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There were no critical areas of divergence between participants.

A core team composed of key government ministries, the UN, and development partners agreed to organize consultation in Afghanistan around track #1 and track #5 and to mainstream the other action tracks into discussions under the above two tracks. So, it means other tracks were deemed important, but for the reason of simplicity and interlinkages topics relate to tracks 2, 3, and 4 were touched upon under tracks 1 and 5. The following core discussion topics were identified under track 1 and track 2: Action Track # 1. Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all. 1- Reducing hunger, poverty,... Read more and inequality: Participants discussed the key factors and drivers of hunger, poverty, and inequality in Afghanistan and how they can be addressed through the food systems in the coming 10 years. Discussions focused on the production and consumption of agricultural crops that are available in different areas of Afghanistan. Questions on how to reduce food waste and food loss, and how livelihood can help reducing hunger were explored. 2- Increased access to Nutritious Food: Access to nutritious food was discussed in general but more specifically in line of local nutritional food and their production. There was discussion on the dietary habits of communities, and how access to nutritional food and traditional nutritious food could be made easier. Finally, measures to improve the current situation in the next 10 years and the role of nutritious and healthy food in food systems were discussed under this topic. 3- Food Safety: Food safety is critical for ensuring sustainable and healthy food systems. Participants explored food safety hazards and challenges, as well as measures to address these challenges. Issues such as personal hygiene, the partnership between the government, the private sector, and consumers to improve food safety. Overall, the long-term and irreversible impacts of food born hazards on human health and communities were conversed. Action track # 5. Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shock, and stress. 4- Conflict and instability: Participants discussed the adverse effects of conflict and instability on agriculture, food production, and consumption of food. Conflicts and instability are the main drivers of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, the loss of livelihood, and social problems in Afghanistan. 5- Climate/Environmental Extremes Economic Shocks: Discussions occurred around natural disasters and diseases that adversely affect agriculture and contribute to hunger, malnutrition, and loss of income. The relationship between root causes of disasters and crises and food systems was highlighted. Existing coping mechanisms to mitigate shocks, as well as the gaps in the coping strategies were also discussed. 6- Pandemics & Agricultural Negative Impacts: Discussions took place on various types of plant diseases pests that affected the food systems, measures to protect natural resources, and biodiversities such as soil, water, and animal species. Additionally, the harms posed to the food value chains and the lack of pesticides and professional staff to protect against such harms were highlighted. Read less

Participants highlighted numerous factors that act as challenges to the current Food Systems in Afghanistan. These challenges and findings are categorized around the following seven categories. 1. Contributing factors to low production (quantity) of agricultural and livestock origin food o Food waste and food loss (plant and livestock diseases, cultural issues) o Traditional irrigation methods o Misuse and underuse of agricultural land (house construction in agricultural fields) o Poor local, provincial, and regional connectivity o Imbalance btw demand and supply in production and use of food ... Read moreitems o Lack of local food markets and accessibility to these markets o Insufficient number of resistance agricultural and animal varieties o Little use of modern and innovative technology in food systems o Poorly and insufficiently established infrastructures to support food production 2. Factors contributing to low quality of locally produced and imported food products o Absence of nation-wide strong food safety and control system o Lack of agriculture and livestock verities with high nutritious values o Less number of quality food processing plants o Lack of input, knowledge, and skills at the farmer, producer, and consumer levels o Illegal and sometimes legal entry of low-quality food products o Low quality of pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, and other inputs used for agriculture 3. Social-political and economic factors: Conflict, Political, and Economic Instability o Protracted conflict o Political instability o Economic instability o Corruption o Poor execution of rule of law o Low income and employment opportunities o Modest financing and resource allocation to the agriculture and Food Systems o Population growth that is difficult to control 4. Factors related to policy, strategy, programmatic, and capacity dimensions o Presence of weak policy and legal frameworks (e.g., absence of FSs document) o Weak enforcement of available laws and regulations (e.g., food fortification) o Absence of well-established center of excellence-research, innovation, and technology o Poor farmer and producer knowledge and skills o Absence of strong food safety and control systems (e.g., laboratories) o Low coverage of health, veterinary, and extension services particularly in rural areas o Limited scale, and duration of food and agricultural projects 5. Factors related to Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices o Gender discrimination in employment and food consumption o Child labor throughout food systems o Low public awareness on healthy diets and nutrition o Absence of food diversity at production and consumption levels 6. Factors related to market o Poorly regulated domestic markets and food imports o Inadequate local, regional, and global connectivity including roads o Inadequate support to private sector those engaged in various aspects of food systems o Low number of public-private partnership cases for example for large agricultural projects o High food prices for nutritious food, particularly during crises such as COVID-19. 7. Factors related to climate change and resilience building. o Drought o Soil erosion o Soil erosion o Global warming o Lack of coping capacities particularly in the rural setting o Poor early warning and response mechanisms o Rapid deforestation o Water scarcity and poor water management Read less

