, honorific-suffix = , image = Qu Dongyu - 2023 (cropped).jpg , caption = Dongyu in 2023 , order = , office = Director-General of the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

(FAO) , term_start = 1 August 2019 , term_end = , 1blankname = , 1namedata =

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

, deputy = , predecessor = José Graziano da Silva , successor = , office1 = Vice Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs , term_start1 = 2015 , term_end1 = 2019 , minister1 = Han Changfu , deputy1 = , predecessor1 = , successor1 = , office2 = Vice-Chair of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region , 1blankname2 = , 1namedata2 = Wang Zhengwei

Liu Hui Liu Hui () was a Chinese mathematician who published a commentary in 263 CE on ''Jiu Zhang Suan Shu ( The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art).'' He was a descendant of the Marquis of Zixiang of the Eastern Han dynasty and lived in the state ...

, term_start2 = 2011 , term_end2 = 2015 , deputy2 = , predecessor2 = , successor2 = , birth_date = , birth_place = Yongzhou,

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

, China , birthname = , nationality = , alma_mater = Hunan Agricultural University
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
University of Wageningen , occupation = , profession = Biologist , cabinet = , committees = , portfolio = , religion = , signature = , signature_alt = , website = , footnotes = , blank1 = Known for Implementing the Fome Zero program , data1 = , blank2 = , data2 = , blank3 = , data3 = , blank4 = , data4 = , blank5 = , data5 = , nickname = , allegiance = , branch = , serviceyears = , rank = , unit = , commands = , battles = , awards = , military_blank1 = , military_data1 = , military_blank2 = , military_data2 = , military_blank3 = , military_data3 = , military_blank4 = , military_data4 = , military_blank5 = , military_data5 = , party =

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

, module = Qu Dongyu ( zh, c=屈冬玉, p=Qū Dōngyù; born October 29, 1963) is a Chinese diplomat who took up office as the ninth Director-General of the

(FAO) of the United Nations on 1 August 2019. He is the first Chinese national to head the Organization. Qu won the nomination on the first round of voting at the 41st FAO Conference on 23 June 2019, obtaining 108 of the 191 votes cast by the 194 member countries.

Early life and education

Qu was born in Yongzhou,

, China in October 1963. He trained to become a biologist, gaining a bachelor's degree from Hunan Agricultural University, a Master's degree in plant breeding and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and a Doctorate in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from the University of Wageningen, Netherlands in 1986. He joined the

the same year.

Career

From 2001 to 2011 he was vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Qu Dongyu contributed to the sequencing of the

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

genome through his role (Principal Investigator) in the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium, at the Chinese Institute of Vegetables & Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The research took six years and found that the potato contains about 39,000 genes. Qu Dongyu received the World Potato Congress Industry Award, as part of a team in 2006. Between 2011 and 2015 he served as vice-chair of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China and in 2015 he became vice-minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, where he was involved in promoting international collaboration with organizations such as FAO and

Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International CABI (legally CAB International, formerly Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux) is a nonprofit intergovernmental development and information organisation focusing primarily on agricultural and environmental issues in the developing world, and the ...

. In 2013, Qu Dongyu co-authored research into genetic resistance of potatoes to late blight.

Food and Agriculture Organization

Qu was supported by China in the 2018 election for Director-General of the FAO. The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

was concerned about Qu's potential victory, and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kevin Moley moved to support Georgian politician David Kirvalidze, though many other American officials, including those at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Embassy in Rome preferred Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, the French agricultural engineer backed by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Qu won the election in June 2019 with 108 votes over Geslain-Lanéelle's 71 and Kirvalidze's 12. Allegations of

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

and coercion by China to secure the votes of other FAO delegates featured prominently in the election. After Qu's election, Chinese nationals were appointed to central departments and approvals for pesticides containing ingredients banned in the EU were granted for use in Asia and Africa. Following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, diplomats have criticized Qu for failing to address the 2022–2023 food crises. According to a former UN official interviewed by ''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...

'', "Nobody actually takes him seriously: It's not him; it's China," and "I'm not convinced he would make a single decision without first checking it with the capital." According to ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', "Many governments privately accuse the Chinese head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (sic), Qu Dongyu, of downplaying the impact on food security of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a huge grain producer. They presume the aim was to spare China's ally, Mr Putin, from criticism." In 2023, a joint study by German public broadcasters found that Qu "instrumentalized" the FAO "to serve Beijing's interests." Under Qu's tenure, the FAO has supported Belt and Road Initiative projects and inked its first agreement with a pesticide company, Syngenta, which is a subsidiary of state-owned ChemChina.

References

External links

Biography
at FAO.org
Biography
at ChinaVitae {{DEFAULTSORT:Qu, Dongyu 1963 births Living people Food and Agriculture Organization officials Chinese officials of the United Nations People's Republic of China politicians from Hunan Politicians from Yongzhou Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan Political office-holders in Ningxia Hunan Agricultural University alumni Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences alumni Wageningen University and Research alumni Biologists from Hunan