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There was no marked observation on the areas of divergence.

Discussion Topic AT6: Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act-a legal framework for sustainable food systems in Nepal Context: Nepal has developed legal framework to ensure good governance of food systems and transform them. The right to food and food sovereignty is enshrined in the constitution, and the government has given priority to ensure safe and nutritious food to all in a sustainable manner. This Act accommodates all ATs and provides as a legal framework for the resilient, equitable and sustainable food systems in Nepal. Underlying causes for achieving the stated proposition: In general... Leer más, policies are often prepared in rush, and with less attention to preparing detail action plan. Lack of organized efforts in the implementation of policies. Poor accountability measures on the implementation of laws/policies. Governments, particularly at local levels have low level of awareness and technical capacity to prepare laws and policies. Key Drivers: Limited livelihood opportunity and consumption of nutritious food; lack of proper information collection, analysis and management to identify and respond to vulnerable people; access to land is important aspect in food security, however there is no sufficient action to address this issue. Policies are not much supportive to smallholders and landless people. Less legal thrust, or incentive to consume locally produced nutritious food. Lack of impact analysis to understand the results of policy implementation to address the challenges. Actions in next 3 for greater impact: approval of Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act (2018) and formulation of regulation based on this Act , and development guideline and setting up of institutional architecture as provisioned in the Act with clear roles and responsibilities and accountability measures (Federal Food Council, Provincial Food Council and Local Food Coordination Committee). Priority to orient stakeholders on the implementation of Act with targeted focus, budget, and preparation of regulations. Allocation of budget to the Province and local governments based on the performance on the implementation of Act and relevant policies. Implementation of 15th Plan, Periodic Plans, and localization of SDGs with priority. Control fragmentation of agricultural land; prioritize and invest on setting up a mechanism for systematic data collection, analysis, and management for promoting evidence-based policy making to contribute to achieve sustainable food system in Nepal. Ensure policy coherence in agriculture, food security and nutrition; build synergies among policies like MSNP, ADS, SDGs and others. Coordination among government agencies and stakeholders. Capacity development of local government. Identification and classification of farmers and landless households. Set up mechanism to analyze and respond to the impact of climate change. Options to assess the actions being successful: policy monitoring mechanism in place for different government agencies and stakeholders with relevant indicators based on the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act, SDGs, HDI, Hunger Index, Gini Coefficient, and food security and nutrition; annual planning/budgeting linked to the evidence-based information as guided by the Act; information management system and networks are in place at all levels. Collaboration/Partnership: Federal government to facilitate on detailing out of the implementation plan; Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development to take lead role, in collaboration with other key line ministries/policy agencies (NPC, MoICS, MoFAGA) to implement the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act (2018) and set up institutional architecture (Federal Food Council). NPC and MoALD to coordinate and facilitate on developing National Food Plan. Accordingly, Provinces and local governments to coordinate on developing Provincial and local food plan and setting up of the institutional architectures (Province Food Council and Food Coordination Committee); NPC to take lead on coordination and collaboration among sectoral agencies and strategic guidance on policy formulation, implementation and monitoring. Leer menos