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... Read mored 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. Read less

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... Read moreand 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 Read less

• The Ghana National Food Systems Dialogue convened by the National Development Planning Commission, and the Ministry of Agriculture had an overarching theme - “Developing a Resilient and Equitable Food System for Improved Food and Nutrition Security”. The discussions covered all areas of the food systems and were organized around the Five Action Tracks of the Food Systems Summit Dialogues: • Action Track 1 – “Ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all” – participants examined whether all Ghanaians currently have access to safe and nutritious food. If not, what is it t... Read morehat makes it difficult for Ghanaians to access safe and nutritious food? • Action Track 2 – “Shifting to sustainable consumption patterns” – dialogue participants had conversations about what the key issues affecting healthy and sustainable food consumption were in Ghana. • Action Track 3 – “Boosting nature-positive production at scale” – examined how Ghana’s food production systems can be transformed to ensure sustainable food and nutrition security for the people. • Action Track 4 – “Advancing equitable livelihoods”– explored inequalities within the Ghanaian food systems • Action Track 5 – “Building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stresses” – examined Actions to ensure the resilience of the Ghanaian Food System. Read less

The discussions from the breakout sessions produced the following key findings: Dialogue participants agree that most Ghanaians have access to food but not necessarily safe, and nutritious food. Factors that militate against access to safe and nutritious food permeate the entire food system from production to consumption. Production: •most government- and donor-sponsored programmes and projects do not promote the production of nutritious local/traditional foodstuffs. •Illegal mining (galamsey) is affecting the quantity, quality, and safety of food produced. Also, improper use of agrochemic... Read moreals in farming, processing, and retail makes food unsafe. •Food retailers do not adhere to safe practices resulting in microbial contamination, and foodborne diseases •Post-harvest level challenges include food loss, fragmented food chain, poor transport, poor road linkages from farm to market. Healthy food consumption • absence of food-based dietary guidelines and few standards for nutritional requirements for different age groups • little to no effort to valorize nutritious local, indigenous, traditional foods. •vulnerable local (small-scale) farmers are not protected from the inflow of foreign goods that infiltrate the market. •Poverty is pervasive and dictates access to food. To address these challenges, Dialogue participants recommended short/medium/long term actions including: •Improvements in conditions (roads, markets, appropriate mechanization and storage etc.) that promote small farmer production systems; to produce diverse foodstuffs. •Protection of local farmers by supporting them with appropriate and quality inputs, and regulation of food inflow from other countries •Valorisation of nutritious local/traditional food to incentivize production and consumption •Application of best practices including promoting good and appropriate agronomy practices, tracing, and containing contaminated produce. The EPA and FDA should ensure that only approved agrochemicals are imported •Government should set up food banks and land banks (reserve lands for agriculture) to increase food production. •Meaningfully integrate fiscal and economic measures into food systems transformation initiatives. Healthy and sustainable food consumption : • Influx of imported foods that are cheap but unhealthy • Food fraud (which includes adulteration, substitution, dilution, tampering, counterfeiting, and misrepresentation of the ingredients of food or composition of food). • Food waste and loss – significant post-harvest losses Innovations and new approaches to address the above problems include • Use of hermetic bags for the storage of cereals and legumes to reduce post-harvest losses. • Introduce warehousing systems or storage facilities at the time of bumper harvest: • Encourage healthful food processing to increase shelf life of locally produced agricultural commodities; • Mobilize resources to accelerate investment through public-private partnerships: Recommendations for Sustainable nature positive production: • Improving productivity of small-scale farmer production systems since they promote planetary health, are climate-smart, nutrition-sensitive • Adopting diverse and appropriate improved farming practices, techniques to increase food production and productivity; • Promoting practices that protect the loss of biodiversity of Ghana’s indigenous and traditional foods, and natural regeneration of trees • Avoiding destructive farming activities that destroy natural resources such as needless use of agrochemicals, uncontrolled • Improved and localized irrigation systems by government and the private sectors as only rain-fed agriculture cannot sustain the food production • •Increase incentives to make agriculture attractive (branding) especially to the youth, Inequalities prevail within the Ghanaian food systems. Dialogue participants identified and proposed solutions including • •Government should consider the deployment of mobile agricultural extension services in the digitization drive to attract the youth to agriculture • •Government should buy or subsidize lands for agricultural purposes and engage traditional landholders to address land tenure challenges for easier direct access by women and youth • •Regions with high hunger index and malnutrition should have a land tenure system that will support the production of food crops rather than cash crops • •Improving access to post-harvest technologies such as cold chains to reduce postharvest losses, especially during seasons of glut, and improve traditional production/processing/preparation technologies for competitiveness • Fixing of railway and road networks to enhance transportation of harvested commodities and reduce losses in transit from hinterland as well as link farmers to markets. • Improved handling of agricultural commodities that will reduce bruising in transit. Also, ensure that existing measures such as mandatory use of scales at both the farm gate and in the markets facilitate trading of farm produce. Resilience: •Government and other food systems stakeholders to support and promote all-year-round production system • build data on actors in the food systems value chain, their profile, location, needs and actions given the risks. •Improve the storage systems, e.g. producer capacity to store harvested produce •The need to digitize our food system using artificial intelligence, blockchain farming, hydroponics etc. •Improve road, and rail network • Consider innovative financing models Read less

