Food and agriculture policies need to be “repurposed” to support more “affordable and sustainable diets” according to a new report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) today (Tuesday, March 14).
According to the latest FAO report, more needs to be done to address the “triple challenge” of current agri-food systems to increase the affordability of healthy diets, ensure better livelihoods for farmers and improve environmental sustainability.
But it has also warned that it is important to take into account “synergies and trade-offs” between the affordability of a healthy diet and the environmental sustainability of agrifood systems when considering the implications of agricultural policies.
The organisation said that the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine had undermined global efforts to end hunger and improve food security and nutrition.
It also highlighted that higher food, agricultural input and energy prices; increased production, transportation and transition costs; higher unemployment; and reduced incomes had “diminished access” to healthy diets.
Overall, the FAO stated that there was “a mostly encouraging picture” of the food security and nutrition situation in Europe and Central Asia.
“The region as a whole is in a much better position than elsewhere in the world, but some developments need to be addressed to avoid setbacks,” the FAO stated.
It estimated that the “prevalence of undernourishment in the world” increased in general to 9.9% in 2020 and rose further since then, but the average of the 50-plus countries of Europe and Central Asia has remained below 2.5% in recent years.
However, the FAO also noted “overweight and obesity” in this region remained “an alarming issue” among children and adults alike – surpassing the global average.
Cost of a healthy diet
A key issue identified by the organisation in its latest report revolves around how the cost of a healthy diet has increased in almost all countries of the Europe and Central Asia region due to higher consumer food prices.
In order to address this the FAO said that the goal of “self sufficiency” in agrifood commodities has been getting more attention in many countries because of both the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
But the organisation also warned that “policies need to be reshaped” to apply a more balanced approach to designing agrifood trade polices without undermining people’s access to healthy diets.
“A healthy, sustainable, equitable and efficient agrifood systems transformation will need policy options, interactions and the coordination of multisectoral policies within and outside of agrifood systems,” the FAO has advised.