Discussion Topic AT5: Building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stresses Context: current food system is under pressure from climate crisis, conflict, COVID-19 pandemics, economic shocks, natural disasters and environmental degradation, including food price hikes and disease-pests outbreaks. These shocks, stress and disaster can be devastating for poor and vulnerable people. Climate induced and other natural disasters have significant impact on national economy. Lately, COVID-19 has contributed to increase unemployment, poverty and vulnerability including loss of livelihoods. The 201... Leer más5 Earthquake increased number of food insecure people by 3.5 million. Therefore, building resilience means helping individuals, households and communities to mitigate, cope with and recover from shocks and stresses, so that they can become even better off than before. Underlying causes/barriers: natural and climate induced disasters; high post-production losses; weak supply chain; pandemics (COVID-19) and other epidemics. Economic shocks, like food price hikes and income losses due to pandemics and disasters. Climate induced natural disasters are increasing more than before due to haphazard road constructions, improper infrastructure development and accelerated process of urbanizations. Limited investment on R&D to reduce vulnerability and build resilience. Farmers and stakeholders lack adequate incentives for climate initiatives and green agriculture. High post-production losses, unsafe transportation and weak supply chain resulting in inadequate/late access of safe food in affordable prices for marginal, poor and low income groups. Epidemics/pandemic (such as diarrhea, COVID-19, etc) have increased vulnerability of poor, women, and marginalized households. Improper food habits with poor feeding practices. Poor, landless, and marginalized groups have settlements in vulnerable places (river banks, landslide prone areas). Preparation and readiness arrangements are weak. Drivers of change: Lack of policy instruments, particularly of food policy at all spheres of governments on building resilience. Lack of in-depth analysis, data gap in production and consumption of foods have posed challenge to policy makers to design adequate policies and programmes to reduce vulnerability and build resilience. Inadequate climate smart technologies have affected to adapt to changing climate and improved food availability. Furthermore, price vulnerability and supply chain disruption have also contributed to the unsustainable food production and resilience building. Actions in next 3 years for greater impact: land use policy at sub-national level; technology transfer; capacity development of stakeholders in agriculture; increase coverage of insurance; make agriculture an attractive sector; and control out-migration. Policy coherence; prioritization of resources in the critical time; food storage at local level. Institutionalization of Nepal food security monitoring system (NeKSAP); early warning system and risk-based anticipatory actions. Establish climate smart technology and incentivize for their promotion; integrate sustainable agricultural production system including indigenous best practices. Link Prime Minister/Chief Minister employment programme with the food systems. Co-ordination mechanisms between the governments for disaster and post-disaster management. Options to assess the actions being successful: Result framework, indicators, and software-based information management system in place to monitor the progress; climate and vulnerability monitoring provisions; and development of information centers and network at sub-national level. Collaboration/Partnership: Coordination among the governments and private sectors to build resilience; priority plans based on available resources; provision of vulnerability card to the vulnerable people and nutritious food to the Pregnant and Lactating Women; sub-national level emergency operation centers to be linked to food system; federal government to establish a reliable Hydro-met services; all governments and private sectors to coordinate developing better preparedness plan. Leer menos

Discussion Topic AT4: Advance equitable livelihoods of people involved in food systems Context: landless, smallholders, women, Dalits, indigenous people rely on agriculture and forest-based foods; many of them are unrecognized as farmers, underpaid and, or wage rates differ by gender. Inadequate institutional mechanisms for and limited capacity of women, small holders, old-age, people with disability (PWD), they have less access to production resources, space for voice, negotiation power in the market systems. State of food and nutrition security varies by provinces, ecological belts and gende... Leer másr. These groups are disproportionately affected during any kinds of shocks and emergencies. Underlying causes for achieving the stated proposition: agriculture sector is seen as less remunerative and less attractive. The skewed power relation over productive resources especially of land, water, forest to women and disadvantaged groups; Feminization of agriculture due to young male out-migration. Globalization trend has weakened competitive capacity of Nepalese SMEs. Fragmented policies have led to improper targeting in agricultural value chain. Inadequate support to the local governments for the localization of policies. Food and agriculture sector are highly vulnerable and the actors associated are more exposed to shocks. Discriminatory social norms and practices. Drivers of Change (positive): The Constitutional provisions on Right to Food and Food Sovereignty and Social Justice are key drivers for advancing equitable access to food and livelihood security. In addition, the Agriculture Development Strategy, Zero-hunger Initiative, Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan and localization of SDGs are positive drivers as the local governments can reach out to the poor and disadvantaged. Increased realization of potential niche-based enterprise and industrialization of local products through value addition and use of IT. Increased interest of financing institutions and development partners towards green policies and funds. Land management based on concurrent rights of the governments. Actions in next 3 years for greater impact: Support mechanisms and targets to small and commercial farmers as well as investments in commodity-based enterprises. Introduction of farmers’ identification card and develop proper database. Gender friendly mechanization and investments in land management, skills development, financing, and linkage with market. Engage youths in profitable agriculture that can enhance niche-based local products. Enforce/levy duties on the imports of agricultural products to facilitate secure market for local products. Strengthen local seed sector that are culturally acceptable, climate resilient and profitable. Consumers’ demand-based planning for production and support in post-production related infrastructure. For the destitute group, issue food supply card as per the provision of the RtF and Food Sovereignty Act as well as ensure targeted interventions linking with social safety net programs. Options to assess the actions being successful: Documentation of indigenous crops, commodities and recipes and wider sharing/publicity of their nutrition values; communication strategy in place to ensure proper messaging of local foods that are locally understandable and culturally sensitive; linkage of local foods with big hotels, domestic and export markets. Collaboration/Partnership: Federal government to devise harmonized umbrella policy including safety net measures and proper monitoring for standardisation; Provincial and local government to focus on customizing policies to their specific needs and priorities to promote inclusive and diverse food systems and facilitate collaboration with Universities and academia to engage youth in the research and extension. The local governments to document, promote, support in identification of locally available nutrition rich local landraces, promote culturally adaptive food eating habits, manage local seed and food banks, promote indigenous knowledge and skills-based food system. Farmer identification/categorization/Id card. Leer menos

