The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Headline:
Plant pests destroy up to 40% of agriculture and crops, adding to an increasingly hungry world - FAO
Even though plants provide 98% or more of the oxygen people breathe, and nearly 80% of our daily calorie intake, they are under siege.
“Pests currently destroy up to 40% of agriculture and crops, including food crops- 40% each year. This costs the world about $220 billion- that would be $220 billion annually in global trade losses,” said Dr. Osama El-Lissy, Secretary- General of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) today to the media at the United Nations in Geneva ahead of its annual meeting.
The IPPC, an intergovernmental treaty involving 184 countries, is overseen by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to safeguard agriculture and natural resources against plan pest and to facilitate safe trade.
In an increasingly hungry world, with 828 million people experiencing hunger in 2021 based on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, this is alarming and set back global efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger, by 2030.
For example, the most widely traded fruit in the world, worth USD 7.5 billion, is under attack from the devastating banana fusarium (TR4), a fungus that attacks the roots causing bananas to wilt.
“80% of the global banana production is currently under attack from a disease called banana fusarium,” Mr. El-Lissy said. “That is basically a fungus that attacks and kills bananas. And more recently, just two weeks ago, Venezuela actually reached out to us to report the detection of this particular banana fusarium in banana production and declared an emergency”.
Next week, the IPPC’s governing body, the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures, will convene in Rome for its 17th annual session to adopt standard and to take stock of the progress in the global protection of plants.
“We are concerned about insecticide resistance and that's why we promote environmentally friendly tools that could be just as effective in controlling some of these pests, including biological control in sterile insect technology and other practices that can really minimize the use of insecticides while at the same time providing the necessary safeguarding against some of these invasive pests,” said Dr. Osama El-Lissy.
He also emphasized that “based on scientific review that the IPPC conducted last year, climate change is increasing the risk of pests spreading in agriculture and forestry areas. And we see this in the distribution of desert locusts, the world's most destructive migratory pests”.
- ends-
STORY: FAO: Plant Pests and Impacts on Food Security
TRT: 2 min 23s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 24 March 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, Briefing room, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Dr. Osama El-Lissy, Secretary of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), FAO: “Pests currently destroy up to 40% of agriculture and crops, including food crops- 40% each year. This costs the world about $220 billion- that would be $220 billion annually in global trade losses".
- Medium shot, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Dr. Osama El-Lissy, Secretary of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), FAO: “ 80% of the global banana production is currently under attack from a disease called banana fusarium. That is basically a fungus that attacks and kills bananas. And more recently, just two weeks ago, Venezuela actually reached out to us to report the detection of this particular banana fusarium in banana production and declared an emergency.”
- Close-up of journalist with monitors in the background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Dr. Osama El-Lissy, Secretary of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), FAO: “We are concerned about insecticide resistance and that's why we promote environmentally friendly tools that could be just as effective in controlling some of these pests, including biological control in sterile insect technology and other practices that can really minimize the use of insecticides while at the same time providing the necessary safeguarding against some of these invasive pests.”
- Close up, journalists typing
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Dr. Osama El-Lissy, Secretary of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), FAO: “Based on scientific review that the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) conducted last year, climate change is increasing the risk of pests spreading in agriculture and forestry areas. And we see this in the distribution of desert locusts, the world's most destructive migratory pests.”
- Medium shot, Screens with camera in the foreground
- Close up, journalist
- Close up, journalists typing
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office in Syria conducted a 5-day visit to the northeast of the country where they received accounts of human rights violations and abuses.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Sudan: ‘History repeating itself’ for Darfur’s children - UNICEF
Mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur 20 years ago reverberated as far as Hollywood, but today, a new generation of children faces attacks, hunger and displacement in an emergency largely ignored by the outside world, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNMAS
Desperate and dangerous conditions in Gaza continue to hamper recovery efforts for the wartorn enclave's people, the UN health agency said on Friday, while demining experts warned that they’ve “barely scratched the surface” in assessing the level of contamination of unexploded ordnance.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News
The continued support of UN Member States to Lebanon will be “indispensable” to boost the country’s national armed forces and provide humanitarian assistance with more than one million people still uprooted by the Middle East war, the UN's peacekeeping chief said on Wednesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNECE
Middle East war: After oil and gas shortages, concerns grow over critical minerals crunch
The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused by war in the Middle East has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals needed to drive economies all over the world and a race by countries to obtain them.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
Millions of desperate Sudanese return home amid dire conditions as war rages – IOM
Three years into the devastating conflict in Sudan, nearly four million displaced people have returned to their places of origin across the country, only to face “another struggle for survival”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNESCO
UNESCO protects cultural sites in war-torn Middle East, confirming damage to key heritage.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
The war in Gaza has inflicted a far higher toll on women and girls than in previous conflicts in the Palestinian enclave, with more than 38,000 killed by Israeli air bombardment and land military operations since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel sparked the war in October 2023, UN Women said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
In 2025, nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, making it the deadliest year on record in South and Southeast Asia, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNFPA , IFRC
Lebanon faces escalating violence, with new mothers uncertain of safety amid ongoing crises.
1
1
1
Edited News | FAO , UNHCR , WHO
Sudan: 14 million displaced; hunger and attacks on health continue as war enters fourth year
As Sudan approaches the third anniversary of a brutal civil war, millions remain displaced and hungry while the health system lies in ruins, with no end to the violence in sight, UN agencies said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNHCR , WFP
Lebanon: People ‘still under the rubble’ after massive strikes as ambulances, hospitals come under threat – UN humanitarians
With Lebanon still reeling from Israel’s devastating airstrikes on 8 April, UN humanitarians reported new fears of attacks on ambulances and looming food shortages in the south of the country on Friday.