DISCUSSION TOPIC 1: Access to safe and nutritious foods by all Ghanaians Dialogue participants agree that most Ghanaians have access to food but not necessarily safe, and nutritious food. Factors that militate against access to safe and nutritious foods permeate the entire food system from production to consumption. • At the production level, illegal minding (galamsey) is affecting the quantity, quality, and safety of food produced • Relatedly, improper use of agrochemicals in farming, processing, and retail make food unsafe. • Inadequate storage facilities and poor market linkages are o... Read morether factors • Vulnerability and lack of protection of the local (small-scale) farmers - from inflow of foreign goods that infiltrate the market. • Food retailers, who are not properly regulated, do not adhere to safe practices resulting in microbial contamination and foodborne diseases • Food fraud (including deceptive labelling practices, unregistered food on the market) is a challenge • Post-harvest level challenges include food waste and loss, fragmented food chain, poor transport, poor road linkages from farm to market. • With respect of healthful consumption, challenges include absence of food-based dietary guidelines. • Little to no effort to valorize nutritious local, indigenous, traditional foods. • There are cultural and social misperceptions of what constitutes healthy foods e.g. people who consume meat are seen as rich people. • Low nutrition literacy of the populace. • Unhealthy packaging practices: everything is going into plastics instead of the leaves, earthen ware bowl and calabashes • Poverty is pervasive and dictates access to safe and nutritious food. • Poor water quality is a challenge as access to safe water is important for food cultivation and preparation. • “Unattractiveness of agriculture” – as a vocation to the populace – people do not consider training in agriculture necessary to become farmers. To address these challenges, Dialogue participants recommended short/medium/long term actions including • Protection of local farmers by supporting them with inputs, and regulation of food inflow from other countries • Make agriculture more attractive to all especially young people • Valorize nutritious local/traditional food to incentivize production and consumption • Apply best practices including enforcing good agronomy practices, tracing and containing contaminated produce. The EPA and FDA should ensure that only approved agrochemicals are imported • Training of farmers on best practices on the management of pests, chemicals, pesticides Dialogue participants offered specific recommendations for the government, development partners, private sector and other food systems actors: • In collaboration with academia, government should train and certify food systems stakeholders e.g. farmers and retailers • In collaboration with development partners, government should expand and promote livelihood and income-generating activities (e.g. backyard farming, livestock rearing) targeted at women to improve household food security • Government should improve the transportation system and enact regulations (including price control policies) that benefit all food systems stakeholders. • Regulate advertising/marketing of food in general, not just unhealthy foods. • Food safety and standards policies/regulations should have clear delineation of roles and responsibilities of regulators. • Government should set up food banks and land banks (reserve lands for agriculture) to increase food production. • Investment in food processing industry to produce healthy processed foods • Institute both economic and fiscal interventions (tax system) to make healthy food attractive, and unhealthy food unattractive. Read less

