Food system transformation is needed to address the hundreds of millions of people without adequate access to food or water for a healthy life. Nutrition and malnutrition are closely linked to water for food, sanitation and hygiene. With 30 percent of the world’s population living in water-stressed environments, the impacts of water scarcity and malnutrition are expected to affect half of the world’s population, and there is a need of a strategy to assist farmers to efficiently produce staples for basic food security while, at the same time, increasing the production of high-value and nutrient-dense crops. Efforts to enhance water productivity can and must be linked to the improvement of dietary quality and diversity through interlinked interventions.