29 August 2023, Carin Smaller

It is time for a radical rethink on how to eradicate poverty and hunger without destroying the planet, our health, and social cohesion.  

Germany, the world’s second largest donor to agriculture and food security after the US, brought its partners together last June to discuss its international development agenda. For nearly a decade, its One World, No Hunger initiative, which focused on solving the structural causes of hunger and food insecurity, has been the central pillar of Germany’s international development strategy. 

But Germany’s strategy is changing. In June, they advocated for a fundamental shift in solving hunger with a new special initiative – Transforming Agriculture and Food Systems. This agenda goes beyond hunger to also address nutrition, gender equality, health, climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste.  

The new agenda is not without its critics. For some in the Global South, the concept of transforming food systems is seen as an attempt by the Global North to hijack development with the goals of the climate and environmental agendas, thus further exacerbating inequality and injustice.  As an example, the President of the African Development Bank avoided references to food system transformation at the Dakar 2 Summit and instead called for an African agenda of boosting agricultural production to feed the continent. 

The most recent food transformation

We have been transforming agriculture and food systems for centuries. The last great transformation occurred at the end of the Second World War. In the aftermaths of a devastating war, ending hunger was a top priority. The first food survey of 70 countries found that over half of their populations were not getting sufficient calories. The Green Revolution enabled the historic expansion in the availability and affordability of starches and succeeded in reducing hunger from 1 in 2 people then to 1 in 10 today.  

However, this transformation—based on high yields for a few staple crops, mostly wheat and rice, chemical pesticides and fertilizers—caused significant harm to the environment and to health. The transformation has been uneven and unequal. It has led to an obesity epidemic, biodiversity loss, an accumulation of capital by a few market players and the emission of greenhouse gases fueling climate change. According to the latest data from the Global Report on Food Crises, extreme weather shocks are a primary driver of acute food insecurity, the worst type of hunger.   

A more just and equitable transformation

We need to transform the current agricultural and food system. But this time, it must be more just, more equitable, and give greater attention to the specific situations in each country and region. It will also require more sacrifices from those who have most benefitted in the past. This transformation will not be easily achieved given the complex environmental, geo-political and epidemiological constraints we currently face. To succeed it must address the following points. 

First, the uneven path of development must be corrected and allow countries to select from a portfolio of solutions that addresses multiple problems best suited to their local context. According to a recent study by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, Cornell University, and FAO which reviewed over 900 projects financed by the multilateral banks and funds since 2015, it found that projects focused primarily on economic outcomes. Less than 10% of projects address environmental, gender and inclusivity issues.  

Second, we need to change how agriculture and food systems are financed. Capital - which is in the trillions in financial markets - is unavailable to the poor. Current government spending, including from donor channels, is insufficient to close the funding gap. Instead, better credit systems must be created that provide incentives for capital to circulate to the poorest and most marginalized, and for interest rates to be lowered. Development banks should be encouraged to sustain higher risk and lead efforts to develop affordable credit systems for those most in need of one. 

Third, we must recognize that there is no single path from farm to fork. The food system of the future will need to embrace indigenous, traditional and modern innovations. Context is essential as is the perspective of smallholder farmers and SMEs. Innovation can embrace new technologies, such as decentralized storage space powered by renewable energy to increase the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables or rely on traditional knowledge and use crop residues as feed for livestock to increase dairy production. 

And, finally, we must address the systemic denial of the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women. None of the above measures will work with continued high levels of market concentration and uneven power distribution, protected by strong intellectual property rights and weak competition laws. There is a unique opportunity to build on the global competition reform momentum and to support efforts in developing countries to reform and strengthen their own competition regimes. This will give a more diverse group of actors a chance to benefit from sustainable economic growth.      

In the aftermath of the Second World War, amidst devastation and crisis, many governments successfully transformed their food systems. A new challenge lies ahead, and we must rise to the occasion once more.