Access to effective antimicrobials and their appropriate and prudent use has a role in productive and sustainable agriculture and aqua-culture – and that their misuse contributes to the rising rates of AMR which negatively impacts the advances made in medicine, public health, veterinary care, food and agriculture production systems, and food safety.

The availability and use of effective antimicrobials is essential for the health and welfare of terrestrial and aquatic animals, and in crop production. The overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in animal and plant production is influenced by an interplay of factors. These serve as targets for action to address challenges ranging from: i) treatment failures driving production losses and food insecurity; to ii) the impacts on human health.

Once individuals become carriers of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms, they can easily spread AMR among communities and across borders. AMR can also reach the general population by spilling over into agriculture products and the environment, contaminating waterways, wildlife and soil. Given the global interconnected web of transmission, a multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary approach is critical to the success of National Action Plans (NAPs) for delivering on the Global Action Plan on AMR (GAP; WHO, 2015).

This FAO Action Plan on AMR 2021–2025 sets out the five objectives that guide the programming of FAO activities:

1. Increasing stakeholder awareness and engagement

2. Strengthening surveillance and research

3. Enabling good practices
4. Promoting responsible use of antimicrobials

5. Strengthening governance and allocating resources sustainably

The action plan principally is intended to help guide FAO’s support to its Members to build capacities, and is not a policy document.