Dr. Qu Dongyu took office on 1 August 2019 as the ninth Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and was re-elected for a second four-year term on 2 July 2023.

During his first term, Dr. Qu championed a wide range of reforms and initiatives to overhaul the Organization’s business model, improving efficiency and implementing best practices that support programs and administrative effectiveness.

Dr. Qu strongly advocated for the transformation of agrifood systems to make them more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable and promote the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind with the ultimate goal of helping Members to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Before first being elected as FAO Director-General, Dr. Qu served as China’s Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), where one of his achievements was to promote inclusive and innovative development and make sure information and communication technologies (ICT) were available in rural areas so that more than 400 million farmers could use their smartphones as a new farming tool. Another national initiative led by Dr. Qu was to improve reporting of wholesale prices for agricultural products in China and foster the establishment of more than 100 specialty production areas geared to making local comparative advantages work to the benefit of local farmers.

As Vice Governor of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, one of China’s landlocked and poorest areas, Dr. Qu formulated action plans aimed at poverty reduction, disaster reduction and prevention, women empowerment, agritourism and mutual learning platforms designed to boost trust between ethnic groups.

Before serving the senior leadership roles in government at central and local level, Dr. Qu was the Vice President of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Human Resources Director at the China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, a $40 billion investment project.

Dr. Qu says he represents the combination of an “Asian soul” and a “global mind”. His motto is “Simple life, but not simple work”.