A farmer works at the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT) in Nueva Ecija province, the Philippines on March 25, 2022. The Philippines is reaping fruits of its agricultural collaboration with China in increasing food supply and safeguarding food security in the country, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Friday. Photo:Xinhua

China is willing to carry out international cooperation on food loss reduction to safeguard global food security, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on Thursday, while urging developed countries to fulfill their obligation to reduce food loss.

Wang's remarks come as the world observed the third UN International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) on Thursday.

Wang said that the Chinese government sees food security as a top priority in governance and the reduction of food loss and waste as an important way to ensure food security.

For example, China has adopted the Anti-food Waste Law to regulate the waste in the catering industry and has been actively promoting advanced agricultural machinery and technologies in farming and disease and pest control process to reduce loss.

Meanwhile, China has also been an active player in promoting international cooperation on food loss reduction on various international occasions.

In September 2021, China held International Conference on Food Loss and Waste in Ji'nan, East China's Shandong Province and issued the Ji'nan Initiative on International Food Loss Conference during the meeting.

The China-proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI) also identified food security as one of the eight priority areas of cooperation. In addition, China has also put forward initiatives on international food security cooperation at G20 meetings and proposed Chinese solutions to ensuring global food security. 

Wang stressed that reducing food loss is a common challenge facing the international community and urged developed countries to fulfill their obligation as the world is facing increasing pressure of food shortage under impact of COVID-19, climate change and geopolitical conflicts.

It's worth noting that some developed countries have a poor track record when it comes to wasting food and the waste of resources and environmental pollution caused by overproduction of food is even more shocking, Wang said.

"We once again urge developed countries to earnestly fulfill their due international obligations to reduce food waste, so as to jointly contribute to the realization of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the goals of zero hunger and zero poverty," Wang said.

Global Times