Progress still needed on food

Four years after the first UN Food Systems Summit, the world is still hungry for progress, write Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, Chair, UN Food Systems Coordination Hub’s Scientific Advisory Committee and 2021 World Food Prize Laureate, and Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR.

Four years ago, the UN convened an ambitious world-first Food Systems Summit to inspire countries to transform their food systems — from production to consumption to waste — to become more equitable and sustainable.

More than 125 countries adopted national pathways to chart their routes towards healthy, sustainable and just food systems, while almost 300 commitments to accelerate action were made by civil society groups.

However, since these pledges and frameworks were drawn up in 2021, the world has undergone profound changes. Many countries are now contending with new conflicts, increasing climate extremes, and geopolitical shifts and uncertainty. All the while, malnutrition, poverty and inequality have remained stubbornly high.

While progress made in the face of these shifting and complex obstacles will be recognised during a stocktake this month in Ethiopia, countries need — now more than ever — to make use of reliable, impartial, and practical science and innovations to drive food systems transformation forward.

Food and nutrition security is fundamental to national — and global — security. As countries navigate competing and conflicting priorities, this is the moment to double down on investment and collaboration to put agri-food research into action at scale for a more stable and sustainable future for all.

Since 2021, the global community, supported by science from agricultural research organisations like CGIAR, has seen important progress in areas such as optimising nutrition, developing improved varieties and breeds of crops, livestock, and aquatic foods, and integrating food systems frameworks within more favourable government policies.

For example, many countries like Kenya are scaling up home-grown school meal programmes, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to receive a healthy, nutritious meal in school by 2030. Millions of children have benefitted from foods enriched with essential micronutrients, including biofortified sweet potato, rice, maize, wheat and cassava developed by CGIAR scientists worldwide, which has also created demand and markets for smallholder farmers.

Writers Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, Chair, UN Food Systems Coordination Hub’s Scientific Advisory Committee and 2021 World Food Prize Laureate, and Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR.

Ethiopia has identified 24 game-changing solutions to support food systems transformation, including strengthening climate-smart livestock supply chains. Alongside partners and stakeholders, the government successfully implemented community-based breeding programs across the country to share knowledge and expertise across remote areas. The initiative focused on improving the productivity of indigenous livestock breeds that are best suited to local, small-scale conditions, resulting in 20 per cent higher incomes for farmers and greater resilience.

In Vietnam, government agencies developed a National Action Plan on Food Systems Transformation, which produced training materials and guidelines for nutrition-sensitive projects in the climate-vulnerable Mekong Delta. The guidelines were also integrated into the National Target Program on Poverty Reduction to provide a comprehensive approach to addressing hunger, poverty and climate vulnerability.

Nevertheless, healthy diets remain unaffordable for almost 3 billion people, including many of the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers, while food systems continue to contribute around a third of global emissions and 80 per cent of global deforestation.

Even when countries have developed action plans and identified the most promising solutions for improving national food systems, many face growing financial and operational constraints. This is exacerbated in the wake of declining aid and support from the international community.

Developing new technologies, capacities, policies and initiatives to transform food systems and scaling up existing innovations for last-mile delivery require ongoing investment, not only into agricultural research and development, but also into government resources, infrastructure, and knowledge sharing.

As the funding landscape evolves, low- and middle-income countries urgently need support to develop and access innovative financing models. One option would be to integrate food systems reform into climate finance to fund double-duty initiatives that both reduce emissions and enable climate-resilient food systems.

But as well as new sources and forms of finance, the transformation of food systems also needs greater collaboration and trust between countries, regions and sectors.

Guyana was recently identified as the only country out of 186 to be fully food self-sufficient, meaning it can feed its population without relying on imports. Nevertheless, the food systems of all countries are interdependent and share the impacts of climate extremes, transboundary disease outbreaks and post-harvest losses.

Nations can therefore benefit from sharing capacity, traditional and indigenous knowledge and best practices to compound progress across borders. To this end, the CGIAR Flagship Report 2025 offers policymakers a starting point for making use of the latest science with evidence-based solutions and examples that support the transformation of national and regional food systems.

Much has changed since the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, for better and for worse. But science has been the constant backbone of progress towards healthy, equitable and sustainable food systems for all.

We know that food systems hold the key to better nutrition, health, livelihoods, equality and ecosystems. By expanding proven and emerging solutions, investment, science, innovations and partnerships can empower countries to transform not just food systems but their futures as well.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Global desk.