INTERVIEW: Food systems contribute to solving ‘world’s most important challenges’

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Corinna Hawkes the Director of the FAO Division of Meals Methods and Meals Security says a holistic and sustainable strategy is required that considers financial, social, and environmental elements, and that brings individuals collectively, to make sure nutritious meals and sustainable livelihoods for all.

She was talking forward of the UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking moment, which is able to take into account world agrifood programs.

 What’s the agrifood system?

Corinna Hawkes: The agrifood system is the whole lot that’s related to meals and agriculture. What we eat in addition to the way in which that meals is bought, distributed and processed. It additionally consists of how meals is grown or harvested on land, at sea, and different non-food merchandise, similar to gas and fibre. All these processes contain an entire host of actions, investments, and selections.

Corinna Hawkes, Director of Food Systems and Food Safety Division at FAO.

© FAO/Giuseppe Carotenuto

Corinna Hawkes, Director of Meals Methods and Meals Security Division at FAO.

An agrifood system pulls collectively all of this into an interconnected system; for instance, if we need to develop vegetables and fruit for individuals to eat more healthy, we’ve got to suppose not nearly rising the greens, but additionally about how they’re delivered to individuals.

Agrifood programs are additionally an area for options together with for local weather change, biodiversity loss, malnutrition, continual illnesses, unsafe meals, poverty and to counter an absence of city sustainability. Agrifood programs are the answer to the world’s most necessary challenges.

Why does the world want to rework agrifood programs?

A fisher in Ghana collects the morning catch.

© IMF/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

A fisher in Ghana collects the morning catch.

Proper now, the ability to supply these options is just not there. The agrifood system is sick. The way in which it’s designed and capabilities implies that it’s weak, worn out and lacks resilience.

So, the frustration and the problem right here, is that the potential energy of the agrifood system to supply these options is misplaced till we rework it to make it stronger.

A few of the main challenges embrace the way in which meals is grown and produced is contributing to local weather change, which in flip weakens the agrifood system. 

What’s an instance of a present main problem in agrifood programs?

One factor we’ve got accomplished is to take an excessive amount of variety out of the system which incorporates the whole lot from what’s on our plates all the way in which again to the farm. So, we have to deliver that variety again. 

During the last a long time there was a specialization in producing sure key commodity crops. This was a fantastic concept from the angle of productiveness and effectivity; it cheapens meals, it means you may commerce the meals, and it reduces the price of manufacturing. It is vital we produce these crops effectively.  

However what we’ve got seen is that lowering variety an excessive amount of reduces the resilience of the system. And we’ve got seen with current conflicts how reliance on sure key producers additional weakens resilience.

Range can be good for biodiversity and the atmosphere, in addition to nutritionally for shoppers.

How can these challenges be overcome?

In Senegal, new farming approaches are being introduced to counter the impacts of climate change.

In Senegal, new farming approaches are being launched to counter the impacts of local weather change.

There are various methods to rework agrifood programs. A very powerful approach is to deliver all of the programs collectively which necessiates bringing  individuals collectively.

One of many main challenges is that totally different persons are making an attempt to repair biodiversity, vitamin or meals security, whereas others try to repair poverty and the livelihoods of agricultural producers. 

We have to come work collectively within the system and work out the right way to present these options. This manner we are going to start to see that the agrifood system could seem like an issue as a result of it’s weak, but it surely truly is one thing actually highly effective.

What good practices are being superior proper now?

I’m actually enthusiastic about among the initiatives which might be going down on the subnational, city and metropolis ranges. There’s a lot power in massive and small cities the place native authorities and a number of stakeholders are actually taking motion.

They’re bettering market infrastructure in order that persons are extra in a position to entry meals, in order that meals is secure and loss and waste is diminished. 

So, we’re starting to see these necessary connections being made, and that’s occurring in tons of of cities world wide.

What can we count on from the upcoming UN Meals Methods Summit +2 Stocktaking Second?

What I hope to see from the Stocktaking assembly two years after the UN Meals Methods Summit is that governments and lots of different stakeholders will come collectively to truthfully focus on the challenges and to share their successes and their challenges in making change.

I wish to see a way of solidarity between governments and different stakeholders who can agree that they may do higher collectively in the event that they share experiences and good practices to beat challenges.

The perfect final result of the summit is that the momentum created will proceed and that the dedication to vary won’t simply keep as a dedication however will result in actions on the bottom to essentially deliver change.

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