Discussion Topic AT3: Boost nature-positive food production at scale Context: Increased biodiversity losses, deforestation, land degradation. One third of agricultural lands are fallow and degraded, and a large portion are converted to settlements and infrastructure. Production of major staples and commercial vegetables in some pockets has caused excessive mining of soil nutrients, water depletion and agrochemical pollution. Food habits mostly towards rice and wheat have led to a narrow dietary diversity; this has resulted in loss of traditional crops and indigenous knowledge. Underlying barri... Leer másers for achieving the stated proposition: Dependency on imported crop varieties is increasing with lack of site-specific food production; lack of production in broader landscape/agroecosystem level. Lack of land use policy and plans have promoted rapid conversion of fertile agriculture lands into settlements and other non-agriculture use. Disappearance of indigenous food system; rural out-migration; inadequate capacity development of farmers; lack of agriculture mechanization. Drivers of change: 1. Climate change impact: Climate induced disasters (flood, drought, extreme rainfalls, and disease and pest outbreaks) have negatively affected productions. Rise in temperature has made possible to cultivate some lowland crops in higher altitudes. 2. Socioeconomic change: Youth out-migration, change in food habits (food culture) and urbanization have created fallow land and shortage of agricultural workforces affecting eco-friendly food production. 3. Land degradation: conversion of productive agricultural land into infrastructure development and unscientific cultivation in the hilly terraces. Continuous cropping of narrow diversity of staples and modern varieties without legume rotation in Terai (plains) resulting in decline of soil fertility. 4. Weak governance: weak agricultural research and extension organizations (like NARC, DoA and AKC), and their weak coordination among 3 spheres of government. Lack of effective communication between NARC, AKCs and local agri-extension have constrained in the flow of adequate knowledge and information Actions in next 3 years for greater impact: investment on food-water-energy-biodiversity-health nexus, R&D on agroecosystem. Revitalization of indigenous food system; land utilization based on Land Use Act and Land Use Policy. Value chain of local crops based on comparative advantage, focus on quality seed, organic production and quality assurance services. Improvement of food governance and policy coherence. Assurance of market and irrigation; implementation of climate change national adaptation plan (NAP) and local adaption plan of action (LAPA). Development of evidence-based policy. Invest in agriculture research recognizing the value of local food system research. Options to assess the actions being successful: Political will on reducing land degradation; monitoring to oversee implementation of land bank, land use plans; minimum support price of production with buy back guarantee; fair price shops established; agriculture and livestock insurance policy in place; climate services to farmers through early warning and preparedness. Implementation of food and nutrition security and ecosystem policies. Collaboration/Partnership: Following are the specific roles and responsibilities of the governments at 3 spheres: Federal Government: national policy for natural resource management and agrobiodiversity; climate act to reduce GHGs emission; strengthen NARC as autonomous institution for providing support to all governments to develop and promote green agricultural technologies for nature positive production system. Provincial and Local Government: strengthened Agricultural Extensions- through Private- public partnership following Agriculture Development Strategy; strengthen Agricultural Knowledge Centers to focus on technical services. Implementation of LAPA; documentation and registration of native agrobiodiversity and natural resources; link production systems with agro-ecotourism and health for nature positive production systems. Leer menos

