Mario Lubetkin: “Latin America has everything it needs to produce food, yet it still faces high levels of hunger”

*This interview is part of a series of conversations with former FAO Regional Representatives for Latin America and the Caribbean conducted in the context of the Organization’s 80th Anniversary. Each was invited to reflect on the key milestones of their tenure and the most significant challenges they faced.

Mario Lubetkin knows FAO from the inside, having held some of its most senior positions. He served as Chief of Cabinet to two Directors-General, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean. His career allowed him to observe the world “through FAO’s lenses,” as he describes it, and to accompany major global and regional debates and decisions on food security.

In this interview, Lubetkin looks back on his years in the Organization, the progress made in reducing hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, the challenges that remain, and the importance of cooperation, youth participation and the interconnection between food security, the environment, migration and peace.

-What did it mean for you to work at FAO? Is there any moment or experience you consider especially meaningful?

I believe it is very difficult to spend so many years at FAO—putting in strong professional commitment and deep conviction—without being personally transformed, without having your way of seeing and understanding the world profoundly reshaped.

Serving as Chief of Cabinet to Director-General Graziano da Silva and later to Director-General QU Dongyu, and having had the opportunity to lead the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean while also acting as Assistant Director-General, allowed me not only to contribute professionally, but also to understand the complexity of the international agenda from within.

FAO was, for me, both a laboratory and an observatory of the multilateral system. It reinforced the importance of strengthening international institutions to respond effectively to today’s global challenges.

-What were the greatest challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean regarding food and agriculture during your time at FAO?

Without a doubt, the main challenge was understanding how a region with such strong—and indeed exceptional—food production potential could still have such high levels of hunger and food insecurity. That is the great contradiction of Latin America and the Caribbean. While many regions struggle with structural limitations—lack of water, poor soils, the impacts of climate change—this is not the case for Latin America and the Caribbean, a region blessed with extraordinary productive capacity. Yet hunger and food insecurity remain alarmingly high.

-What has been the most important impact of FAO in the region? And from your tenure, is there any particular initiative you consider especially significant?

I believe one of the key issues is connectivity—or rather, the lack of it. One of the major conceptual advances promoted globally under Director-General Graziano da Silva was the idea that hunger and malnutrition should not be treated separately. Malnutrition is a direct consequence of food insecurity, and improving diets leads to broader social benefits.

Building on this, Director-General QU Dongyu strongly reinforced the “Four Betters,” emphasizing that it is impossible to address hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity without linking them to environmental issues, migration, development, security and peace.

Through joint field visits conducted by FAO, IFAD and WFP in Africa and Asia, it became clear that food security cannot be achieved in contexts of instability. Latin America and the Caribbean, fortunately, maintains conditions of peace that are essential for advancing in this agenda.

-During your tenure, countries in the region faced a crisis driven by rising food prices. What strategies did FAO implement to support them?

The key challenge at that time was strengthening integration among countries. It was about combining capacities to multiply them.

A landmark moment was when all Ministers of Agriculture of Latin America and the Caribbean approved the CELAC Food Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication Plan (SAN CELAC). It was one of the last major agreements adopted unanimously by the 33 CELAC countries on food security.

The SAN CELAC Plan focused on complementary actions to strengthen technical, economic and nutritional capacities across the region.

-How important was collaboration with other international organizations and with the private sector? Is there any initiative you would highlight?

It is impossible to tackle food security relying solely on the public sector. Public–private collaboration is essential, and I believe both governments and even the most dynamic private actors have been slow in recognizing the need for a deeper form of engagement. Civil society and academia also play indispensable roles.

There are numerous initiatives worth mentioning: the cascade of actions triggered by the SAN CELAC Plan; the blue economy agenda, recognizing the ocean’s extraordinary contribution to food systems; and the growing understanding that Latin America and the Caribbean is highly diverse, requiring differentiated approaches.

Perhaps the most significant outcome was the region’s strengthened awareness of food security as a top priority.

-Which lessons from your work at FAO do you consider most important for inspiring younger generations in the transformation of agrifood systems?

First and foremost, participation. Younger generations are already involved, but they must play an even more central role. The major food security decisions of the coming decades are being shaped now, and they require long-term thinking—10, 15 or 20 years ahead.

My generation supports this process, but leadership belongs to those who will continue forward. I feel that the conditions are in place, but human action—especially from young people—will be decisive in sustaining and shaping this transformation.

-How has FAO helped countries and other actors to transform agrifood systems without leaving anyone behind?

FAO is, in many ways, a university—an institution rich in knowledge, with top technical experts in every field under discussion today.

The Organization’s challenge is to transfer that extraordinary expertise to societies and to the actors who need it most, so that decision-making becomes easier and more grounded.

In a world where human health, animal health, and climate change continually reshape agricultural systems, it may seem as if every new challenge requires starting research from scratch. Yet much knowledge already exists. The key is making it accessible and applicable in the territories where it is needed.

Interview

*The views expressed in these interviews are solely those of the individuals in their personal capacity and do not represent the official position of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Former FAO officials are no longer formally affiliated with the Organization, and their statements should be understood as retrospective reflections on their professional experiences, the evolution of regional discourse on food security, and FAO’s contributions to regional priorities. FAO is a specialized, neutral and non-partisan agency of the United Nations with a technical mandate, and it remains committed to fulfilling that mandate impartially and in accordance with its obligations to its Members. These interviews do not imply any endorsement by FAO of the ideas or opinions expressed.