Four years after the first UN Food Systems Summit, two food systems experts—Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, Chair of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub’s Scientific Advisory Committee and 2021 World Food Prize Laureate, and Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR—say the world still needs stronger action to end hunger and transform food systems. The 2021 summit prompted many countries to act: more than 125 nations adopted national pathways and nearly 300 civil‑society commitments. A stocktake of progress will be held this month in Ethiopia.
Research organisations such as CGIAR have backed nutrition advances, improved crop and livestock varieties and the integration of food‑systems frameworks into government policy. Examples include home‑grown school meal programmes, with Kenya working to ensure every child can receive a healthy meal in school by 2030. Millions of children have benefited from biofortified sweet potato, rice, maize, wheat and cassava developed by CGIAR scientists. Ethiopia identified 24 game‑changing solutions, including climate‑smart livestock supply chains, and community‑based breeding programmes there raised farmer incomes by 20 per cent in some cases.
Despite progress, healthy diets remain unaffordable for almost 3 billion people, including many of the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers. Food systems still contribute around a third of global emissions and about 80 per cent of global deforestation. Many countries also face growing financial and operational constraints as international aid declines.
Authors recommend continued investment in agricultural research, stronger government resources, better infrastructure and wider knowledge sharing. They urge support for innovative financing models, including linking food systems reform with climate finance, and greater collaboration and trust between countries. The CGIAR Flagship Report 2025 is offered as a starting point for policymakers seeking evidence‑based solutions.
Difficult words
- stocktake — formal review of progress or current situation
- pathway — planned route or set of actions to reach goalnational pathways
- biofortify — to increase vitamins and minerals in cropsbiofortified
- smallholder farmer — person who runs a small family farmsmallholder farmers
- deforestation — the removal of forests causing loss of trees
- innovative financing model — a new method for funding projects or programmesinnovative financing models
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Discussion questions
- How might home-grown school meal programmes affect children's health and school attendance in your country?
- What are the main obstacles to making healthy diets affordable, and how could governments address them?
- Do you think linking food systems reform with climate finance is realistic? Why or why not?
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