Discussion Topic AT2: Shift to sustainable consumption patterns. Context: About 4.6 million people are food insecure; triple burden of malnutrition-under nutrition, overweight/ obesity, and micronutrient deficiency. Stunting, wasting and low weight in children contributing to 52 percent of child mortality; obesity among children and adolescents has increased by 29 times in the past four decades; women and children also suffer from some of the world’s highest levels of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Underlying causes for achieving the stated proposition: change in dietary pattern character... Leer másized by two-meal-rice (per capita rice consumption increased by nearly 70% in 50 years). Dietary shift towards unhealthy processed foods high in saturated and trans-fat, salt and sugar neglecting nutritious indigenous crop-based foods. Increase in fat intake in diet and undernutrition in childhood has coincided with increased overweight/ obesity and other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD); over two-thirds of adolescent girls in both rural and urban areas reported consuming sugary foods. Consumption of foods produced by using high dose chemical fertilizers and pesticides; items, such as biscuits, instant noodles and juice drinks may be supplying about a quarter of energy intake of children <2 years, which is lowering their intake of essential vitamins and minerals. Drivers of change: low level of consumer awareness about the healthy food habit and choice of nutritious foods; high cost of nutritious diet (nutritious diet is costlier by 242% than the energy only diet); urbanization and rapid proliferation of fast food culture. Weak market regulation for unhealthy and adulterated food products. Lack of legislation on labelling of nutritive value of food; no availability of essential nutrition package for different age groups; social, religious, and cultural aspects of food consumption behaviors. Government subsidies on food commodities in the form of social protection are not aligned with dietary guideline. Inflated advertisement of food. Many businesses are producing ultra-processed food items. Less awareness on food loss and waste among the actors across the food chain. No policy to reduce salt/sodium consumption, limit saturated fatty acid intake, eliminate industrially produced trans fatty acids, reduce the impact of marketing of foods and beverages high in saturated fats, trans fatty acids, free sugars, or salt on children. Proliferation of modern lifestyle, copying from others; poor knowledge about nutritious food and source of nutritious food at various service points-schools, community, and family. Actions in next 3 years for greater impact: analyze existing food consumption pattern and prepare national framework for sustainable food consumption. Increase investment in agricultural sector; policy framework for sustainable consumption pattern, link mid-day school meal to the homegrown foods. Prepare menu using local food, at least, twice a week by the government officials working in remote communities. Food Management and Trading Company to initiate Fair Price Shop in food insecure areas; food fortification and supply to vulnerable groups. Provision of subsidy and incentives for farmers to sustainable food production system; implement land use policy; upgrade national food based dietary guideline. Investment in infrastructure development; develop national policy for food waste management. Options to assess the actions being successful: Develop result frameworks and result- based accountability matrix for 3 spheres of governments. Federal government to develop policy, Provincial to infrastructure and monitoring, and create linkage and capacity development of local levels; local government to provide incentive package to the farmers and other actors. Collaboration/Partnership: Federal government should focus on developing capacity of local govt. and infrastructure development at provincial level; Province government should play role in monitoring, and promoting local farmers and local governments on mobilization of resources; local government should promote and incentivize nutrient-dense local food production and consumption. Leer menos

Discussion Topic AT 1: Ensure safe and nutritious food for all Context: cereal grain availability is fluctuating due to variations in production; per capita availability has reached from 194 Kg (2001/02) to 237 Kg (2017/18); 48.2% households are food secure, whereas 10% are severely food insecure. Percentage of severely food insecure households are more in rural areas (11.7%) than in urban (8.8%), the percentage is highest in Karnali Province (17.5%) followed by Sudurpaschim (13%) and Province-2 (10.7%). Situation of nutrition has improved over the period of 1996 to 2019: stunting decreased fr... Leer másom 57 to 32%, underweight 42 to 24, and wasting from 15 to 12%. Underlying causes affecting the stated proposition: locally available nutritious crops/foods getting less importance; biodiversity/cultural diversity not promoted. No focus on micronutrients; poor nutrition including breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices; many families do not have access to nutrient rich foods; growing burden of non-communicable diseases; divergence between nutrition and WASH programmes due to lack of coherence between food security and nutrition sectors. Drivers of change: low crop productivity; high losses (pre and post-harvest); inadequate road connectivity, and storage facilities. Loss of biodiversity; poor food diversity; low education and awareness level on the nutritive value of underutilized crops; preference to the readymade/ultra-processed foods. High cost of nutritious food. Poor food safety and hygiene conditions; dominance of brokers/middleperson in agricultural productions. Less access of farm households to technology, recurrent disaster events threatening agriculture system; increased risk to investors and farmers; land fragmentation and unscientific land use; youth migration from rural areas leaving fallow land behind. Actions in next 3 years for greater impact: promote home gardens for nutritious foods; employment creation to increase income of the poor; scale up social protection programmes and food fortification. Address double/triple burden of malnutrition; create awareness among the women about the value of food. All season road and connectivity to reduce food insecurity in remote areas. Educate people to consume homegrown foods through advocacy and awareness programmes, and school education. Promote local food production and develop distribution network; reduce long food chains from farm to fork. Increase on farm productivity by adopting sustainable practices; develop varieties, use bio fortified varieties of crops (essential micro-n). Improve agri-input and market systems (access and cost); enhance capacity of local researchers and scientist; increase dietary diversity and value addition. Capacity building of groups: women, cooperatives, users’ groups, etc. Integrate crops-vegetables with aquaculture for small-scale farmers; production diversity for livestock products. Reduce post-harvest losses (quantity and nutrient loss); awareness raising and education for breast feeding; education to remote consumers about the nutritive value of local foods and promote production diversification. Adopt food-systems approach for enhanced diets and nutrition, income and resilience. Promote nutrient rich food availability, consumption, and quality assurance. Taxation on less nutritious food. Target fresh food markets as a critical entry point for improving food safety and focus on investments in infrastructure and sanitation; consumer education for diet quality and food safety. Options to assess the actions being successful: Result monitoring and evaluation framework in place for all actions; agreement between/among the governments with clear roles and responsibility; education and awareness raising in mass scale. Collaboration/Partnership: Develop strong linkages among the governments; develop integrated information system; better communication on safe and nutritious local food and cost; address markets and distribution issues at local levels; development of linkages: agro-tourism-nutrition, agro-forestry-foods-nutrition. Leer menos

