A for-profit project has improved nutrition in Rwanda

* Originally published by the World Bank

No fewer than seven institutional and academic reports on sustainable global food systems were published in 2019. Never has there been so much attention paid to the role our food systems play in safeguarding the health of people and our planet.

Here is the bad news: all reports share the same conclusion, namely that our current food systems are unsustainable from an environmental perspective, a resources perspective and a nutrition perspective.

After decades of steady decline, the trend in world hunger has reverted. As world leaders gather in Cape Town for the regional Africa meeting of the World Economic Forum, we know that hunger is on the rise in nearly all subregions in Africa. With more than 820 million people in the world still hungry, achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030 is starting to look like a Herculean task.

More than 250 million people are undernourished in Africa, making them vulnerable to disease, deficiencies, and prone to developmental stunting that inhibits their full potential. The long-term economic costs of this are staggering: this must change.

With the effects of climate change expected to further negatively impact global food production in the next decades, it will be vital for everyone to work together. The public sector has to focus on economic and social policies that work for everyone. And the private sector should develop more efficient and regenerative agriculture, while better protecting the soil and biodiversity, and further reducing food loss and waste.