— by putting food at the centre of its development agenda

By Gillian Smith
FOOD is priority on everyone’s daily agenda – while some of us contemplate healthy food choices, others simply seek adequate diets to ward off hunger. Simultaneously, across fields and in the farms, there are those who toil every day, some from dawn until dusk, to ensure that food is available and affordable.

From farm to fork, we are all vital players in the activities, which collectively combine to form food systems — whether as providers of inputs and services, farmers, producers, harvesters, distributors, traders, importers, exporters, manufacturers or consumers. Globally, this system feeds seven billion people every day, and is estimated to have a gross value of just over US$5 trillion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UNFAO). In Guyana, the food system feeds the entire country (local and imported foods), provides livelihoods for rural farmers and fisherfolk, and contributes valuable export earnings to the country.

Even so, global food systems are not without challenge. Despite an abundance of food and a vibrant global trade, approximately three billion people around the world do not have access to healthy and affordable diets. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that in the Latin American and the Caribbean Region, about 26 per cent of persons cannot afford healthy diets. In some regions, it is estimated that healthy diets can be as much as five times more costly than a high-starch version. Many foods, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables are not easily available to some communities, resulting in an overconsumption of processed foods, cereals, sugars and red meat. Centralised food systems often exclude small producers from quality markets and result in the most vulnerable, bearing the highest risks to their livelihoods. Food production and distribution also come with a high cost to the environment, putting significant pressure on the natural-resource wealth of many countries. Our food systems are also more vulnerable than ever before.

The complex nature of food systems and the critical role that they play in human development, are among the reasons that UN Secretary-General António Guterres is convening the 2021 Global Food System Summit later this year. Working together, we can transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food, to create greater inclusion and equity, better nutrition for all, better livelihoods and better production models that also leave no one behind. Described by the UN Secretary- General as the “The People’s Summit,” it is supported widely by governments, UN agencies, academia, food-industry partners and civil society. This effort will identify and promote game-changing, ambitious, concrete actions, underpinning the most forward-thinking science. FAO and the rest of the UN and developing partners are all supporting this global summit.

For Guyana, the summit is timely to provide inputs into the country’s transformation agenda for its agriculture sector, supporting its ambitious plans to remain an important economic driver in an emerging oil economy. The Food System Summit dialogue is a stage for both expressing and honing the vision of an agricultural production system that is in step with emerging global food trends and aligned with an overall national development strategy.

In preparation for the global summit, there will be national dialogues that gather national, inter-sectoral thinking and concrete ideas for action. By an inclusive and bottom-up dialogue process, the country can draw on the best ideas, experiences, and evidence from many different sectors and from around the world. If we can focus our efforts on the following five action tracks, it is possible to radically change food systems for the better, by creating sustainable approaches.

ACTION TRACK 1: ENSURE ACCESS TO SAFE AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD FOR ALL

Working to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition, this track also seeks to reduce the incidence of non-communicable diseases. In Guyana, treating diabetes, heart disease, other forms of Non-communicable Diseases and malnourishment is a significant and preventable cost to the healthcare system and contributes to untold suffering by persons and their families.

More nutritious, healthy diets, combined with active lifestyles can significantly reduce this burden. With its abundant production of fresh food, pro-poor policies that promote better access to healthy, nutritious diets can have multiple positive impacts, particularly if aimed at vulnerable groups such as single, female-headed households, indigenous communities, rural dwellers, the elderly, the unemployed and under-employed, and persons living below or on the poverty line. Other important considerations are, working to ensure that effective food-safety systems protect consumers and facilitate trade opportunities, as well as ensure that healthy- diet options are more widely available throughout the country.

ACTION TRACK 2: SHIFT TO SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION PATTERNS

Food-consumption patterns, driven by current food systems, are simultaneously characterised by poor dietary choices, unbalanced diets, increased over-eating, micronutrient deficiencies, increasing intake of highly processed, high-fat, high-salt, and high-sugar foods and at the same time, unacceptable levels of food wastage. In many countries that are transitioning to greater economic wealth, it is further expected that these issues will become exacerbated over time. While issues of obesity, stunting and wasting, and occurrence of NCDs in Guyana may be lower relative to many other countries, they still represent a significant toll in health costs and human suffering, and are directly related to what we eat.

The rising value of food importation represents additional foreign-exchange demands for the country and lost income opportunities for local food producers. At the household level, food wastage can eat into the budget of families and while at the business level, it can significantly reduce profit margins. Food loss in agricultural production reduces efficiency, drives up costs and unnecessarily depletes natural resources. Therefore, working to build sustainable consumption patterns based on efficient food-value chains will help to make the country more competitive and healthy.

ACTION TRACK 3: BOOST NATURE-POSITIVE PRODUCTION

Globally, agriculture is estimated to be responsible for up to 70 per cent of freshwater extraction and 80 per cent of deforestation. Optimising the use of natural resources in food production, processing, and distribution is vital to creating successful and sustainable transformation of agriculture in Guyana and preserving natural-resource wealth for future generations. This thematic area will be critical to Guyana’s long-term development agenda, and must be aligned with the goals of the Low Carbon Development Strategy. Efforts should also be directed to better understand constraints and opportunities facing smallholder farmers, fishers and small-scale enterprises along the food-value chain.

ACTION TRACK 4: ADVANCE EQUITABLE LIVELIHOODS

The current global food system is recognised as one driver of inequality and this disparity continues to widen. It is ironic that rural communities, in which many farming families live and operate, are often amongst the more food insecure. Globally, women make up approximately 43% of the agricultural workforce, but often have less access to services and assets that can make them more productive. Although more than a billion persons work in food systems globally, this number is steadily declining, and in many countries there is an increase in the average age of farmers, meaning that the labour force of food systems is changing. Importantly for Guyana, as the oil-and-gas sector continues to grow, steps must be taken to make attractive the livelihoods available in food systems. This means not only providing opportunities for decent employment, but also incentivising rural living. This thematic area requires concrete and integrated actions to promote sustained opportunities to improve earnings, support equitable access to finances for farmers and agro-processors and reducing inequities in access to food – leaving no one behind.

ACTION TRACK 5: BUILD RESILIENCE TO VULNERABILITIES, SHOCKS AND STRESS

Action Track 5 challenges all stakeholders and players to jointly ensure the continued functionality of food systems in the face of threats such as natural disasters, economic shocks and conflicts. COVID-19 has highlighted how vulnerable our food systems can be at the household, community, national and global levels. However, we also see how strong, well organised, and inclusive production systems can- not only weather shocks, but also thrive. Resilient food systems in Guyana can withstand and recover from instability, and deliver food security, nutrition and equitable livelihoods for Guyanese and for the Region.

Working together to transform food systems is therefore advantageous to Guyana’s own food security, but also to realising its vision and development agenda. What is needed is ambitious planning, cross-cutting solutions and decisive action, cultural change, trust, investment and partnerships, all of which Guyana has in abundance, along with its natural resources.

Together, we must work to transform food systems. Let’s Take Action. (FAO)

(Gillian Smith is FAO representative in Guyana)