DISCUSSION TOPIC 2: Factors that affect healthy and sustainable food consumption in Ghana Dialogue participants identified the following: • Influx of cheap, but unhealthy imported foods • Food fraud (which includes adulteration, substitution, dilution, tampering, counterfeiting and misrepresentation of the ingredients of food or composition of food). A local challenge has been the adulteration of palm oil with Sudan IV dye, and tomato paste with starch rather than tomato concentrate • Chemicalization of foods from farm to fork and port: Inappropriate uses of various chemicals by food sys... Read moretems actors • Unhealthy foods are cheaper than healthy foods and consumers tend to buy foods they can afford, and these are mostly cheap unhealthy foods. • Risk of contamination/cooking methods and duration: For instance, some people add paracetamol when cooking cowpea to cook faster. • Bad fishing practices and trans-shipment of fish: (these have an impact on the sustainability of fish resources). • Food waste and loss – significant post-harvest losses Dialogue participants suggested innovations and new approaches to address the above persistent problems • Use of hermetic bags for the storage of cereals and legumes to reduce post-harvest losses. Government could subsidize the price of these hermetic bags • Introduce warehousing systems or storage facilities at the time of bumper harvest: Produce could be bought from farmers and properly stored and used during the lean season. • Encourage the use of traditional silos built using earth and straw grass to store maize and millet, and other produce: When produce is stored in these environmentally friendly traditional silos, they could last for more than a year without pests. • Encourage dry season farming using existing resources. • Encourage home gardening especially in urban centres, construct tanks or poly tanks at homes to harvest rainwater for the purpose. Dialogue participants suggested approaches for sustainable promotion and consumption of nutrient-rich and safe food • The language used in communicating healthy and nutrient-rich food should not be abstract. • Intensify nutrition education in school curricula: Include nutrition education in the curriculum of children at all levels of education (from kindergarten through tertiary level) as children are change agents. • Inclusion of men/heads of household in nutrition education discussions: Heads of families/ include men in the discussions. • Involvement of the media: There should be regular education on multiple media channels (radio, TV, print media, social media) on nutrition • Promote culturally appropriate indigenous foods that are nutrient rich and safe food for consumption. Dialogue participants emphasized that institutional reforms and arrangements are needed to address policy and strategic gaps, including inadequate and weak enforcement of food policies and regulations • Harmonization of work among institutions: Different institutions could be working together to ensure that we have targeted production. For example, if the Ministry of Agriculture promotes a particular crop, it could liaise with the Ministry of Health to know the nutritional problems that require a specific crop to be scaled-up in its production. • Development planning: The country should have long-term plans and then entrench in parliament. It should be legally binding on every government to continue existing agricultural projects that will enhance the sector. Parliament should pass a law binding on every govt to continue all agricultural projects. To address environmental/sustainability challenges dialogue participants indicated that • Policies and initiatives are needed to prevent/control overexploitation of natural resources in food value chains in Ghana • Extension officers could educate farmers focusing on the health implications of the use of hazardous chemicals. • Spatial production patterns could be more closely linked with soil fertility maps. i. e. Soil fertility maps are published by the soil research institute of CSIR to guide choice for crop for soils • Recycling of plastics/ Limit the use of plastic packaging: Recycle, reduce, re-us Read less

DISCUSSION TOPIC 3: Ensuring sustainable nature positive production in the Ghanaian food system The majority of Dialogue participants agree that Ghana’s food production system was not capable of ensuring sustainable food and nutrition security for the people. They identified factors that mitigate positive production as follows: • Lack of promotion (by government-sponsored programmes and projects) of small farmer production systems which enhance planetary health and are climate-smart, nutrition-sensitive, and inclusive. • Poor infrastructure especially bad road network in rural areas resu... Read morelting in poor market access, low prices in producing areas but high prices in urban centres. • Absence of land use planning leading to inappropriate application of technologies and poor use of natural resources • Poor coordination, collaboration, and support among actors along the food value chain leading to high costs of activities at all levels of the chain. • Lack of appropriate mechanization facilities and equipment • Inadequate and inappropriate storage facilities leading to high postharvest losses • Anti-environmental practices that destroy the natural resources and some species (crops and livestock) such as deforestation, bush fires, use of destructive agrochemicals • Poor decentralization and distribution of resources as well as implementation of policy to the grassroots level • Lack of and/or inadequate localized irrigation systems and high cost of irrigation equipment. • Unattractive conditions and incentives in the agriculture sector Dialogue participants suggested approaches to ensure positive production in Ghana’s food system • Greater emphasis by government and development partners on improving productivity of diverse locally produced foodstuffs. • Scientific improvements of small farmer production systems to make them more climate-smart and resilient. • Adopting appropriate, diverse and improved farming practices, techniques to increase food production and productivity • Improve our storage systems to reduce postharvest losses. Also, it was suggested that future research innovations should focus on exploring food radiation • Avoid anti-environmental activities that destroy the natural resources and species (crops and livestock) • Well-developed land use policy and planning. Land use planning is important for appropriate application of relevant technologies. Also, information (data) on the potentials of different soils and what crops should be grown on which land will increase production and all-year farming. • Improved irrigation systems by government and the private sectors and emphasis on the localization of irrigation infrastructure and governance. • Increase incentives to make agriculture attractive (branding) especially to the youth, and to attract more investments into the sector. There is a need for appropriate and adequate branding of agriculture to make it attractive to the youth. Communication experts should be used to properly brand agriculture positively. • The need for planned or appropriate mechanization in agriculture • Improve smallholder farming in Ghana by encouraging site and crop-specific fertilizer usage. • Proper identification and selection of good varieties of crop seeds and the breeds of animal • Development of agronomic protocols. For instance, the current fertilizer recommendation for maize was developed many years back during the operation feed yourself era. However, in recent times more efficient fertilizers have been produced and need to be communicated to the right users. • Innovative research and strategies into controlling pests and diseases that affect crops and animals Read less

