On World Food Day, I wish to recognize the remarkable resilience of South Asia’s agricultural system to the shocks brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, we’ve seen a decrease in incomes from the economic impact of the pandemic, which has resulted in further nutritional insecurity as consumers and communities cut back on high-cost foods such as animal products, fruits, and vegetables.
Because they impinge on so many aspects of society, food systems are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The current food system(s) in South Asia needs to be transformed to deliver benefits for planet and people. This means:
providing access to affordable, nutritious, and healthy food for all; ensuring sustainable food production, processing, trade, and retailing; mitigating and adapting to climate change; and improving smallholder farmer livelihoods
We at IRRI and the CGIAR are appreciative of the partnerships we’ve built in the region for the last fifty years. We are committed to continue working with stakeholders to sustainably transform our food systems in the lead up to 2030 and beyond.
We have been building a robust evidence base to serve as the foundation of transformative policies and help fast-track the adoption of innovations and technologies at scale.
This requires engaging with farmers as well as with private sector actors (seed companies, millers, agricultural machinery manufacturers and retailers) and civil society organisations (CSOs) to scale up innovations, such as precision agriculture and ensure that the focus is on increasing the overall productivity, aggregate profitability and efficiency of the food system from farm-to-fork.
We are working with governments to develop policy frameworks that speed up the expansion and dissemination of improved varieties, create the right incentive framework for farmers engagements, promote contract farming and aggregation market institutions,…