Dear Colleagues,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft HLPE report "Agroecological approaches and other innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition".
The VO draft is extremely rich in relevant content and indicates that the final HLPE report will represent a valuable addition to the literature. Below are some suggestions for the further elaboration of the report.
1. The contribution and the potential of smallholder systems for promoting innovations for food security and nutrition is well acknowledged in the report, with much evidence presented to show the advantages of such systems in terms of productivity, diversity, environmental sustainability and nutrition - in addition to their suitability for agroecological approaches vis-à-vis larger scale industrial systems. In the context of the holistic, systems-wide perspective adopted by the report, it would also be worth elaborating upon wider benefits of such systems, linked to food security and nutrition. In particular, local growth multipliers as a result of the re-investment of local revenues from food sales in local economies, creating opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment in rural communities – as opposed to industrial food production systems where revenues are generally extracted and invested elsewhere/offshore – would be relevant to consider. Especially so, since the potential pro-poor income gains would enhance the access of lower income groups to nutritious diets. This issue is discussed in paper 5 of the IFAD research series (especially pp. 12-13) - Suttie, D and Hussein, K. 2016. Rural-urban linkages and food systems in sub-Saharan Africa: A rural perspective. Rome: IFAD.
2. In terms of barriers of innovation (section 3.12), the exodus of ryouth from rural areas, and food systems work generally, and subsequent ageing of many rural communities would merit mention - and the potential for engaging youth may be mentioned under drivers of innovation (section 3.1.2). In this context, the labour intensity agroecological and smaller-scale systems/approaches, as mentioned elsewhere in the report (e.g. p,11 line 38-41), as well as the local level economic benefits deriving thereof (see #1 above) might be advanced as offering potential solutions to enhancing the choices open to young people in terms of their mobility decisions and potentially creating viable opportunities for them to engage in food systems in a context where labour markets are extremely pressed in many countries where lack of decent employment one of the drivers of poor food security and nutrition outcomes.
3. Benefits associated with enhanced and more equitable relationships and linkages between rural and urban areas might be emphasized as offering the potential to increase gains associated with (especially) agroecological and small-scale approaches to food production. This would mean discussing the importance of: better infrastructure and services to support production, storing and marketing in more rural areas (including rural advisory services); better transport linkages between settlements across the rural-urban continuum to enhance opportunities of (especially) urban consumers to benefit from nutritious locally produced food (as opposed, for example, to imported processed food); and equitable and inclusive mechanisms to ensure access of rural producers to land and natural resources needed for production and livelihoods. These issues are addressed in policy briefs IFAD has devoted to this topic, especially: IFAD. 2017. Promoting integrated and inclusive rural-urban dynamics and food systems. Rome: IFAD (Available at: https://www.ifad.org/web/knowledge/publication/asset/39320230); and IFAD. 2018. How inclusive rural transformation can promote sustainable and resilient societies. Rome: IFAD (Available at: https://www.ifad.org/web/knowledge/publication/asset/40253342).
Best regards,
David Suttie
Global Engagement Specialist
Global Engagement and Multilateral Relations division (GEM)
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
David Suttie