DISCUSSION TOPIC 4: Examination of inequalities within the Ghanaian food systems • Government should consider the deployment of mobile agricultural extension services in the digitization drive to attract the youth and make agricultural extension services readily available to all persons in need on time • Agriculture should be made attractive to youth; with innovations and education. For instance, seminars and training on agriculture; animal rearing, food production, and food processing as well as product enhancing will make agriculture attractive to the youth • Farming should be encourag... Read moreed as a professional career from the lower educational levels through to the higher level. This will encourage more people to have the desire and passion to go into farming • Increasing opportunities for youth and women’s direct access to land, production credit, agricultural inputs, technology, technical information on improved agricultural practices, and marketing outlets • Training is geared more toward men but government and DPs should reach women farmers directly rather than training their husbands on the assumption that they will convey the skills to their spouses. • Institutional innovations such as promoting group approach to agricultural investment and cooperative structures to ensure everybody wins • In terms of inequalities in the access to premix by small SMEs, Government should consider subsidy or removal of import taxes to help make nutritious processed food products more affordable and available. • There should be deliberate efforts to engage and involve (tertiary) students of agriculture in the design and implementation of solutions to address some of the issues affecting food systems in Ghana e.g. through projects • Government should buy or subsidize lands purposely for agricultural purposes and engage policy revision/shift in consultation with traditional holders to address land tenure challenges for easier direct access by women and youth • Regions with high hunger index and malnutrition should have a land tenure system that will support the production food crops rather than cash crops • Government should promote irrigation, especially during dry seasons to improve food production • There should be more diverse ways of supporting small scale farmers with equipment as well as capacity strengthening on the best use of equipment to enhance production in the food system and subsidies, funding and input support should target the small and medium scale producers • Improving access to post-harvest technologies such as cold chains to reduce postharvest losses, especially during seasons of glut, and improve traditional production/processing/preparation technologies for competitiveness • Government should help in setting up common unit prices of farm produce for local processors and a different common unit price for foreign processors or buyers to help encourage and motivate local processors. Industrial food processors should not be allowed to dictate food prices • A policy should be enacted to provide incentives e.g. Subsidies to processors who site their firms in the rural areas especially where the road network is not good • Fixing of railway and road networks to promote agricultural activities and reduce losses in transit from the hinterland and link production sites to markets. Read less

DISCUSSION TOPIC 5: Actions to ensure resilience of the Ghanaian food system Short-Medium Term actions • We need to move to an all-year-round production system using modern systems. Focus on developing policies that will move us to seasonal production to all-year-round production. • Build data on actors in the food systems value chain, their profile, and location and determine tailored needs and actions given the risks. • Improve the storage systems, especially producer capacity to store harvest for later release on to the market. • Funds should be made available by government and othe... Read morer donors to purchase modern equipment for production, processing, and storage. • The need to digitize our food system using artificial intelligence, blockchain farming, hydroponics etc. The extent of digitization has major impact on resilience. • Identification of food security hotspot in Ghana will play very vital role in responding swiftly. • Invest in researching into how we can use modern technology to improve resilience in the food systems. • Agriculture affects climate change and is also affected by climate change. So crop production processes that impact climate change must be addressed. Support those farmers who adopt farming methods that are environmentally friendly. • Revamp our irrigation systems to adapt to climate change effects to produce all year round. Promote organic farming. • Insurance packages tailored toward the resilience of all players in the food chain will be another step in making our food system resilient. • Employ technologies targeted at fruit and vegetable, which are seasonal and perishable to increase the shelf life by employing packaging environments that help to produce safe and quality food for the short to medium term. Long Term Actions • Promote greenhouse farming among the youth in modernization of production systems • Consider innovative financing models to better support food system resilience • Agriculture affects climate change and is also affected by climate change, so crop production processes that impact climate change must be addressed. Support those farmers who adopt farming methods that are environmentally friendly. • Promote Government-Private Partnership where private partners would be engaged to handle areas where Government cannot. E.g. Government financing infrastructural projects-irrigation, silos, etc., and the private sector partaking in the distribution of farm produce in time or marketing. Development partners can also do the same as earlier mentioned. Additionally, they can partner with our research institutions to research more on our food systems and develop more improved seedlings, etc. • Government to create an enabling environment through designing favourable policies and strategies. Government can develop more support in terms of incentives, security for those starting their own business and making sure that any type of information and education on innovating their business and using new technologies for farming and marketing. • Government needs to provide incentives or some form of financial security for farmers. Most farmers are not business savvy, they go through middlemen to sell their produce, thus making them poorer. • The government should establish criteria for responsible agricultural investment so that PPP can be effective, and all players stand a chance of benefitting. • Government should make a budgetary allocation to support regular testing of food throughout the food chain especially those run by public institutions to ensure food safety and food security • We need a systems approach in dealing with food waste and increasing efficiency at each stage • Government needs to improve road networks to help transport food. • The private sector should adopt inclusive business operation models across the production, processing, and marketing segments of the food system. e.g. they can have good pro-poor financing mechanisms to support the actors in the food system • Funding and technical support also from development partners • Development partners need to work with government to understand our cultural issues to able to have an impact on our food system. Read less

