The report points out that out of 1.23 billion employees in the agricultural and food system, 857 million are engaged in primary agricultural production, and 375 million work in the non agricultural sector of the agricultural and food system.
Among them, Asia has the largest number of employees in the agricultural and food system, with 793 million people, followed by Africa, with nearly 290 million people.
In low-income countries, especially in Africa, the vast majority of the employed population's labor involves agriculture and food systems, with a job or at least some of the activities involved.
If relevant trade and transportation activities are included, the agricultural and food system provides 62% of employment in Africa, with 40% and 23% in Asia and the Americas, respectively.
The proportion of non agricultural jobs in agricultural and food system employment varies from 8% to 14% in Europe and Africa, respectively.
The report also found that in most countries covered by the FAO Rural Livelihood Information System, young people aged 15 to 35 account for about half of all employees in the agricultural food system, a proportion typically higher in the food processing and service industries.
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the number of people employed in the agricultural food system decreased by 6.8% in one year. The pandemic has had the greatest impact on Latin America, with the employment rate in the agricultural and food systems decreasing by 18.8%.
Comprehensive statistics on employment in the agricultural food system can provide valuable information for decision-makers. The Food and Agriculture Organization of China hopes to receive support from relevant parties to upgrade this new research into a routine statistical project.
The agricultural food system includes primary agricultural production of food and non food, food production from non agricultural sources, food supply chains from producers to consumers, and final consumption of food. From a global perspective, the agricultural food system produces approximately 11 billion tons of food annually, making it the economic backbone of many countries.
Such data is reliable and of great significance for achieving the transformation of agricultural and food systems and creating new employment opportunities in a fair manner, especially in low-income countries with a large young population.
Ben Davis, the main author of the study and Director of the Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, pointed out that at the national and global levels, policies and practical work must address the challenges faced by the agricultural and food systems in a comprehensive and comprehensive manner. In order to keep up with this pace, data statistics must break through narrow concepts such as agricultural employment and include the entire process of food production, processing, transportation, and consumption. Every aspect involved in food must be included.
With the development of the economy, the proportion of employees in the agricultural and grain system in total employment will decrease year by year, mainly due to a decrease in the agricultural employment population. As a country shifts from low-income to high-income, the proportion of labor directly engaged in agriculture in the agricultural food system typically decreases, while the number of people engaged in non agricultural employment in the fields of food processing, services, trade, and transportation increases.
The Food and Agriculture Organization also found that counting people engaged in auxiliary labor or household agriculture in the agricultural food system, such as full-time school teachers who grow agricultural products on their own land for sale, increases the average number of people who rely on the agricultural food system for their livelihoods by about 24%.
