Generated Summary
The document is a book chapter that explores the challenges and opportunities in transforming agri-food systems (AFS) to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and beyond. The chapter advocates for the co-creation of socio-technical innovation bundles, which combine scientific and social elements to address the complex issues within AFSs. The approach is based on the recognition that scientific breakthroughs alone are insufficient, and human agency is crucial. The chapter identifies four key AFS features: decentralized human agency, the heterogeneity of AFSs, pervasive spillover effects, and the essential role of scientific research. The methodology involves a review of existing literature and the identification of key innovations at various stages of development and implementation across different contexts.
Key Findings & Statistics
- The authors highlight that global agricultural productivity gains have varied across regions and food system types.
- The rate of agricultural productivity growth has slowed markedly over the last generation.
- Digital innovations are especially cross-cutting and numerous.
- Over the past 30 years, science-based advances in AFSs have boosted both food supplies and incomes.
- The number of undernourished people and the prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity have been slowly increasing, even as the total population that is food secure and receives adequate dietary energy intake has also increased.
- The report notes that in 2020, there are 108 countries covering 1.5 billion people that have food assistance programs.
- The number of natural disasters worldwide has been increasingly steadily, up more than threefold from 1980 to 2019, with most associated losses uninsured, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where insurance coverage is less than 10 percent
- For each indicator, countries were ranked from highest to lowest, under the hypothesis that higher values were associated with more “modern” food systems, and lower values with more “traditional” food systems.
Other Important Findings
- The authors identify four key design objectives for AFSs by 2045–2070: healthy diets, equitable and inclusive livelihoods, resilience to shocks and stressors, and climate and environmental sustainability (HERS).
- The chapter underscores the importance of considering the different levels of impact, including direct and indirect impacts on the food systems SDGs and non-food system SDGs.
- The chapter highlights that to meet the HERS objectives, there needs to be a balance between globally scaled practices and wholly local practices, with a middle ground that requires the development of regionally fit-for-purpose socio-technical innovation bundles.
- The study emphasizes that the “socio” part of the innovation bundles includes reforms of institutions and cultural practices, including changes in government policies.
- The chapter identifies and explains the importance of innovations in finance, social protection, and civic engagement.
- The use of alternative metrics of national good, beyond national income, as well as de-agrarianization are important.
- The chapter underscores that the development of socio-technical innovation bundles should be focused on post-farmgate institutions and practices, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
Limitations Noted in the Document
- The chapter acknowledges that the focus is on the future, and in some cases, by decades, little if any rigorous impact evaluation evidence exists on the innovations discussed.
- The study relies on limited model-based, carefully reasoned, or suggestive empirical evidence that exists and cites those sources for readers.
- The complexity of that exercise almost inevitably requires broad stakeholder engagement and can sometimes be usefully supported by sophisticated modeling.
- The main research focusing on reformulation, fortification, and/or functionalization concerns these processes’ potential to improve nutrition and health, but the main current industrial practices are for other, commercial purposes: decreasing costs, meeting changing consumer preferences, tapping into new consumer markets to boost sales or the company’s public image, improving food safety and preservation, and/or complying with government regulations, where they exist.
- The study notes that although international financial markets increasingly integrate economies around the globe, investment capital remains anchored to high-income countries by home country bias.
Conclusion
The chapter argues that the transformation of agri-food systems (AFS) is essential to addressing global challenges such as food insecurity, malnutrition, and climate change. The core argument is that “AFS transformation is less likely to be limited by science-based discovery than by human agency.” The chapter calls for action by all actors in the food system to address the issues of food security and sustainability. The authors suggest that a mix of innovation and policy changes are needed to create a more equitable and sustainable food system, where the innovations generate gains in one or more dimensions while protecting people against losses in some other dimension. The authors advocate that in order to ensure the development and diffusion of beneficial innovations, all key players need to create a strategic game where each party’s actions respond to the others’ behaviors.