00:04of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture.
00:09Your Majesty, King, let's see, the third of the Kingdom of Lesotho,
00:16President of Angola, João Manuel Gonsalves and First Lady,
00:23Luisa Binadera, President of the Dominican Republic,
00:27I'd like to take advantage of this opportunity to congratulate this brother country
00:33for the extraordinary progress made in eradicating hunger and poverty.
00:42Citizen Maria José Pinto, Vice President of Ecuador,
00:47Heads of Delegations, Ambassadors before this organization,
00:53Citizen Director, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
00:58comes to this World Food Forum with a very deep belief,
01:05and that is that food is an inalienable human right,
01:09which is directly related to life, dignity,
01:12and the integral development of human beings.
01:17Guaranteeing this right requires inclusive and supportive public policies.
01:25However, it also requires production, investment, science, technology,
01:32financing, and cooperation.
01:34It requires peace, and it requires an international system
01:39that is capable of cooperating, even above our differences.
01:45We come from a country that has learned to recover,
01:50to get back up, to rebuild based on its own capacities,
01:56and to look ahead with trust, confidence, and hope.
02:02This is a country that seeks to be reborn,
02:06and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank this organization,
02:11the World Food Programme, for the great support given to our people
02:18in the very difficult times right after the double earthquake in June.
02:24When we speak of rebirth, the rebirth of Venezuela,
02:30we're also talking about turning our gaze towards the land,
02:34those that work it, the women and men who sow the seeds in that land,
02:39to our fisher folk, the communities that are stewards of our knowledge,
02:45and the seeds that keep alive the memory and the future of our peoples.
02:50This process calls upon us to place science, technology, innovation, investments,
02:55and traditional knowledge at the service of people to transform.
03:00It calls upon us to transform our agri-food systems,
03:03and especially to make sure that solutions actually do reach those who produce
03:10and those who are still facing hunger and malnutrition.
03:16Excellencies, Director-General, the current situation worldwide is challenging.
03:24Already some has alluded to the fact that in spite of recent advances,
03:29645 million people continue to suffer from hunger,
03:33and this is equivalent to 7.8% of the global population.
03:38However, more than 2 billion people face some degree of food insecurity,
03:45and millions and millions of people are yet unable to economically have access to a healthy diet.
03:54It is also estimated that hunger affected the world in 2025,
04:01and for the very first time in history, there were two famines that happened,
04:08one in the Gaza Strip and the other in Sudan.
04:12On top of that, we're living a very difficult paradox to accept.
04:17Today, humankind has productive scientific and technologies capacities like never before.
04:24Nevertheless, simultaneously, while millions of people do not have enough food,
04:32a considerable proportion of the food that we produce is lost after harvest or ends up being wasted.
04:41This is why the challenge before us is not only producing more.
04:48We have to produce better and more efficiently.
04:51We have to reduce losses and waste.
04:55We have to improve storage and transportation, guarantee access to food,
05:01protect our soils and our water, preserve our biodiversity,
05:06and build agri-food systems that are capable of withstanding the growing effects of the climate crisis,
05:14including the adverse effects of the El Nino phenomenon
05:20that are affecting today a large part of the developing countries,
05:26including Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, and others, as they have reported on.
05:31The agricultural calendar is no longer being dictated by tradition, but by the climate crisis.
05:37Therefore, we need financing for agricultural adaptation,
05:42early warning systems and productive enhancement that is AI-driven.
05:49Distinguished Director, Excellencies, food should never become instruments of pressure or political confrontation.
06:02There, where there are differences between countries, dialogue and diplomacy ought to prevail,
06:09and wherever there is hunger, our common responsibility should be to find solutions.
06:16And this is why, from this forum, we insist on launching a call to put an end to the implementation
06:25of measures
06:26that are at the margin of international law and that have adverse implications and effects on the realization of the
06:36right to food.
06:37Venezuela has experienced both progress and setbacks in our combat against hunger.
06:45Our country achieved significant progress during the first decade of this century,
06:51and that was recognized by this very organization.
06:54In 2013, FAO recognized that Venezuela was among the countries that had been able to reduce hunger.
07:03Venezuela, indeed, had gone from 2.8 million people being undernourished,
07:11and that was equivalent to 14.1% of the population in 1990 to less than 5%.
07:18Regrettably, that was followed by a very difficult time.
07:25Venezuela was faced with a very deep internal political confrontations
07:32that unfortunately led to a strong shrinkage of the economy,
07:37and the situation was aggravated started in 2017 with the progressive imposition of the unilateral coercive measures.
07:48These measures that in the agricultural and agri-food sector reached 16% affected access to financing,
07:56agriculture inputs, technologies, teams, and different components that are necessary to keep our productive chains up and running.
08:08Venezuela, therefore, experienced a severe food supply crisis that affected the entire society.
08:16However, we have begun to turn this reality around.
08:21The national dialogue as well as the diplomatic dialogue with the United States of America,
08:30together with the political stability needed to produce and grow, is happening.
08:36A few weeks ago, I announced before the General Assembly of the United Nations
08:42that Venezuela has undertaken a process of transformation which is orderly, institutional, and verifiable.
08:48You might be wondering, what does this have to do with agriculture, food, and science?
08:54It has everything to do with that.
08:57This journey, which I've taken on with deep belief, is the basis upon which we shall build a new agri
09:07-food policy,
09:08because no modern food system can prosper without legal security over land tenure and property,
09:19so that those who work the field can invest in their land with certainty.