• Painting a gloomy and weak outlook of the Ghanaian regulatory sector, some dialogue participants noted that food retailers do not adhere to safe practices resulting in microbial contamination, and foodborne diseases. A representative of the Ghanaian Regulatory Sector argued that this dismal outlook may not be based on facts – contaminants could be due to poor hygiene and food handling and not organic contaminants. Another participant disagreed and cited local news evidence to support the claim of poor safety and the failure of the retail and regulatory sector to address this. • On the ... Read moreuse of the term unhealthy, not nutritious, a participant indicated that every food is nutritious, but maybe not balanced and that it is advisable to use the phrase “not balanced” rather than “not nutritious”. • A dialogue participant noted that there are political and structural gaps that continue to fight against Ghana’s development. He further noted that decentralization is a complete failure and that federal governance of the food system should be considered. Another participant vehemently disagreed. “I think what the last speaker said, is 100% true. I will say it is rather better now since it has been decentralized. We are rolling out a lot of things. With the metropolitan, municipal, district assemblies, there are some challenges but it is not widespread. A lot of MMDCE are also supporting and prioritizing agriculture.” • Responding to a recommendation to promote use of hermetic bags, a participant noted that hermetic bags, and traditional silos, have been used in the past and have not yielded the results. So, what more do we need to do to address the existing challenges with food storage? he quizzed. Although effective, the holding capacity of traditional silos is a problem. There is a need to expand the capacity of the silos to store produce adequately. Some of these traditional silos can hold only up to 10 bags. Additionally, the cost of hermetic bags (@15 cedis for one bag) does not encourage its use. Consider the price for a farmer requiring 100 or more of these bags. The local bags are about 3 cedis per bag but do not protect against pests; hence there is the need to subsidize hermetic bags to promote use. • On policy on food importation, a participant emphasized the need for a government policy on importation of foods grown locally in Ghana and enforcement of the policy. However, others noted that given Government's commitments towards AfCFTA, trade restrictions may not be practical. It would be more practical to promote a culture of consuming locally. • The issue of conservation agriculture was also debated. A participant from Tanzania argued that conservation agriculture is a new technology, but other participant disagreed and stated that it’s already practiced by farmers and that only some newly introduced practices that have made it a more topical issue now. • Though participants held different views on the type of farming systems in Ghana, i.e., subsistence and commercial, in the end, it was agreed that both systems are important in our attempt to achieve food and nutrition security, as well as environmental sustainability, and emphasis placed on improving and making them better and sustainable. Some participants argued for monocropping to improve the efficiency of production. Others, however, argued that monocropping is a problem in sustainability. “We should not be concerned with only economic sustainability. It is important to emphasize social and environmental sustainability as well. Mixed cropping and mixed farming systems can ensure all three types of sustainability if practiced well (scientifically). Mixed cropping and mixed farming ensures diversity of foodstuffs and thus important for both food security and nutrition security (food and nutrition security)” Read less