The national dialogue provided opportunity to engage participants from different agencies, sectors, and disciplines including the government, academia, researcher, farmers’ organization, civil societies and private sectors from different parts of the country. During the dialogue, critical discussions were held to examine the national food systems to understand potential causes/barriers and drivers and generate ideas to decide bold actions for the next 3 years. Indeed, this will be further verified and refined after the feedback from the Provincial, and second and third national dialogues. Th... Leer máse dialogue also collected some learning to reflect impression and work further on as following: 1. Some participants were new to virtual meetings (attending the session using online platform to participate in specific groups); 2. Few participants showed up from industries and value chains (actors). 3. The issues were well understood by the participants, which were common for some of the ATs, like AT 1 and 2; AT 3 and 5; AT 4 and 6 in the context of Nepal. Drivers of change and actions mentioned were also common to some tracks. 4. There was a common understanding among the working groups about the role and responsibilities of the three spheres of the government in Nepal, in terms of formulating policies, regulations, education, and their implementation. Participants have suggested to draw clear delineation of the roles and responsibilities of the three spheres of government. 5. There was strong commitment from NPC and MoALD and Development Partners to address the issues through policies and programmes. However, participants raised concern for the same level of commitments from other public agencies, like Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP), Ministry of Forestry and Environment (MoFE), Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply (MoICS) to address the issues of access to food, nutrition, distribution and effective implementation of policies and regulations. 6. Some gaps were experienced with regard to the representation from some value chain actors like processors, industrialists, transporters, wholesalers/retailers, working in different parts of the country. There is need of some additional efforts to have their participation during the provincial and local level dialogues. Overall, participants had actively engaged in different groups to exchange and share ideas and potential actions for analyzing and improving the Nepalese food systems. Some potential and emerging issues were identified and validated; the dialogue was also helpful in raising awareness and elevating public discussion on key food system issues and identify potential options and solutions for making food system inclusive, resilient and sustainable (refer Section C below). Five Action Tracks and one cross cutting lever of change were the Discussion Topics. Following the constitutional provision, cross cutting lever of change was selected as the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act as a legal framework for the sustainable food system in Nepal. Hence, six groups rigorously discussed on these topics following the ATs propositions and reference questions mentioned in Section A above. Relevant Joint Secretaries of the Government of Nepal had chaired the groups, while the thematic experts from the government and non-government sectors had facilitated the discussions, and designated rapporteurs from different agencies had documented the discussion points. Whole exercise was concluded with big team efforts. Since the participants of the Discussion Topics expressed very similar opinions on the reference questions on possible ways to tell, if these actions are being successful; and the roles and responsibilities of the three spheres of governments (federal, provincial, and local governments), the discussion outcomes are summarized accordingly and presented at the end. Leer menos

Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission (NPC), organized the first National Food Systems Dialogue on 11th June 2011 on the theme Nepal towards an equitable, resilient and sustainable food system under the Chair of Honorable Dr Krishna Prasad Oli, Member, NPC and National Dialogue Convenor. Hon. Dr. Oli delivered welcome speech and opening remarks. He stressed on the need for collective efforts from all the sectors in the process to transform food system and contribute to achieve all SDGs. Major focus of the dialogue was to engage stakeholders for a comprehensive exploration of food s... Leer másystems in Nepal as part of the process for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021. The specific objectives of the dialogue were to; • raise awareness and promote public discussion on the food systems, • examine current situation and identify key aspects of Nepalese food systems, such as the drivers, actions, pathways, and • explore opportunities for food system to make it equitable, sustainable and resilient. A total of 180 participants attended the event representing different stakeholder groups, background, institutions, and professions. In order to generate focused dialogues and collect the specific inputs, participants were assigned to respective Action Track (AT) Groups after a brief opening session in the plenary. Dr Yogendra Kumar Karki, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) and Curator for National Food System Dialogue curated the dialogues. The AT coordinators, facilitators, co-facilitators, and rapporteurs facilitated the dialogue process. Each AT Group had proposition and reference questions to engage in dialogue and provide inputs as follows: AT 1 Proposition: Increased agriculture productivity and develop sustainable food chain for affordable safe, healthy, and nutritious diet to improve levels of nutrition, ensure all people to be well nourished and healthy and achieve zero hunger. AT2 Proposition: Enabling, inspiring and motivating people to enjoy healthy and sustainable consumption options; Slashing food loss and waste; and transitioning to a circular economy through advancing in technological, environmental, economic, social, regulatory, and institutional fronts. AT3 Proposition: Protect natural ecosystems from new deforestation and conversion for food and feed production; manage sustainably existing food production systems; restore degraded ecosystems and rehabilitate soil function for sustainable food production. AT4 Proposition: Developing inclusive and diverse food systems that contribute to the elimination of poverty and food and nutrition insecurity by creating jobs, raising incomes across food value chains; protecting and enhancing cultural and social capital; reducing risks for the poorest and increasing value distribution. AT5 Proposition: Developing inclusive and equitable food systems to ensure that all people within a food system are empowered to prepare for, withstand, and recover from instability and participate in a food system that, despite shocks and stressors, delivers food security, nutrition, and equitable livelihoods for all. AT6: Referring to the overarching legal document developed based on the constitutional provision, Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act (2018), is considered as a legal framework. Hence, this Act and related policies are the key to strengthen food system governance and accountability and transform food system that is resilient, equitable and sustainable. Dialogue reference questions: Following 5 questions were presented to the participants to facilitate the dialogue: 1. What are the underlying causes/ barriers for achieving the stated proposition? 2. What are the key drivers of unsustainable food system? 3. What actions in the next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? 4. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? 5. What are the role and responsibilities of the food system actors including those of the federal, provincial, and local Governments in sustainable food system transformation in Nepal? Leer menos

There were no critical areas of divergence between participants.

Cross Cutting ... - More finances to produce more and better (SDG 17) Financial resources are key to improve on various aspects of the food systems. Afghanistan is spending limited amount of its public budget on the agriculture. The spending in privet sector is unknown but undoubtfully less than required. Therefore, we need more domestic and foreign investment from public, governments, and private sectors. o Advocate and attain more domestic and donors funding to the food security and nutrition o Offer subsidies to framers, private sector producing agreed nutritious food o Offer low tariffs an... Leer másd financial incentives on nutritious food, innovative technology, and system innovation o Improve banking systems, loan, and other financial provisions to those investing in food systems and in actions such as food production, trade (import and export). o Improve public procurement mechanisms in the FSs. For example, loan provision o Control and regulate food prices particularly during crises o Award large scale contracts and public private partnership in FSs o Invest in public sector marketing social marketing for healthy diets - Sustain long term Political Well and Commitment Enabling environment and long-term political commitment is crucial to achieve Food Systems related goals. However, these commitments should not remain in words but to be translated into concrete and SMART objectives and actions. o Demonstrate political will in more resource allocation to Food Systems o Create and be member of national, regional and global level Food Systems coalitions and networks o Prioritize food security, nutrition, and Food Systems in all policies o Promote strong leadership in FSs particularly women leadership in FSs o Take seriously the Rule of law and anti-corruption measures o Improve the role of data sharing and transparency & develop best practices - Peace (SDG 16) o End war and keep working on bring lasting peace and stability to the country o Consider eradication of poverty and improving the food security and nutrition as key driver to peaceful and productive nation in all policies. Leer menos

