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Food Systems Transformation
Food and Agricultural Commodity Systems (FACS) are fundamental to the sustainable development of the 170 countries UNDP supports. FACS are often the largest contributor to their economies; food and nutrition are fundamental for citizen health; and FACS have a key role to play in achieving the SDGs. Yet, FACS are in crisis and need to be radically transformed to become sustainable.
A vast array of reports from research and international organizations stressed the challenges and urgency to change our food systems. The production practices and consumption patterns of food and agricultural commodities are taking these systems on an unsustainable trajectory with multiple impacts on human development, the environment and economies; from ecosystem degradation, conflicts over land and natural resources, reduced capacity and resilience to climate and other shocks, persistent poverty, food insecurity, and related people displacement and migration, to malnutrition including overweight and obesity.
We must transition to a new paradigm of agricultural production based on diversified, resilient and sustainable agroecological systems which work simultaneously to achieve economic, environmental, social, and health outcomes. Smallholders, small-scale fisheries, and indigenous communities are central to the transformation as the engine of economic development.
Our work areas
Agriculture, forestry and other land use accounts for nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, uses 70 percent of total freshwater supply and one third of our food is lost or goes to waste. The growing impact of food production on climate change and the productivity of crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry will become increasingly severe in all regions by 2030. Among the most vulnerable will be those who depend on agriculture for their livelihood and income, particularly smallholders in developing countries.
We need a paradigm shift from siloed solutions to tackling complex, systemic and persistent problems influencing and being impacted by food systems. To be able to transform food systems in a sustainable way we need to address the entire system in which production practices operate. Many policies, subsidies and investments that aim to increase agricultural productivity have negative impacts on nutrition, ecosystems, and livelihoods.
Food systems programmes and initiatives continue to follow a linear design ‘’from problem to solution’’, whereas we need to integrate and coordinate multiple objectives in a multidisciplinary way. A limited involvement of local communities, consumers and small-scale farmers created a disconnect between the people who produce and consume food and the decision-makers who shape food policies.
A systemic approach for food systems transformation
Policy design needs to put a systems approach at its core, with governance arrangements adjusted within and across countries and stakeholders. A systems approach requires strengthening cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder governance and collaboration processes that connect food systems transformation with multidimensional analysis, planning, budgeting, implementation and learning. This will lead to increased coherence between policies governing food production and those related to the environment (climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation), rural development, social inclusion, and health.
Food systems transformation requires the engagement and collaboration of multiple stakeholders, who may have different perspectives, interests, and priorities. To ensure effective multi-stakeholder engagement, global and country level multi-stakeholder dialogue and cooperation spaces can facilitate dialogue, cooperation, and coordination among all parties to forge a shared vision. By embracing divergent views and interests, this process will build trust, fostering shared ownership of the transformation path at stake.
Engaging the whole of government to boost impact on the ground
A siloed approach in food-related policies usually leads to a lack of coordination at the country level and institutional capacity to coordinate the efforts of different government agencies, private sector actors, civil society organizations, and farmers' groups. This lack of coordination results in inefficiencies, duplication of efforts, conflicting policies, affecting governments’ capacity to achieve policy coherence. Without proper coordination across ministries and agencies, policies lose effectiveness and overall impact.
UNDP FACS whole of government approach can lead this effort to align public policies and drive transformational change. This approach ensures that policies reinforce each other, preventing duplication of efforts and potential contradictions resulting from isolated policies.
Building on its convening power, UNDP FACS promotes collaboration among various government and food system actors. This collaboration takes shape as an intersectoral coordination approach that aligns government programs and institutions via collaboration platforms. The idea is for these actors to highlight the need for a change in approach so that cooperation processes become more feasible and aligned with the new approach. Despite ministries may seem to have diverging priorities at first, UNDP broad experience with a food systems focus can facilitate this change process to align all players towards a set of common goals”.
It is essential to prioritize a shift in how we conceptualize food policies. In this context, policies should incorporate clear values and principles upon which a paradigm shift can be based and can promote change. Robust scientific evidence and mobilizing political will and support are key components of this process.
Making food systems healthy, inclusive and sustainable
The world currently finds itself in the throes of another global food crisis, as a result of a confluence of crises. The war in Ukraine and the conflict’s impacts on two of the major food exporters, coupled with COVID-19's continued disruptions on global supply chains and the slow and uneven recovery from the pandemic-induced recession; climate shocks, including the floods in Pakistan and the droughts and heat waves that are hitting multiple regions of the world, from the Horn of Africa to China. Adding to the complexity energy price shocks, with spiraling global inflation spikes in food and fertilizer prices; and a debt crisis affecting vulnerable countries most and affects their resilience to all those shocks. With several countries facing an increase in food insecurity, the challenges to transform food systems are immense.
Our food systems are in a state of disarray, with dramatic consequences spanning across environmental, health, and socioeconomic factors. Weak food systems governance, including high concentration of power and public policies lacking fair representation of minorities made food systems more fragile. We need an urgent shift, to tackle growing ecosystems loss and degradation, worsening inequality and poverty, and high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition.
Our vision
UNDP FACS’ vision is to strengthen food systems making them sustainable, inclusive and equitable, healthy, and resilient. Considering the complex interplay of challenges at stake, we need to shed light on the interconnection between development and food: food is development, development is food. A systemic approach is key to recognize the dramatic impact of entwined issues, including environmental and climate change issues, poverty and inequality, systemic gender disparities, unsustainable energy usage and reliance, conflicts, fragility, and crises, as well as weak and inadequate sectoral governance.
UNDP takes integrated and multi-sectoral systemic approaches to complex development challenges, including food systems transformation. UNDP addresses interconnected issues within food systems, promoting and supporting coordinated efforts to enhance their resilience as well as the one of the communities these affect. This includes our experience and expertise in (local) governance, inclusive growth, gender, environment, climate change, energy, health and in crisis contexts.
UNDP convening power: bringing all stakeholders together
Thanks to its unique convening power, acting as a neutral broker across stakeholders, UNDP brings diverse stakeholders together for collaborative dialogue and collaboration, a key lever to strengthen food systems. UNDP has over ten years of experience promoting its innovative Effective Collaborative Action methodology for food systems transformation.
UNDP works on FACS in over 100 countries across the world to bring together different stakeholders – including governments, leading development agencies, the private sector, Indigenous peoples and farmers’ organizations – to forge a new vision driving food systems change towards sustainable production, at social and environmental level.