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Stage 3 of the National Dialogue on Sustainable Food System in Albania was a powerful opportunity to engage meaningfully, explore collectively, and emerge resiliently to build sustainable food systems of the country in the framework of the UN Food Systems Summit. This third step aimed at the introduction of the key findings and outcomes from the previous Dialogues (within 5 Action Tracks) and but even cross-cutting between action tracks: • Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all; • Shift to sustainable consumption patterns; • Boost nature-positive production; • Advance equita... Read moreble livelihoods; • Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress; Also, it aimed to identify the national pathways towards sustainable food systems by 2030 while discussing how to implement these pathways and talking about possible commitments from the different stakeholders. The dialogue has been a continuation of the discussion around the visions presented at the first and second stages of national dialogue. The discussion was framed around the knowledge and innovation system, consumers, food producers and their conditions, financial and support systems/rules and regulations and the resilience of food systems. The National Dialogue has enabled stakeholders to work together by examining the national food systems, exploring options for change, shaping pathways for these systems to be sustainable by 2030, and has given a meaningful opportunity to Albanian stakeholders to further advance the food systems sustainability of the country. They will have an active role to work together by drawing and following national pathways towards sustainable food systems of Albania by 2030. Our priorities for the next decade are: (i) to ensure the existence of a competitive value chain in food systems; (ii) to develop agro-tourism and short value chains as mechanisms of rural development ; (iii) to develop an effective system of food/feed safety, veterinary and plant protection; (iv) to ensure sustainable use of natural resources, environmental protection, preservation of ecosystems, climate change mitigation and adaptation; (v) to elaborate an effective systems for the crisis management. By the end of this stage, participants have a greater understanding and commitment to take action based on 5 national pillars (as above) in a way to improve the food systems in Albania. Read less

Agriculture is one of the main economic pillars of the Albanian economy contributing 19% to the country GDP (INSTAT 2019) and around one-third of employed people (nationwide) are in agriculture. Albania ranks as one of the top ten countries in the world with the highest economic risk from multiple hazards: 88.5% of GDP generated and 86% of total territory is exposed to two or more disasters. The impact of disasters is increasing the vulnerability of Albanian citizens affected by them. Floods of 2015 and 2016, the 2019 earthquake, and lastly COVID 19 pandemic, highlight the need for increased r... Read moreesilience of the private sector and strengthened capacities to mitigate, manage, and recover from shocks. Regarding environmental challenges, the main ones for the country are water and air pollution, land degradation, biodiversity loss and waste management. Rapid urbanization and increasing demand for natural resources have led to increasing depletion and degradation. Caring for the most vulnerable, maintaining and ensuring access to equitable service delivery, addressing the digital divide, experimenting with alternative working options, and providing uninterrupted basic services for the most affected population are among key challenges to overcome for increased resilience to shocks. Considering the high rates of out-migration and farmers ageing, high rate of rural population at risk of poverty and risk of climate change impacts, as well as the prevalence of small farms, the raising the productivity and ensuring the sustainability of family farms (SDG 2.3) and resilient agricultural practices and capacity for adaptation to climate change (SDG 2.4) are key to achieve the Agenda 2030. Yet, from a development perspective, in order to contribute to sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth (SDG 8.1, 8.2. 8.4), there is a strong need to develop the food systems. Our priorities for the next decade are as follows: to ensure a competitive value chain in food systems; to develop agritourism and short value chains as mechanisms of rural development, to establish an effective system of food/feed safety, veterinary and plant protection; to guarantee the sustainable use of natural resources, environmental protection, preservation of ecosystems, and enable climate change mitigation and adaptation; and create effective systems of crisis management. A sustainable food system delivers food security and nutrition for all, and in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition are firmly established. All the main elements of food systems, such as the food supply chain, food environment, and consumer behaviour are of the utmost importance for Albania. Adequate nutrition is essential for the health and well-being of any nation, but food availability is not the only critical factor; the quality of food is also an issue that needs particular attention and efforts from all actors involved in the production, trade, and consumption of food. The development of the rural territories of Albania is important for addressing issues such as food security, environmental protection, economic development, and the establishment of high quality of life and security. Competitive agricultural & non-agricultural production and helping Albania to better adapt to deal with climate change are also essential factors for the development of food systems in Albania. Read less

