Unfss science days: reforming agricultural policies to support food systems transformation

From
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Published on
13.07.21
Impact Area
Environmental health, Food security

According to the OECD’s recently released 2021 Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Report, the governments of at least 54 countries provided transfers to agriculture of around $720 billion per year during 2018-2020. The report notes that “Overall, most current support policies are not serving the wider needs of food systems.”

That spending could be redirected to finance food systems transformation—helping to reduce carbon footprints while boosting resilience, improving food and nutrition security, and enhancing poverty reduction and equity. Such restructuring or repurposing of agriculture subsidies is one of the proposed game-changing solutions for the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), and was the topic of a UNFSS Science Days official side event sponsored by IFPRI, the Indian Council for International Economic Research (ICRIER) and the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy, China Agricultural University.

Photo credit: D.Cz./Shutterstock.com

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