FAO Director-General Calls For New Social Pact To Transform Agrifood Systems
15 September 2025, Rome: FAO Director-General QU Dongyu today called for a New Social Pact that aligns human, artificial, ecological and social intelligence with fraternity, food, technology and regeneration at its core.
Qu was invited to address a high-level roundtable organized by Coldiretti and the Roman Catholic Fratelli tutti Foundation as part of the World Meeting on Human Fraternity.
The event, held at FAO’s headquarters in Rome, brought together religious leaders, international food experts and Nobel Peace Prize laureates to explore how diverse forms of intelligence – natural, artificial, spiritual, and collective – can converge to build agrifood systems that are not only efficient and sustainable, but also inclusive and just.
“We stand at a convergence of crises: ecological breakdown, social fragmentation, economic inequality, and technological gap. We are being called to take a leap forward into a future consciously designed. The framework for this leap is the principle of Allied Intelligences,” Qu said.
‘Allied intelligences,’ Qu noted, is not just a partnership between human and Artificial Intelligence. It is the conscious and ethical alignment of all forms of intelligence on the planet.
“The New Social Pact is the promise we make to each other and the planet to align these intelligences around four core pillars: Fraternity, Food, Technology, and Regeneration,” Qu said as he emphasized that “the right to food is a basic human right.”
The Director-General opened the session by highlighting the urgency of agrifood system transformation. According to FAO’s latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, 677 million people faced hunger in 2024 – 90 million more than in 2020, and 100 million more than in 2015. Projections indicate that 512 million people may still suffer from chronic hunger by 2030.
The roundtable emphasized the need for a New Social Pact around food – one that integrates ethical values such as spirituality, dignity, care, and meaning into the heart of agrifood systems.
Qu reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to continue supporting Members in producing more with fewer resources, valuing local and traditional knowledge, responsibly harnessing technologies like Artificial Intelligence, and empowering smallholder farmers, especially women and youth.
“As Pope Leo XIV reminded us in his message to the 44th FAO Ministerial Conference in June, “the Earth is capable of producing enough food for all human beings … yet many of the world’s poor still lack their daily bread.”
Crucially, food security cannot be achieved without peace and stability. Peace is a pre-requisite for food security,” reiterated Qu.
“Food must become a vehicle for connection and co-existence,” Qu said. “Let us use this opportunity to listen, to learn, and to co-create a New Social Pact that leaves no one behind. FAO is committed to making this vision a reality.”
The event, entitled “Allied Intelligences: Fraternity, Food, Technology and Regeneration for a New Social Pact,” included interventions by leading figures from the Vatican, Coldiretti Secretary-General Vincenzo Gesmundo, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad and Jamaican-American reggae musician Shaggy (Orville Richard Burrell).
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