Agriculture plays a key role in food security and economic development and most of the world’s population in rural areas depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Developing countries are moving from being largely rural and agrarian to becoming urban and industrial, which can and has created a rift between the increasing population and the need for food supply to sustain the mounting population.

Therefore to reduce hunger and poverty, and improve the sustainability of rural livelihoods in the face of increasing social, economic and physical shocks and stresses, agriculture and its development can play a huge role. Yet as the world’s population increases and migration to towns and cities intensifies, so the proportion of people not producing food will grow.

At such times, providing assistance to the crop producers with the help of various agricultural resources. Providing protection, assisting in the research sphere, employing latest techniques, controlling pests and facilitating diversity can be of immense help to the sector that is struggling to make ends meet and so is the world population.

Non-Aligned Movement is aware of the magnitude and significance of sustainable agriculture and the part it plays in guarantying food security. NAM has stressed that the attainment of food security and the move towards sustainable agriculture, including greater than before food production and agricultural savings, enhanced productive capacities and improved agricultural management and development and support for family farming and smallholder farmers in developing countries, are crucial issues for developing countries.

NAM also recognises that agriculture plays a fundamental role in addressing the needs of a increasing overall population and is strongly linked to the issues of poverty eradication, especially in developing countries, and has stressed that integrated and sustainable agriculture including crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture as well as rural development approaches are therefore essential to achieving enhanced food security and nutrition in an environmentally sustainable way.

Further Non-Aligned Movement strives to help agriculture sustain through several steps, which it requests its member states to follow and implement:
• shape improved policy, trade and regulatory environments
• address input supply constraints
• boost the productivity and competitiveness of owner-occupied smallholder farmers
• improve access to capital, technology and skills
• encourage investment and assist in the design of appropriate transport, storage and marketing infrastructure
• help bring about improved land and water management
• support the management of agricultural research and the dissemination
• implement sustainable and energy-efficient technologies.

NAM leaders in addition to their above mentioned efforts have underlined other issues that must be tackled, including the need to address the economic, social and environmental challenges to sustainable agriculture, and emphasized that achieving food security would require strengthening and revitalizing the agriculture sector in developing countries, including through the empowerment of small and medium scale local farmers and fishers, developing appropriate technologies, providing technical and financial cooperation, providing access to and transfer of technology, strengthening weather-forecasting, enhancing investment in postharvest technology and infrastructure including food processing capacity building and exchange of data, information and experience as well as infrastructure development.

The world’s population is expected to rise dramatically over the next 30 years, from 6.7 billion in 2018 to 9.2 billion by 2050. At the same time, economic development will lead to an increase in demand for meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit. To feed the world and to feed it well, global food production will need to double by 2050. The problem, however, is that half of the habitable land on Earth is already used for farming. As resources are limited, the challenge is to achieve global food security while having a positive impact on the environment and society. Sustainable agricultural practices provide the solution.