Food systems

Transforming food systems for all

What is a food system?

A food system includes all the aspects of feeding and nourishing people: growing, harvesting, packaging, processing, transporting, marketing and consuming food. It encompasses all the interactions between people and the natural world – land, water, the climate, etc. – and the natural world’s effects on human health and nutrition. It also includes the inputs, institutions, infrastructure and services that support the functioning of all these aspects, as well as the role of diets and cultural practices in shaping outcomes.

A food system is sustainable when it provides sufficient nutritious food for all without compromising the health of the planet or the ability of future generations to meet their own food and nutritional needs.

Why do food systems need to change?

Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, food systems faced enormous challenges. Hunger had been on the rise for several years, affecting up to 811 million people as of 2020, while healthy diets were unaffordable for at least 3 billion. Meanwhile, climate change was already affecting production, and the need to address concerns related to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental footprint was growing ever more urgent. And the role of food systems in the emergence of new infectious diseases – as a result of both the loss of biodiversity due to unsustainable practices and the damage to ecosystems that it caused – had already been acknowledged.

Now, because of the effects the pandemic has already had on our food systems – and because of the potential additional effects still to come – nearly one in three people in the world did not have access to adequate food in 2020 – an increase of almost 320 million people in just one year.

Furthermore, only 10 years remain until 2030 – the deadline for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and many of the goals remain far out of reach. In many cases, unsafe or unsustainable food systems are part of the problem. For this reason, we need a transformation of our food systems.

What needs to happen to change our food systems?

Transforming our food systems would encompass fundamental changes and enhancements in the institutions, infrastructure, regulations and markets that shape them, and the resources invested into them, in a way that makes them more equitable and sustainable – from the perspectives of both the workers who derive their livelihoods from these systems and the consumers who purchase the food. This would allow food producers (and other workers within food systems) to sustainably provide nutritious food for all and to be adequately rewarded for their work, so that they do not themselves become vulnerable to hunger.

UN Food Systems Summit

In 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will convene a Food Systems Summit as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

There are five “action tracks” intended to highlight essential pathways for the transformation of food systems to support the SDGs. IFAD has been designated the UN Anchor Agency for Action Track 4, Advancing equitable livelihoods and value distribution.

IFAD’s main goals at the Summit will be to:

  • put small-scale farmers and other rural people at the heart of food systems transformation and of efforts to achieve the SDGs
  • use IFAD’s expertise and knowledge to advance discussions and contribute to action-oriented global commitments towards sustainable transformation of food systems.

Related events

Related events

Innovation Talk: Is big bet philanthropy capable of scaling food systems transformation?

September 2024 - EVENT

This Innovation Talk will explore innovations and strategies to transform global food systems and delve into how philanthropic partnerships and investments can be mobilized for systems change.

IFAD at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2024

September 2024 - EVENT

The Africa Food Systems Forum brings together stakeholders from across the continent to mobilize action and share lessons to build productive, nutritious, inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems in Africa.

IFAD Innovation Talk on emerging technologies for rural people at AFS Forum

September 2024 - EVENT

IFAD's side event at the Africa Food Systems Forum will explore how open innovation can strengthen the resilience of rural smallholder farmers and advance sustainable agricultural development.

Related news

Related news

Call for Proposals: Private Sector for Food Systems

July 2024 - NEWS

This grant strengthens partnerships between the private sector and smallholder producers to stimulate investments in inclusive and climate-resilient agricultural value chains.

IFAD and Senegal partner to increase smallholder farmers’ resilience to external shocks

July 2024 - NEWS

The financial agreement to fund the Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) was signed recently by IFAD and the Government of Senegal, for a total cost of €€27.8 million.  

Hunger numbers stubbornly high for three consecutive years as global crises deepen: UN report

July 2024 - NEWS

Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published today by five United Nations specialized agencies.

Related stories

Related stories

Solutions to hunger exist. What we are lacking is finance

July 2024 - STORY

The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report confirms that we have the means to end hunger, but are missing the money and the political will to do so. We explore the issues, solutions and what IFAD is doing to better finance food security and nutrition.

A year of rural stories

December 2023 - STORY

For countless people in IFAD-supported projects, 2023 was a year in which their lives changed. Here are some of the stories we told over the past 12 months.

 

We must do more to curb obesity and overweight in low- and middle-income countries

August 2023 - STORY

Overweight and obesity are on the rise in low- and middle-income countries. Here’s what we can do to help reverse this health crisis.

 مدونات ذات صلة

Asset Publisher

6 ways IFAD is helping to prevent the next pandemic

May 2024 - BLOG

Given the complex interconnections between the health of animals, people and the planet, how can we prepare ourselves for the next pandemic? Here’s how IFAD’s investments are helping.

Investing in a better future: East and Southern Africa

September 2023 - BLOG

East and Southern Africa is home to a diversity of landscapes, people and challenges. We sat down with Regional Director Sara Mbago-Bhunu to talk about rural life and the importance of investment.

Farmers in Mozambique rise to the challenge

June 2023 - BLOG

Farmers in Mozambique face unimaginable challenges. We must continue to support them if we want to see rural communities lift themselves out of poverty and thrive. Norway's Minister of International Development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, shares her reflections on her recent visit to Mozambique.

Related publications

Asset Publisher

Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: Lessons Learned from the SAMRIDDHI Rural Enterprises and Remittances Project in Nepal

July 2024

This brief presents the lessons learned the Nepal SAMRIDDHI Rural Enterprises and Remittances Project.

Food Systems Finance for Resilient Futures: A Multilateral Development Bank and National Development Bank Collaboration Roadmap

March 2024

This working paper proposes five recommendations that Multilateral Development Banks can adopt to implement capital adequacy reforms in a way that supports National Development Banks in transforming food systems finance.

Lessons Learned from the Resilient Food Systems Programme

February 2024

This publication presents the results of the Resilient Food Systems programme which aims to strengthen policy dialogue and decision-making in 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Food Systems Contact

Contact information

 

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