b"FRANCO'S AGRI NOTESBY: FRANCO BRAZZABENIFAO PHOTOGRAPHS THE GLOBAL AGRI-FOOD INDUSTRYA t the end of 2024, FAO publishedtheir respective turnover) made in geneticSynthetic fertilizers have also grown, its Statistical Yearbook about Worldresearch by multinationals, as well as bywith an increase of 37%.Food and Agriculture, referringmany medium-small companies. ChemicalsGreenhouse gas emissions produced by to facts updated to 2022. It is a very richand mechanics have also contributed sig- agriculture have increased with 10%, over collection, a valuable tool for commercialnificantly.half of which come from livestock farming. operators, analysts and macroeconomicsWheat, corn, rice, soy and sugar caneChina, India, the U.S. and Brazil are the scholars. make up half of global production. Themain culprits.The Yearbook provides global informa- availability of vegetable oils has increasedWater availability is a growing prob-tion on many topics concerning the subjectby 133%, mainly thanks to palm oil.lem, especially in the Middle East and in in question. The value of the work lies notLivestock production has increased sharplyNorth Africa, with significant damage to only in the breadth and completeness of the(+55%), especially chicken meat in emergingagricultural productions and a worrying overview, but also in the timeliness of theeconomies such as China, Russia, India andimpact on food security and, ultimately, on data provided and their reliability. As JosBrazil, but also in the U.S. migratory flows. Climate change strongly Rosero Moncayo, FAO statistician, stated,influences the water crisis in many areas.Timely, accurate and high-quality data and statistics are the basis for sound policy plan- THE CONFLICTING DATA ON ning. This edition also includes a new set ofNUTRITIONdata on diet, an important achievement inDespite the augmentation of food produc-understanding what people eat. tion, the number of malnourished people has increased by 150 million in the last four THE ECONOMIC DIMENSIONSyears alone, with Africa and parts of Asia in OF AGRICULTURE greater difficulty, but the number of under-The added value of agriculture, forestry andnourished persons is growing everywhere. fishing reached 3.8 trillion dollars globally,The Zero Hunger goal, set by the with an increase of 89% in real terms fromUnited Nations in 2030, is dramatically 2000 to 2022. The greatest contributionmoving away. was provided by Asia (China and India,In the meantime, in the richest coun-mainly), which holds about two-thirds oftries the problem is obesity, which is mark-the entire value with a share almost dou- ing a strong increase and affects a quarter of bled in the period, and by Africa, albeitthe population, with negative implications at a considerable distance. The percentageon health in all age groups.of Europe and the Americas is decreas- The snapshot taken by the FAO has ing, while Africa has risen from 8 to 12%,highlighted the topicality of the great chal-mainly thanks to Nigeria. The workforceAGRICULTURE ANDlenges that the world is facing and the key employed in agriculture in 22 years hasENVIRONMENT role that agriculture and the seed sector are gone from 40 to 26% in the world, main- Since 2000, the use of pesticides hasplaying and will play in the future. taining very high values only in the twoincreased by almost 70%. North and SouthPlant innovation with NGTs, precision Asian giants. America use about half of the chemicaltechniques 4.0, the use of microbiology will means. The trend is different in the EU,be the decisive weapons, but it also needs PRODUCTION AND THE ROLEwhere the use of these products has fallen bya policy that looks at economic as well as OF THE SEED SECTOR 46% from 2018 to 2022, while those withenvironmental sustainability and educates In 2022, primary crops produced in totalthe highest toxicity have decreased by 25%,citizens on proper nutrition.almost 10 billion tons, with a 58% increaseaccording to data provided by the European compared to 2000. In practice, productionCommission. However, the EuropeanFranco Brazzabeni is commercial and mar-is increasing at a rate of 2.5% per year. AParliament has recently withdrawn theketing consultant in the international agri-truly remarkable achievement, largelyhighly contested law that planned to halvebusiness, Member of the Board of Assosementi due to the seed sector and to the invest- the use of pesticides by 2030, which wouldand of ISF Groups and writes a blog on ments (estimated on average at 10-15% ofhave put agricultural productions at risk.www.agrinotes.it38ISEED WORLD EUROPEISEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | MAY 2025"