Cross-cutting: Peace, good governance, anti-corruption measures, gender, population growth, capacity/skills development, and rule of law are cross-cutting issues that to be considered at all (political, policy, program, and operational) levels. This includes: - Create jobs and economic opportunities (SDG 8) Food Systems offer enormous job opportunities and thus reduce poverty and improve people's purchasing power for notorious food. o Create more jobs through food systems o Create more jobs through the agriculture and livestock sectors o Develop more Small and Medium Size Enterprises in Food S... Leer másystems o Support women smallholders and women Food Systems related business - Promote gender, nutrition, and climate-sensitive multi-sectoral policies, laws, regulations, and programs (SDGs 5, 13, 2,3,) Afghanistan needs a paradigm shift from sole sector to multisectoral policies and programs. It also requires policies and actions to be made more gender, nutrition, and climate-sensitive. Therefore: o Revise current policies, laws, and regulations to transform the food systems o Strictly enforce laws and regulations o Local food market regulation must be endorsed and implemented o Introduce school feeding programs using local food products o Prioritize consumption of local healthy food products in policies, programs, and budgets o Work on province-to-province contracts and agreements on food trade and food safety o Go for large scale contracts and public-private partnerships in Food Systems e.g. farm modality o Plan national scale women economic empowerment programs in Food Systems o Apply Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus in Food Systems o Introduce policies to support the informal food sector to deliver safe, and affordable diets o Develop Afghan Agriculture and livelihood Acceleration Policy - Strengthen institutions, systems, and infrastructures (SDG 9, 16) Without strong structures, food systems can't thrive. These systems and structures are to be established, strengthen, and make them sustainable. Therefore, we must: o Strengthen Food & Drug Authority o Establish Centers of Excellence and Research on Food Systems across the country o Expand the scale and number of cooperatives and agricultural networks o Invest in creating local production plants for fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides through Public Private Partnership. o Invest in creating local plants for producing animal medicine, vaccines, hormones, semen o Train more researchers, academic professionals, and experts in food systems to be developed o Establish, expand, and support local/territorial food markets o Enhance multisectoral approach and coordination for FSN and Food Systems Leer menos

Save forests (SDG 15) Afghanistan is a mountainous country but has foresters too that are at risk of disappearing. This forest can become of great national importance to support Food Systems. o Stop cutting forests. This to become a national priority o Start artificial forestation. o Plant trees (one/person/ year). Fruit trees can greatly support local food systems.

Nature-positive food production, fight extreme shocks, and build resilience (SDG 13, 1) Drought, sessional floods, earth quick, and other climate challenges are prevalent in Afghanistan that affects production and livestock in Afghanistan causing displace and pushing people further down to poverty and food insecurity. Therefore, o Implement large scale resilience and coping programs to be designed and implemented o Implement large-scale social protection, food assistance, and asset creation programs are needed. o Strengthen National Early Warning System o Provide affordable high yielding clima... Leer máste-sensitive varieties of staple crops o Stop deforestation, invest in artificial forestation, and promote gardens o Reward regenerative farming practices for environmental services provided. Leer menos

Prioritise food safety and nutrition value (SDG 2, 3) Today food safety is not only public health but also an economic and trade-related issue in Afghanistan. Improving food safety will improve health, reduce the burden of food-borne diseases and open up new economic opportunities. o Stop producing and importing unsafe food items o Go for nation-wide food fortification, bio-fortification, and Future Smart Food projects o Strengthen national and subnational food safety systems (labs, standards...).

Educate and offer skills to farmers, producers, and consumers: Farmers, producers, traders, and consumers' education, skills development are highly needed to promote production, trade, and consumption of nutritious food. Therefore, we must: o Equip farmers with knowledge and skills to produce more nutritious food o Educate consumers on healthy diets and nutritious food to reduce malnutrition o Educate producers and traders on corporate social responsibilities in Food Systems o Generate demand for healthy & sustainable food and challenge meat consumption o Maximize the use of consumer infor... Leer másmation for healthy diets. Leer menos

Invest and use innovative, green technology to modernize food systems (SDG 7) In Afghanistan, we still use primitive technology in food systems. Farmers, producers, and traders are not equipped with the resources, equipment, knowledge, and skills to use modern technology to improve production and reduces waste and loss. This is the area of more investment and opportunities. Particularly: o Introduce a new and efficient method for irrigation (drip water) o Promote solar and green technology in agriculture o Use of locally adapted machinery to improve product quality and quantity o Promote busin... Leer másess and entrepreneurial activities in bringing innovation and local solutions o Establish and strengthen local technology institutions and innovation projects o Use of Agricultural Biotechnology to boost production, quality, and resilience. Leer menos