1. Ensure competitive value-chains in the food systems (Action Track 1, Action Track 3, Action Track 4) Changes needed for national food systems to meet the defined expectations by 2030 - Increase the competitiveness of the agricultural products in Albania and development of their value-chains; - Ensure the compliance of products with marketing standards at all along value chains; - Reduce food loss and waste from the production level to final consumer; - Capacity building of the extension service on production technologies, markets requirements, prices, uses of agricultural inputs, innovation... Read more and digitalization in agriculture; - Capacity building and support to farmers to apply good agricultural practices and production practices that are nature friendly (e.g., organic production); - Empowering women – economically, socially and politically – must be a central effort to achieve food and nutrition security, shift to sustainable agriculture and food system, and achieve the SDGs; - Transform food systems to be attractive to youth, who will be innovators of the agricultural production systems; - A reliable database on agricultural and related fields is needed, to develop evidence-based policies. Improve monitoring and evaluation of policy interventions in the rural development by generating more data (e.g. FDNA, Market data, price information, socioeconomic, etc.) on the agricultural sector and related fields; - Socio-economic impact of the earthquake and Covid-19 on the agriculture sector and rural development should be used to program and implement long term recovery measures; - Involvement of vulnerable and food insecure people and communities into sustainable development processes to enhance their livelihoods, boost their food security and build resilience to disasters a climate change; - Support the cooperative actions between groups of farmers, processors, traders, and promote horizontal and vertical cooperation; - Improve animal health, welfare, and control of animal diseases, zoonosis, and transboundary diseases; - Improve agriculture irrigation and drainage systems; - Provide support to Blue Economy and sustainable development of fishery and aquaculture. Read less

2. Develop agritourism and short value chains as mechanisms of rural development (Action Track 3 & 4) - A comprehensive approach to sustainable development must entail coherent, future-oriented national policies, strategies and visions for food and nutrition security that are people-centred, with a focus on poor smallholders and food insecure, vulnerable communities, women and youth; - Supporting small farmers to access finance, national and IPARD subsidy schemes, and applying tools to incentive the formalization of the farmers; - Support to smallholder farmers to increase their agricultur... Read moreal productivity, promoting their access to markets and services, rewarding their efforts to preserve landscape and ecosystem services and strengthening their resilience to external shocks – particularly environmental and climate-related; diseases – through insurance and social protection; - The market demand for traditional products is increasing especially in areas that already have developed tourism. In order to build Short Value Chains some issues need to be considered: • Products in a short value chains should reach market minimum standards; • Good quality packaging and decent labelling are necessary to implement short value chains. • Good practices should be applied for harvesting and post-harvesting processes. • Small-scale equipment should be supported by grant schemes to guarantee the quality and safety of products. • Support innovative food processing technologies to ensure consumer protection and reduce overhead costs. In the case of family farming, this process requires capacity building for farmers and support with investment grants that are more accessible (e.g. with prepayment) than EU Funds. • Support digitalization and ITC as accelerating tools in agriculture and rural development. Read less

3. Ensure effective systems of food/feed safety, veterinary and plant protection (Action Track 2) - Establishment of a food safety surveillance system associated with the traceability system; - Increase qualification of personnel involved in food safety and food controls; - Strengthen extension services to provide relevant information on food safety issues to farmers and food producers; - Improve the overall laboratory capacity in the country; adopt new methods for laboratory test diagnostics in the area of food safety, veterinary and plant protection; expanding accreditation; capacity buildin... Read moreg for laboratory employees; - Further improve on risk assessment, management and communication capacities in food safety and the effective enforcement of food safety legislation and traceability along the whole food chain “From Stable to Table”; - Enhance and strengthen post-harvest storage and processing systems; - Improve food environments, and raise population awareness on food safety and healthy nutrition, with particular emphasis on children and young population; - Strengthen control on the use of pesticides in accordance with approved procedures to protect consumer health and the environment; - Raising awareness and education of children in schools through food programs “From farm to school”. Read less

4. Sustainable use of natural resources, environmental protection, preservation of ecosystems, climate change mitigation and adaptation (Action Track 3) - Develop new multisector approaches and multi-stakeholder platforms that help overcome structural barriers to transformational change in food and agriculture systems; - Strengthen collaborative decision making and enable different stakeholders to resolve their diverse and frequently conflicting interests within an agreed common framework; - Awareness-raising for the representatives of municipalities, communities, schoolchildren about climate ... Read morechange and its impacts; environmental issues; - Ensure the sustainable use of water, land and forest resources, as well as the prevention of soil, air and water pollution; - Enforcement of early warning systems; ensure efficient management of the natural disasters; zoonosis and pandemics; - Prevention of erosion through supported by planting trees/vegetation etc.; - Prevent soil degradation and erosion, through sustainable use of forests and pastures, which have a contribution to the development of tourism, protection from erosion, but also contribute to the economic aspect and green economy; - Moving towards a circular economy, which delivers benefits to reduce waste to a minimum, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to reduce pressure on the environment, to increase competitiveness, stimulate innovation, boost economic growth. Read less