The State of Food and Agriculture 2024

Chapter 5 Navigating the challenges to setting policy and investment priorities for global agrifood systems transformation

Conclusions

Addressing the hidden costs revealed in The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 and refined in this edition of the report inherently requires the distributional issues entrenched in global and local agrifood systems to be addressed as well. Globally, distributional imbalances occur between populations that enjoy the benefits of the status quo and those that bear the hidden costs – which may be those same populations at some point in the future or future generations separated by space and time. Even within national boundaries, trade-offs between different constituencies arise, as evidenced by the recent farmer protests in many parts of the world.

One of the basic prerequisites to transforming any large system that comprises interconnections between actors with overlapping and conflicting interests is the existence of an effective institutional and regulatory environment. Creating clear rules and standards and instilling trust that they will be fairly applied to all stakeholders, regardless of size or political clout, takes some of the uncertainty out of investments that contribute to sustainability and fuel innovation.²²

While the global community can always hope for innovation to solve many of the problems of agrifood systems, innovation alone is unlikely to steer agrifood systems towards sustainability under current motivations for innovation (primarily market driven and including the business case) and the accompanying political economy constraints.¹² The governance of global agrifood systems needs to be transformed “through political will and strong accountability at the international level”.²³

In conclusion, the transformation of global agrifood systems requires a multifaceted approach that integrates strong governance, clear regulatory frameworks and inclusive stakeholder engagement. Innovation must be harnessed within a supportive policy environment that addresses both market and non-market failures. The integration of comprehensive TCA assessments is also crucial to understanding the costs and benefits of various actions, ensuring that policy decisions are well informed. By committing to these comprehensive actions, the world can move towards more sustainable and equitable agrifood systems that benefit current and future generations.

This flagship publication is part of The State of the World series of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Required citation:
FAO. 2024. The State of Food and Agriculture 2024 – Value-driven transformation of agrifood systems. Rome.
https://doi.org/10.4060/cd2616en

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ISSN 0081-4539 (print)
ISSN 1564-3352 (online)
ISBN 978-92-5-139140-2
© FAO, 2024

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COUNTRY NOT SPECIFIED. Variety of healthy foods for filling arepas, a typical Latin American dish.