09:26Venezuela is part of the countries in the region that has made the most progress in reducing under-nourishment.
09:34Indicators have shown a sustained reduction in the prevalence of under-nourishment,
09:41which reads 5.3% in 2025, according to figures of FAO, and that this year is already down to
09:503%.
09:50This recovery is beginning to have an impact also in the areas that we are concerned with the most, our
10:00children.
10:01In children under 5, acute malnutrition was reduced from 14.8% in 2019 to 1.3% in 2025.
10:16This nutritional recovery is also being measured by other indicators.
10:22Exclusive maternal lactation, breastfeeding in other words, today has reached 73.7%,
10:29and this is one of the highest values in our region.
10:33Venezuela, therefore, has a longstanding experience in hunger eradication as recognized by FAO.
10:41We are just about to reach that once again with social food programs that are more robust
10:51and with a great national endeavor.
10:54Here, I'd like to announce the Venezuela Alimenta plan to achieve this supreme objective, which is zero hunger.
11:07And also, in order to further fine-tune this achievement, I'd like to announce that in the upcoming days,
11:18I will submit to the Parliament of Venezuela a new local economy law,
11:24which will enable the municipal economy to provide for a better agri-food production
11:36and to connect with the larger industry.
11:40We will all be involved in the achievement of this supreme goal.
11:46However, recovery is not limited to supply, which is something we've achieved fully in Venezuela.
11:57The utilization of agro-industrial capacity in our country went from 66% in 2021 to 77.8% in
12:072025,
12:08accompanied by new production partnerships and a progressive substitution of imports.
12:16On the other hand, our social protection policy seeks to make sure
12:23that this recovery translates into concrete improvements in the life of people.
12:30The school feeding program, for example, that guarantees daily nutrition
12:35to over 2.5 million children in public schools
12:39and our feeding programs provide food to over 5 million households in Venezuela.
12:48These advances allow us to look forward with confidence but not with complacency
12:55because behind every percentage there is a person.
12:59And as long as there is a family, a household that is facing food insecurity,
13:07as long as there is a child that is unable to fully fulfill their potential
13:12because of nutritional reasons or a community whose access to food is vulnerable,
13:18as long as that continues to be the case, our job will not be over.
13:22That's why Venezuela hasn't come to Rome just to explain what we've done.
13:27We've come here to share how we intend to close the remaining gap
13:34and decidedly advance towards the full achievement of sustainable development goal number 2, zero hunger.
13:45However, our aspiration is clear to put an end to hunger and achieve zero hunger before 2030.
13:53Director General, Excellency Venezuela, as you all know, possesses important energy sources.
14:00Our aspiration is to use these strengths in order to build the production capacity of the future.
14:08We would like to convert part of our energy income into an ongoing and permanent production capacity.
14:16Energy wealth can and must become a leverage to guarantee agriculture production
14:23so that people can have access to high quality foods
14:27and at the same time respect the processes of nature through regenerative agriculture.
14:34How can we possibly think about guaranteeing food in the future if we degrade our watersheds and our soil?
14:46Ultimately, it's about looking to immediate needs but going beyond that
14:56towards a sustainable development, recovery and transformation.
15:00But for that, we need a truly inclusive multilateral system capable of supporting countries
15:07not only when they're facing emergencies but also when they're building their future.
15:13Excellencies, this transformation has a human face.
15:16And this is why we are full of pride that in the International Year of the Woman Farmer
15:24has recognized Maria Cantalicia Torres from Venezuela as the woman farmer of the Venezuelan Andes
15:34and as one of the heroes of food and nutrition.
15:39Maria Cantalicia represents much more of an individual history and story.
15:45In her, we recognize all Venezuelan rural women who pass on their knowledge from generations to generations.
15:55Excellencies, Venezuela comes to Rome with advances to share, challenges to overcome
16:01and especially a renewed will to work together with everyone.
16:05We believe in an FAO capable of supporting its member states in the transformation of their agri-food systems.
16:13We believe in science, technology and innovation.
16:17We believe in the potential of our producers, farmers and our communities.
16:24We believe in an international cooperation respectful of national priorities.
16:29And we also believe in a multilateralism that will make it possible to convert our challenges,
16:36common challenges, into a space of common action.
16:40The digital and capital gap has now become the most important cross-cutting challenge that we need to cater to.
16:48Hunger is not inevitable.
16:52Wherever a farmer sows seeds, wherever a woman protects seeds,
16:58wherever a mother feeds her children and wherever a young scientist places her knowledge at the service of society,
17:06we also sow dignity, development, social justice and peace.
17:10There are moments in the history of peoples in which tragedy becomes a point of rupture towards something new.
17:21This is not because pain is desirable,
17:25but because it compels us to look ahead to the basics and most essential aspects of life.
17:34And at the end of the day, it's not very complicated.
17:38What is basic is for every family to have a plate of food on the table
17:43and for every nation to look to the future with confidence.
17:47I come from Venezuela, a country that has known adversity on all of its dimensions,
17:52and that today is going through one of the most decisive moments in history,
17:58but that has never given up hope.
18:01Today, we've decided to build our future with work, dialogue, knowledge,
18:06and a process of democratic transformation that will guarantee coexistence and peace.
18:15We wish to sow the seeds of not just food, but also confidence, opportunities and prosperity,
18:22because people like land have the extraordinary capacity to flourish once again.
18:28And today, before the entire world, we say this with hope and belief.
18:34Venezuela is .
