim to make food systems healthy and environmentally friendly, while ensuring productivity and fair returns to farmers.
In China, agricultural production has benefited from the fast rollout of modern agricultural machinery, digital tools, and innovations in biotechnology, thereby helping the country to raise agricultural productivity and grain output levels. With an annual output of more than 650 million tons, China has basically been self-sufficient in the production of staple grains for many years — achievement that has helped ease pressure on food supplies globally.
Yet neither Germany nor China is immune to the crises facing our food systems today. In fact, there are many shared challenges that risk undermining agricultural production in both countries in the medium term. For example, extreme weather events linked to climate change are becoming more frequent and severe. Regions in China and Germany were hit by major droughts in 2022. Protecting biodiversity and soil health is another issue of common concern. China's "zero-growth" action plan regulating the excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.
In Germany, where fertilizer use is substantially lower than in China, farmers are now experimenting with new technologies to further improve efficacy and reduce environmental impacts.
Moreover, both countries are exploring the use of digital tools to tackle rural challenges such as a declining farming population and rural development. As two major agricultural powers, Germany and China have the joint responsibility to drive the transformation toward a more sustainable, climate-friendly, and fair food system that can ensure food security for all while at the same time protecting our common global goods.
A constructive exchange and dialogue across national borders is indispensable to address the challenges we are facing, as parliamentary state secretary of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ophelia Nick, reiterated at the 8th Sino-German Agricultural Week, held from Nov 21-25, 2022, in Beijing.
How do we best organize these exchanges? The Sino-German Agricultural Centre (DCZ), established in 2015 as a joint initiative of the agricultural ministries of both countries, plays a key role in facilitating necessary cooperation.
Designed to be a central contact and information platform, its multi-stakeholder approach has helped bring together actors from politics, science, and business from both countries to address common challenges and support the sustainable development of the agriculture and food industry.
Over the past few years, agricultural cooperation via the platform of the DCZ has addressed a wide range of issues. In 2019, a Sino-German cooperation project on agriculture and climate change was launched. Within the framework of the project, experts from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, as well as German researchers were invited to study tours in each other's country.
Furthermore, a set of best practices and policy recommendations on how to reduce emissions from agriculture and mitigate the effects of climate change were developed. German and Chinese agri-food stakeholders have also partnered in the field of agricultural digitalization, with a smart agriculture working group set up in 2020 and the successful launch of a smart agriculture website, presenting insights from Germany's "Digital Experimental Fields".
Other cooperation activities have included in-depth professional exchanges on environmentally friendly management practices of animal manure, plant breeding and digital villages.
However, more can be done. Balancing food production goals with the need to protect our global public goods, including our ecosystems and climate, is one of the biggest challenges facing both Germany and China in the near future. Addressing this challenge will require a wide range of responses, from innovation in digital agriculture to the repositioning of subsidies, the promotion of regenerative farming practices, and the creation of a fair and stable trade environment.
By drawing on their respective experiences, Germany and China can and should develop solutions for jointly overcoming the multiple crises and contribute to building a fair, healthy and sustainable food system for all.
The authors are from the German team of the Sino-German Agricultural Centre. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
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