FAO Director-General QU Dongyu used the International Horticultural Congress 2026 in Kyoto to argue that agriculture can no longer measure success by the volume of food it produces alone, but must ensure that the foods people actually need for healthy diets are available, accessible, and affordable. Speaking at the 32nd edition of the congress, he placed fruits, vegetables, and other horticultural crops at the centre of efforts to improve nutrition, strengthen livelihoods, and build more sustainable agrifood systems.
The sector's economic weight is considerable: between 2010 and 2024, fruit and vegetable production grew faster than cereals, with horticulture now accounting for almost a quarter of global agricultural production value — roughly $1.4 trillion. Exports grew at approximately 2.6 percent annually over the same period, reaching 175 million tonnes worth $240 billion by 2024. Yet QU noted that this economic performance has not translated into healthier diets.
He identified three interconnected challenges: productivity, availability, and affordability. Yields have grown less than one percent annually, lagging behind cereals due to underinvestment in research, genetics, and infrastructure. On availability, FAO's latest analysis shows that in 2023 only about half of all countries produced enough fruits and vegetables to meet the joint FAO/WHO target of 400 grams per person per day, with global average consumption estimated at just 80 grams of fruit and 190 grams of vegetables daily. Producer prices rose between 2016 and 2025 in 89 percent of countries for fruits and 93 percent for vegetables, with median annual increases of approximately 4.2 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.
Projections point to a deepening shortfall: by 2050, fewer than one-third of countries in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to have sufficient fruit and vegetable supplies to meet the FAO/WHO recommendation. Farms of 20 hectares or less currently supply over half of global fruit and vegetable output, rising to more than 80 percent in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, making small-scale producers central to any solution.
QU called for investment in improved seed and planting material, soil health, efficient irrigation, mechanization, digital technologies, post-harvest systems, and stronger producer-to-market links. He cited work by the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture on mutation breeding, which has contributed to more than 3,450 officially released crop varieties across over 70 plant species. Nearly half of the 104 systems recognized under FAO's Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems involve horticulture — including date palms and olive groves in Egypt's Siwa Oasis — underscoring the role of traditional knowledge alongside cutting-edge tools.
"Future growth must increasingly come from producing more with fewer resources," QU said, adding that no innovation, policy, or investment would succeed without farmers' participation at the centre of any transformation. FAO's forthcoming report, Unlocking the Full Potential of Fruits and Vegetables Globally, expected in 2027, will examine production, trade, and consumption trends across the sector.
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