FAO warns on threat to food security from overuse of antibiotics

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned on Thursday on the overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents.

It said in Amsterdam that the overuse of such agents are impacting rural livelihoods and food security, and requires globally coordinated efforts.


Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, disclosed this during a meeting with the European ministers of health and agriculture at a conference on antimicrobial resistance in Amsterdam.

She emphasised that the antimicrobial agents foster increasing resistance among the very microbes that cause the infections and disease, were designed to quell, thereby threatening to reverse a century of progress in human and animal health.

Semedo said antimicrobial resistance was a global threat that in this inter-connected world cannot be solved in Europe alone.

She stressed that aside from the human health considerations, the emergence of microbes resistant to antibiotics and other pharmaceutical agents put animal health at risk and consequently had an impact on rural livelihoods and food security.

"While resistance develops as part of natural adaptation, it is exacerbated by inappropriate use of pharmaceuticals.

``The prevalence of resistance in the agricultural sector is generally higher in animal species reared under intensive production systems,’’ she said.

Semedo said although FAO favours prudent regulations and measures to control the influx of medicines and reduce their use, but many rural smallholders and pastoralists often face difficult economic choices and that counterfeit drugs are rampant.

"How can we eliminate hunger or improve sustainability when we cannot cure sick animals.

``How can we reduce rural poverty when the drugs given to ill farm workers and their families no longer have effect," she said.

The official while hailing the Netherlands in particular for reducing the amount of drugs used in its livestock sector by almost 60 per cent in recent years.

She, however, noted that the real challenge was to translate such efforts to countries in need with poor resources.

Semedo said broad stages that includes; improvements in hygiene, disease prevention, veterinary oversight and accurate and affordable diagnostics.

Others are as ensuring quality nutrition to improve the overall health of livestock and fish through safe feed and suitable breeds, are critical in reducing the overuse of antibiotics.
Credit:NAN