Agricultural Technology for Sustainable Development

A/RES/72/215No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 19Sustainable development, published in 2018.

What other versions does this mandate have?

6 versions · 2016–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/133

2025A/RES/80/133Agricultural technology for sustainable developmentLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/144Agricultural technology for sustainable developmentCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/200Agricultural technology for sustainable developmentCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/74/215Agricultural technology for sustainable developmentCompare with previous version
2018A/RES/72/215Agricultural technology for sustainable developmentCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Agricultural Development Agricultural Engineering Agricultural Innovations Agricultural Policy Sustainable Agriculture

What does this mandate say?

21 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General;

Urges Member States, relevant United Nations organizations and other stakeholders to strengthen efforts to improve the development of sustainable agricultural technologies and their transfer and dissemination under mutually agreed terms to developing countries, especially the least developed countries, in particular at the bilateral and regional levels, and encourages international, regional and national efforts to strengthen capacity and foster the utilization of local know-how in developing countries, especially that of smallholder and family farmers, in particular rural women and youth, in order to enhance the productivity and nutritional quality of food crops and animal products, promote sustainable practices in pre-harvest and post-harvest agricultural activities and enhance food security and nutrition-related programmes and policies that take into consideration the specific needs of women, young children and youth, with particular attention to securing the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour;

Recognizes that the livestock sector is a powerful engine for the development of the agriculture and food sector, food security and nutrition, a driver of major economic, social and environmental changes in food systems worldwide and a uniquely powerful entry point for understanding the issues around sustainable agricultural development as a whole;

Also recognizes the important role of family farming and smallholder farming in contributing to the achievement of food security and improved nutrition and the role that family farms play in ensuring global food security, poverty eradication and environmental sustainability, as well as job creation;

Calls upon Member States and relevant United Nations organizations and other stakeholders to mainstream gender perspectives into agricultural policies and projects and to focus on closing the gender gap by, inter alia, encouraging gender-balanced investments and innovation in small-scale agricultural production and distribution, supported by integrated and multisectoral policies, in order to improve women’s productive capacity and incomes, strengthen their resilience and achieve equitable access to labour-saving technologies and agricultural technology information and know-how, equipment, decision-making forums and associated agricultural resources to ensure that agriculture, food security and nutrition-related programmes and policies take into consideration the specific needs of women and the barriers that women face in accessing agricultural inputs and resources;

Encourages Governments to develop and implement youth-focused agricultural development projects and programmes, including through training, education, financial inclusion services, including microcredit services, and capacity-building, including with regard to innovation, in association with the private sector, in order to stimulate the interest and the involvement of youth in agriculture;

Remains concerned that agricultural innovations and technologies often bypass ageing famers, and in particularly ageing women farmers, as many do not possess the financial resources or the skills to adopt new practices, and in this regard stresses the need to strengthen the capacity of ageing farmers through continued access to financial and infrastructure services and training for improved farming techniques and technologies;

Acknowledges the importance of adopting innovative and sustainable food systems by harnessing science, technology and innovation, promoting participatory research, demand-driven extension and rural advisory services and increased public and private investment, building human capacity, encouraging entrepreneurship, creating an enabling economic and institutional environment and strengthening knowledge flows, in particular between scientists and farmers, taking into account local and traditional knowledge systems, in combination with new sources of knowledge;

Invites Governments and international organizations, in collaboration with cooperatives and cooperative organizations, to promote, as appropriate, consistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization, the growth of agricultural cooperatives through easy access to affordable finance, the adoption of sustainable production techniques, investment in rural infrastructure and irrigation, strengthened marketing mechanisms, access to appropriate risk management instruments and support for the participation of women and youth in economic activities;

Underlines the importance of supporting and advancing research in improving and diversifying crop varieties and seed systems, as well as supporting the establishment of sustainable agricultural systems, management practices and use of new technologies, such as conservation agriculture, integrated soil fertility management, integrated farming systems, animal disease control and integrated pest management, precision agriculture, irrigation, livestock management and biotechnologies, in order to make agriculture more resilient and productive and, in particular, to make crops and farm animals more tolerant to diseases, pests and environmental stresses, including the impacts of climate change such as drought and extreme rainfall events, in accordance with national regulations and relevant international agreements;

