Actions for the future: How can we redesign our food systems to ensure food security and healthy diets for all?

As World Food Day sparks discussions about the state of nutrition and food security in the world today, we can make two overall observations. Firstly, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security will be global and long-lasting. Secondly, some of the biggest food challenges existed long before the pandemic – though they were exacerbated by the coronavirus, they were not created by it.

Either way, we are getting no closer to the ‘zero hunger’ future that world leaders envision. The total number of people who are hungry has grown by 10 million since 2019, and a preliminary assessment of the pandemic suggests that it will add a further 83-132 million, depending on which recovery scenario the world follows. COVID-19 joins deteriorating economic conditions, resource inequality, conflict and climate change on the list of major drivers of food poverty.

Some parts of Latin America will feel these effects especially strongly. Food insecurity is already a reality for 205 million Latin Americans, according to The State of Food and Nutrition Security in the World 2020 report, and the number of hungry people has grown by about 13 million since 2014.

At the same time, obesity affects the Latin America’s population disproportionately, as a result of lack of access to healthy diets. In LATAM, a healthy food option costs five times as much as an unhealthy one. It’s the highest relative cost in the world, and some 104 million people have no way to pay it.

 All this in a region with such great agricultural potential. Latin America and the Caribbean countries account for 56% of the world’s coffee production, 25% of global banana production, 28% of global citrus production, 44% of global sugar production and 50% of the world’s soybean production. As a whole, LATAM is a net exporter of food and agricultural commodities. However, even with the agricultural technology we have today, there are still many challenges, such as food loss. FAO estimates that 6% of global food losses occur in Latin America and the Caribbean; each year the region wastes around 15% of its available food.

The headline of World Food Day in 2020 is ‘Our actions are our future’. Clearly, more action is needed to make food systems more stable, more future-proof, and more resistant to global threats. We can base this action on three key principles: sustainability, innovation and collaboration.

Sustainability is already one of the best-understood themes in the food system. But our understanding is not yet matched by scalable actions. We need to do more to instill and reinforce sustainable practices at ground level across the whole system. Every new agricultural investment, for example, needs to take sustainability into consideration.

Initiatives and policies to reward farmers for sustainable land use will pay themselves back many times over, maintaining our existing agricultural land area and biodiversity while ensuring food security and healthy diets. Take Bayer’s introduction of incentives for adopting climate-smart and regenerative practices, such as no-till farming and cover crops. Schemes like this create a market-led approach to sustainability – recognizing that change starts on the ground, and that only by engaging everyone can we achieve the maximum impact.

The power of technology in agriculture is unquestionable, from satellite imaging detecting diseases in crops to blockchain technology increasing transparency in the supply chain. But developing new technologies is only one part of the innovation we need; at the same time we need to increase access to technology. For 3 billion people in the world, ‘digitalization’ still means nothing as they live in remote or poor areas with no internet. The FAO highlights the need to ‘close the digital gap’; achieving this will need a full suite of actions including social reform, investment in infrastructure, and a co-ordinated rollout plan incorporating national and regional stakeholders.

This is closely linked with the third principle, collaboration. None of our aims will be realized unless we can get stakeholders connected across intranational and international borders. We need to establish cross-market, connected groups sharing insights on how to solve challenges – not just food value chain players, but also health and nutrition professionals and policy makers. Initiatives such as Food Systems Dialogues are already working to unite multi-stakeholders and decision-makers under a common vision, which will enable effective joint action. I hope to see these kinds of collective project grow rapidly.

What is clear when considering these key principles is that we cannot see them as individual solutions – we need to tackle them as one overall path. Co-ordinated action will see technological gaps close, which will accelerate transformation of the food system based on sustainability. As we progress towards one, we progress towards them all.

In Latin America specifically, I am hopeful that a lot of progress can be made in terms of sustainability, innovation and collaboration. If all actors in the value chain work together, we can begin to rework the system today.

• We can promote access to new agricultural technologies to ensure food security and reduce food loss.
• We can promote awareness with consumers about the health and sustainability impacts of their food choices, and over and above this, we can make healthy diets more affordable and accessible.
• We can forge stronger links between farmer and consumer, promoting a mutual understanding about what transformation in the food system means for everyone, in real terms.

I believe that these actions will bear results on a large scale in Latin America. But the work needs to start now – and no single entity can manage it alone. Food stakeholders already see the role of innovation and intersectoral collaboration in the transformation of food systems. We must remain committed to working in unison with a network of partners to bring new solutions that will transform the food system into a sustainable economy that offers safe, affordable and nutritious food.

In the meantime, let’s all gather on October 16th to celebrate World Food Day and define our actions for the future.

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