Multiple burdens of malnutrition persist globally. In addition to feeding the world healthily and sustainably, the global food system is increasingly called upon to play a more active role in economic and social development throughout the developing world. Hence, a new global food system is needed to deliver multiple-win outcomes. The HLPE report on Nutrition and Food Systems should include the following considerations in order to advance a food system revolution:
- We need a new food system that is inclusive, nutritious and healthy, climate-smart, sustainable, business-friendly, and productive. A food system that covers these dimensions can allow for the attainment of multiple SDGs (see IFPRI et al. 2015)
- A value chain approach must be considered in order to ensure increased availability, affordability, acceptability, and quality of nutritious foods (see Fan and Pandya-Lorch 2012)
- The food system and nutritional outcomes are linked beyond agriculture. More attention should be given to the post-harvest segments of the food chain (e.g. processing, transportation) to preserve nutrition content and reduce food loss (see Reardon et al. 2012)
- A data revolution needs to be mobilized to improve data collection, quality, reliability, and timeliness, and to monitor and track progress (see Barrett and Headey 2014)
- Closing the gender gap is critical. Women have an important role in mediating agricultural pathways to nutritional outcomes (see Meinzen-Dick and Quisumbing 2013)
- Innovations in policies, technologies, and institutions are needed to for a multistakeholder approach to addressing global hunger and malnutrition (see Fan, Menon, and Brzeska 2013)
- Countries that have made great progress in transforming their food systems through context-specific strategies (e.g. Brazil, Vietnam, Rwanda) should be highlighted, as these provide lessons learned and can pave the way forward for other countries to make similar, or greater, progress in achieving food security and nutrition (see “Country case studies” in Compact2025 weblink)
Suggested resources:
Barrett, Christopher B. and Headey, Derek D. 2014. A proposal for measuring resilience in a risky world. In Resilience for food and nutrition security. Eds. Fan, Shenggen; Pandya-Lorch, Rajul and Yosef, Sivan. Chapter 20. Pp. 187-194. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128457
Compact2025. 2016. http://www.compact2025.org/resources/
Fan, Shenggen; Menon, Purnima; and Brzeska, Joanna. 2013. What policy changes will reverse persistent malnutrition in Asia? European Journal of Development Research 25(1): 28-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2012.47
Fan, Shenggen, and Pandya-Lorch, Rajul. Eds. 2012. Reshaping Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://www.ifpri.org/publication/reshaping-agriculture-nutrition-and-health
IFPRI et al. 2015. Global Food System Index Concept Note. http://www.compact2025.org/files/2015/12/WEF_NVA_GAC15_Global_Food_Systems_Index_Concept.pdf
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, and Agnes Quisumbing. 2013. “Closing the Gender Gap.” In 2012 Global Food Policy Report. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/gfpr2012_ch04.pdf.
Reardon et al. 2012. The quiet revolution in staple food value chains. Washington, D.C.: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127312
Shenggen Fan