Sustainable, resilient and inclusive food systems development

Recent developments in food systems have created enormous opportunities, with more efficient food systems having significant potential to underpin economic growth, improve on- and off-farm employment opportunities, to satisfy changing consumer demand and in doing so to help eradicate hunger and malnutrition. However, a number of constraints, such as weak infrastructure, policies, institutions and human capacity and low private sector involvement and investments, limit the ability of countries to add value to agricultural commodities through agribusiness and agro-food value chains. Inefficiencies in food systems lead to substantial food losses and waste (FLW), with multifaceted negative impacts, including reducing the availability of and access to nutritious food, unsustainable use of natural resources and environmental degradation. The ability to take advantage of cross-border trade opportunities is also constrained by a number of factors, such as weak capacity to take appropriate trade related policy and planning decisions, and limited availability and access to relevant data and information.

PARTNERSHIPS
Under the Accelerator for Agriculture and Agroindustry Development and Innovation (3ADI+) project in Tanzania, a partnership was established with Trees for the Future, an international non-governmental organization working in agroforestry production systems with demonstrated success in applying the agroforestry concept to smallholder agroforestry production in the African context. Under the 3AD+ Tanzania programme and with FMM funding, Trees for the Future effectively designed a one-acre plot for the agroforestry system based on palm oil. This system combines a number of trees, horticulture and staple crops into a system based on palm oil to maximize food security and income. In the reporting period, in Palestine the project identified service providers and signed an LOA in December 2019 to undertake food loss assessments on two value chains and additional empirical analysis of solution to Food Loss and Waste (FLW) within those value chains. Together with government counterparts, the grapes and cucumber/ zucchini value chains were selected for analysis.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

• In the region of Europe and Central Asia, the workshop on lessons learned from WTO agricultural negotiations for 15 representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan was conducted in September 2019. Presentations on agricultural aspects of the WTO accession of Ukraine and the Russian Federation were delivered. The questions and answers highlighted the features of the WTO accession of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, as well as some other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
• Good progress was made in building capacity under the trade component in REU, specifically in Uzbekistan, as well as the FLW component in the region of the Near East and North Africa. This will be continued in 2020 with capacity building programmes targeting agribusiness development (in the regions of Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean), trade (regions of Africa, Europe and Central Asia and Asia and the Pacific), and FLW (region of Europe and Central Asia), as well as in the global component.
• In Uzbekistan, technical assistance was provided on agricultural aspects of Uzbekistan’s WTO accession through two support missions, a review of government support measures and the preparation of technical notes on the WTO accession process (WT/ACC/4). A workshop was organized on lessons learned from the WTO agricultural negotiations. It had 15 participants in attendance, who were involved in the negotiation process and were drawn from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.

POLICY ADVICE
In the region of Europe and Central Asia, representatives of the ministries responsible for preparing for the WTO negotiations received policy advice on several aspects of WTO accession and information on the experience of other countries joining the WTO, as well as on the technical features of the classification of measures in the supporting tables of domestic agricultural support, which are obligatory for negotiations on agriculture for countries joining the WTO.

GENDER
The members of the FLW platform for the region of the Near East and North Africa were made up of 27 percent women.

INNOVATION

• The December 2019 meeting of region of the Near East and North Africa country focal points on FLW allowed FAO to update them on current innovative methodologies, approaches, and global thinking about FLW and provided a platform for the country focal points to exchange experience among themselves. Several of the country focal points came with tangible progress to share in developing national strategies, programmes, and activities towards FLW reduction under SDG Target 12.3 (Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).

CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED
The reporting period served to lay the foundation for the project. Most of the beneficiary countries had not started implementing and it is expected that this will be carried out in 2020. In the reporting period, activities to develop policy tools and improvements started in three of the ten beneficiary countries, therefore not much progress was made towards achieving the Output and none of the indicator targets were achieved. However, the level of progress is in line with the work plan, and the reporting period served to lay a solid foundation for activities to begin in 2020. In particular, LOA partners were identified in Tanzania for the 3ADI+ component and in Palestine for the FLW component. In the global component, the draft of the code of conduct (CoC) on FLW was prepared and regional multi-stakeholder consultations were held to discuss the document.

Through integrated policy and institutional solutions, multi-stakeholder platforms and capacity-building interventions, the initiative has strengthened the policies, institutions and regulations for food systems transformation, building on the outcomes of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and subsequent dialogues. It has led to stronger capacities of public and private sector actors in the trade, value-chain and FLW dimensions of food systems transformation. By delivering on three mutually reinforcing outputs and through adopting an integrated approach, the subprogramme contributed to more efficient, sustainable, and inclusive food systems, advancing SDGs such as zero hunger, responsible consumption and production, and decent work and economic growth, laying a foundation for long-term sustainability.