Consultant Food Systems Summit 2024 Compendium and Proceedings

Our food systems — the way we produce, market, and consume food — are part of the social, economic, ecological, and cultural fabric of our communities. Given the complex interactions between food systems and the socio-economic-environmental substrate and the imperfections in the system, the true costs of our current food systems are yet to be fully investigated, much less quantified. The food systems continue to grapple with many challenges, old and new, notably persistent hidden hunger, obesity, loss of biodiversity, environmental damage, and climate change.1 During the last seven decades, India has risen from a land of food shortages to a nation, which achieved cereal security at the national level and became the fifth largest economy in the world. However, its food system is yet to fully address issues of accessibility, affordability and nutritional quality. The recent report by Food System Economics Commission (FSEC) estimated the hidden costs of India’s food system at 124.8 lakh crore rupees, mainly on account of poor nutritional outcomes and unsustainable production practices.2  

Various initiatives addressing multiple challenges of the food system are happening across the nation. While some target environment, natural resources and biodiversity conservation, others focus on production and distribution efficiency, supply chain management and farmer livelihood improvement. During the last five years of facilitating dialogues between the stakeholders and the actors of food system transformation in India, the Food and Land Use Coalition India (FOLU India) and Bharat Krishak Samaj observed that most of these efforts are in silos, with little or no coordination between agencies focussing on certain sectors and without adequate communication among these stakeholders and other actors.   

Recognizing the need for integrated efforts and bringing stakeholders and actors together to transform the current food systems into sustainable and resilient activity cycles, FOLU India and Bharat Krishak Samaj, has conceived the idea of establishing the Food Systems Hub (FSH) at the national level. FSH will serve as a national collaborative platform, bringing together diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, researchers, market players, and civil society organizations, to address complex challenges faced by the food systems.

Conduct online research and find the documents (research papers, reports, policy briefs, books and others) which are available in public domain to capture a high-level overview of the current status of assets (knowledge, expertise, and institutions) under the four themes of the Food Systems Summit (FSS):

• Supporting regenerative agriculture production
• Supporting rainfed area management for sustainable agriculture
• Improving nutritional outcomes
• Ensuring sustainability in distribution and influencing consumer behavior in favour of sustainable agriculture and consumption of healthy diet

Source: https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/job/oIxCufw5