Agrifood systems encompass the production, processing, transport, marketing and distribution of food (as well as non-food agricultural products). As they stand, these systems are subject to complex and interconnected challenges such as conflict; demographic shifts; economic shocks; and floods and droughts made worse by extreme climate variability.
FAO sees agrifood systems that enable universal access to healthy diets as the bedrock of greater human and planetary well-being. Re-imagining current systems to incentivize production and consumption of diverse nutritious foods would help reset dietary trends; improve health outcomes; and halt climate change and biodiversity loss.
This requires profound transformation.
The solutions are varied. They may entail supporting policymakers and building the capacity of small producers; shifting agricultural incentives at scale; bolstering data collection; or changing consumer behaviour. Or, frequently, all these things at once.
Source: Adapted from Global Panel. 2017. Healthy diets for all: A key to meeting the SDGs. London.
https://glopan.org/sites/default/files/SDGPolicyBrief.pdf
©FAO/Sirachai Arunrugstichai
TEAMING UP AND TAKING ACTION FOR HEALTHY DIETS
Through its normative work, FAO aims to put the latest data and resources in the most capable hands – enabling, in other words, the right choices for policymakers to enact systemic transformation.
But reorienting agrifood systems towards the provision of healthy diets is no task for a single entity.
This is why FAO teams up with national governments; other United Nations agencies; the public and private sectors; civil society organizations; community-based organizations; consumer groups; and academia and research institutions. Only by combining collective experiences, expertise, resources and relationships can we hope for lasting progress. Wide partnerships also make two things possible: joint awareness campaigns and peer-to-peer learning among countries.
ADAPTING GLOBAL GUIDELINES TO REAL-WORLD CONDITIONS
While the FAO/WHO core principles of healthy diets are universal, the specific foods that make up a healthy diet will be local. Dietary patterns – the ways people put food on a plate – are patently contextual: they depend on availability, affordability, personal preference, culture, and social and religious norms. This means the core principles need “translating”.
©FAO/Karen Minasyan
FAO guides national governments to issue and implement formal dietary advice and regulations, among which are dietary guidelines developed with an agrifood systems' lens. These are roadmaps for countries to adapt the core principles locally: they offer entry points for systemic intervention to enable access to healthy diets. Clearly, the guidelines must be regularly updated to integrate fresh evidence and research – dietary patterns are anything but static – and to reflect food-industry and other related dynamics. At the time of writing, FAO is supporting the development and implementation of dietary guidelines in 19 countries.
Piloting dietary guidelines in Ghana
In 2022, FAO provided technical support to the Government of Ghana to develop its first national dietary guidelines. The process, which brought together representatives from government ministries, national universities, UN agencies, civil society organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders, resulted in the release of two twin sets of guidelines: the Ghana Food-Based Dietary Guidelines and the Ghana Food Systems Guidelines, the latter supporting implementation of the former.
©FAO/Luis Tato
For each recommendation of the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines, the Food Systems Guidelines provide examples of actions to be taken at the production, processing or distribution level. For example, for the recommendation to “Eat a variety of fruit every day”, the Ghana Food Systems Guidelines highlight 25 potential actions, among which support from the Ministry of Agriculture to year-round production of diverse fruits, including in public and shared spaces (such as parks, community centres, schools, hospitals and prisons), and the provision of a daily fruit supply through the national Ghana School Feeding Programme.
©FAO/Luis Tato
ESTABLISHING STANDARDS FOR FOOD LOSS AND WASTE
An estimated 14 percent of global food production is lost on the journey from harvest to retail; more is wasted post-sale. Food items with high nutritional value, such as fresh produce and animal products, suffer the highest rates of loss, slashing the overall amount of nutrients available on the market. Food that is lost or wasted is also a significant contributor to climate change.
Reducing food loss and waste is accordingly considered a “triple win” along the path to healthier diets and sustainable agrifood systems. To cut loss and waste means more economic profits for food producers; health benefits, through increased supply of nutritious foods to consumers; and environmental gains, through more efficient use of limited resources and fewer GHG emissions. Under this umbrella, FAO has produced a Voluntary Code of Conduct for Food Loss and Waste Reduction, setting out both advanced metrics and institutional steps.
Reducing post-harvest losses
One promising strategy is to target links in the food supply chain where food loss is highest, particularly for nutritious foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. FAO is supporting the African Union (AU) to reduce post-harvest food losses in eleven countries: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. FAO is also building the AU’s capacity to identify and implement solutions to post-harvest losses at every juncture in agrifood systems, providing evidence-based policy support, and promoting refrigeration and solar drying among smallholder farmers.
QUALITY PRODUCE ROOTED IN BIODIVERSITY: GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
Whether equipping rural women to be successful entrepreneurs or building the capacity of Indigenous Peoples to market traditional nutritious foods, FAO is helping disadvantaged groups to contribute to, and benefit from, healthier agrifood systems. Geographical indications, for example, can turn local territory, culture and heritage into commercially viable propositions.
Serbian terroir
As the last century wrapped up and the new one began, rural economies in the Western Balkans were buckling under a legacy of political upheaval, conflict-related isolation and economic stagnation. The region of Arilje, in southwestern Serbia, had one ruby-coloured card up its sleeve: the exceptionally juicy local raspberry, Ariljska malina, bursting with vitamin C. Years of support for the Serbian Government from FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) resulted in a geographical indication label for the malina, complete with training in certification, promotion, quality control and protection against imitations. Today, the region exports 25 000 tonnes of raspberries, chiefly to the European Union – a vital source of income for local families, and a nutritious product for consumers, local and international.
©FAO/Igor Pavicevic