Safe water (SDG 6) Afghanistan faces a serious scarcity of potable and irrigation water. The available water is not well managed and there is water loss despite its scarcity. Introducing innovative technology will help to address both issues. o Introduce smart and innovative water management and irrigation systems o Create and implement Water-Food- Energy Nexus o Manage groundwater through social learning interventions Safe Food (SDG 12) Food quantity is an issue. Today more than 45% of people in Afghanistan are food insecure and above 54% of the population live below the poverty line. But, de... Leer másspite that, we see food loss and food waste on many cultural occasions and across the value chains. Therefore, we need policies, laws, and actions to address these underlying factors to improve food availability but also to reduce inequality as well: o Prevent food waste at homes, offices, society o Prevent food loss across the value chain o Produce food keeping in mind the equilibrium between demand and supply o Build more cold-rooms and storage facilities to save and store food o Improve transportation, roads, and connectivity to improve access and availability of food. Leer menos

Following are the key suggested areas and interventions for coming 3 to 5 and then 10 years summarized from the national and subnational dialogues in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, it is worth mentioning that beneath proposed interventions supporting all SDGs in direct or indirect ways. (Please also see the ToC) Safe agricultural land and improve soil health (SDG 5) Agricultural land is reducing due to urbanization and improper urban expansion planning, thus, reducing domestic agricultural production. It requires urgent actions such as: o Law or other regulatory actions to stop using agricultural l... Leer másand for construction and urbanization. o Use water and other sources to grow food (fishery, other local solutions). Go for blue food. o More funding to soil friendly input distribution and extension o Fund large scale programs to expand arable land for production Leer menos

The discussions among the participants resulted in a set of tangible suggestions for all previously identified challenges mainly with the following STRATEGIC FOCUS around 6 Ps: People: The food system dialogues in Afghanistan recognized the importance of people's knowledge, experience, and engagement in shaping, implementing, maintaining, and improving the food systems. Therefore, the GoIRA, donors, development partners, UN, NGOs, CSOs, and the private sector, should concentrate on people as the core focus area of the food systems in their policies and programs. People’s interests, needs, an... Leer másd demands to be considered in all policies, plans, and regulations. People's voices to be heard and reflected throughout the decisions making processes. To do so, people and groups, and segments representing people should be actively involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of food systems-related interventions. Production (quantity + quality + safety): Due to high rates of food insecurity and malnutrition, food production is still a property for Afghanistan. However, national, and subnational dialogues emphasized on quality and safety of what is produced or imported to Afghanistan. The nutritious value and safety of food should be the paradigm shift in the future of the Afghan Food Systems. Quantity without quality and safety simply is not and should not be acceptable. Policy: Afghanistan needs to develop, update, and implement laws, regulations, standards, multisectoral policies, and plans to address the urgent, unmet, and long-term needs of its growing population in a sustainable manner. The enforcement of law and efficient implementation of large-scale programs that can result in visible changes in the situation of the food systems has been suggested. Policy framework to be gender, nutrition, and climate-sensitive and as mentioned should have a focus on people. Planet: People are not disconnected from the planet we live on. Their actions affect the planet either positively or negatively. People’s actions and their consequences bounce back to people affecting their lives ad livelihood. Afghanistan is currently being affected by the effect of climate change and it seems it will suffer more and more from drought, flood, avalanches, and other shocks in coming years. So, people, the GOIRA, and development partners have two big challenges ahead. How to cope with shocks and their negative consequences and how to pursue its development agenda. Both require capacity, resources, and strong management. Therefore, the need to link actions across Humanitarian-Development and Peace Nexus is more than ever evident. The scale of financing and actions to be sufficient enough to respond to the current climate-related challenges, but also to improve resilience at all levels to mitigate future shocks and stresses. Peace: Peace is the number one agenda for the people of Afghanistan. War and protracted conflict not only take lives but also destroys systems, infrastructures and diminish people’s hope for a better future. Therefore, peace is not only a political imperative, but it is a social, development, and human necessity. If lasting peace will be obtained, Afghans will witness rapid and positive changes in their food systems. Production will grow, organizational and system capacity will improve, the trade will expand, export, and import balance will get better, employment opportunities will increase, and people will invest in food system-related activities. Politics: There are also issues called cross-cutting such as good governance, gender, anti-corruption measures, and rule of law. The below-suggested interventions that should be future detailed and turned into programs and projects will hopefully lead to the reduction of hunger, poverty, and inequality. They will improve access to nutritious food, food safety, reduced conflict and stability, and climate-related distress. Leer menos