Stresses the need to significantly reduce pre-harvest, post-harvest and other food losses and waste throughout the food supply chain through, inter alia, improved production planning, the promotion of resource-efficient production and processing practices, improved preservation and packing technologies, improved transportation and logistics management and enhanced awareness of purchasing and consumption habits, to help all actors in the value chain to enjoy greater benefits and to contribute to climate change mitigation;

Recognizes that strengthening urban-rural linkages can improve both rural and urban food security and nutrition, and in this regard highlights the need for integrated urban and territorial agriculture land planning, improved rural-urban transportation links, food packaging technology and cold chain development to reduce food loss, and for effective trade links across the urban-rural continuum, which will contribute to ensuring that small-scale farmers and fishers are linked to local, subnational, national, regional and global value chains and markets;

Also recognizes that urban farming and agriculture can improve the food, nutrition and income security of urban dwellers, and in this regard highlights the need to further develop agricultural technology in support of sustainable urbanization, including sustainable intensification through indoor and vertical farming, the use of automation to overcome intensive labour challenges, the innovative use of urban spaces for agriculture and the promotion of urban farming as a career, in order to reduce hunger and malnutrition and to promote sustainable urban development;

Underlines the importance of the sustainable use and management of water resources to increase and ensure agricultural productivity, and calls for further efforts to develop and strengthen irrigation facilities and water-saving technology, which can also contribute to climate change mitigation, without compromising productivity;

Encourages Member States, civil society and public and private institutions to develop partnerships to support financial and market services, including training, capacity-building, infrastructure and extension and rural advisory services, and calls for further efforts by all stakeholders to include smallholder farmers, in particular rural women and youth, in planning and taking decisions about making appropriate sustainable agricultural technologies and practices accessible and affordable to them;

Recognizes the important role of information and communications technology in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by constituting a tool for improving agricultural productivity, practices and smallholder livelihoods, strengthening agricultural markets and institutions, improving agricultural extension and rural advisory services, empowering farmer communities, keeping farmers and rural entrepreneurs informed about agricultural innovations, weather conditions, input availability, financial services and market prices and connecting them with buyers, and stresses the need to ensure the access of women and youth to information and communication technology, especially in rural areas;

Calls upon Member States to include sustainable agricultural development as an integral part of their national policies and strategies, notes the positive impact that North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation can have in this regard, and urges the relevant bodies of the United Nations system to include elements of agricultural technology, research and development in efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a focus on the research and development of technology that is affordable, durable and sustainable and that can be easily used by and disseminated to smallholder farmers, in particular rural women and ageing farmers;

Requests relevant United Nations organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, to promote, support and facilitate the exchange of experience among Member States through, inter alia, guidance and other public goods related to ways to promote sustainable agriculture and increase the adaptive capacity of agriculture and the use of a broad range of agricultural technologies that support more sustainable food systems, build long-term fertility, healthy and resilient agroecosystems and secure livelihoods and have a positive impact on the entire value chain, including technology for post-harvest crop storage, processing, handling and transportation, including in pressing environmental circumstances;

Underlines the instrumental role of agricultural technology, agricultural research and innovation and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms and the sharing of knowledge and practices in furthering sustainable development and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, calls, therefore, upon Member States, and encourages relevant international bodies, to support sustainable agricultural research and development, and in this regard calls for continued support to the international agricultural research system, including the research centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and other relevant international organizations and initiatives;

Stresses the importance of indicators that can be used to formulate targeted policies towards the adoption of agricultural technology and to measure their impact on the Sustainable Development Goals, and in this regard encourages Member States, in cooperation with all relevant stakeholders, to continue to contribute to the ongoing work of the Statistical Commission on the global indicator framework;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, and decides to include the item entitled “Sustainable development” in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fourth session.

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