Explore Official Dialogue Feedback

Government: The State should have special preferential policies to attract investment in processing industry, strengthen the state management of inputs in agricultural productivity (fertilizers, animal feeds, veterinary drugs, plant protection drugs, etc.); support for farmers participating in agricultural insurance; strengthen cooperation with other countries, especially China in the consumption of agricultural products, invest funds to support farmers produce agricultural products that meet VietGAP, GlobalGAP standards and traceability, invest in building large-scale animal feed material are... Read moreas to reduce import dependence, build policies and mechanisms related to population planning, production areas, develop agricultural insurance system. Vietnam Farmers’ Union at all levels should strengthen propaganda and mobilization to raise awareness and participation of farmers in eco-friendly production and nutrition improvement through agriculture, promote the development of collective economy, establish cooperatives, promote supporting services to help farmers to associate in production and consumption, promote “linking 6 houses” (farmers, government, scientists, enterprises, banks, journalists), organize and coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors to provide training courses, training workshops on capacity-building for farmers, mobilize domestic and external resources to develop agriculture, farmers and rural areas. Enterprises should associate with other parties to support farmers in production, distribution and consumption, provide technical support and technology transfer. International organizations, non-governmental organizations should develop projects to support farmers to apply new technologies in production, design capacity-building program for farmers, send experts to provide technical assistance. Read less

- Raise awareness, provide information completely and timely for farmers on environmental protection, clean agricultural production, enhance the nutritional value of products. - Promote value chain, collective models, solve ideological problems of a part of farmers; support farmers to produce according to standards related to food hygiene and safety, designs, packaging, product certification, and traceability; promote “linking 6 houses” (farmers, government, scientists, enterprises, banks, journalists), link farmer-farmer to share experience in production, consumption; coordinate between F... Read morearmers’ Union and enterprises, banks to help farmers access loans to expand productions, extend loan term and reduce the interest rate. - Build policies and mechanisms related to population planning, production areas, invest in key models, build agricultural policies to support the family through cooperatives, promote agricultural transformation towards ecological sustainability. - Develop agricultural insurance system to help farmers reduce the risks of natural disasters. - Strengthen capacity for farmers in management, application of science and technology in production, processing and consumption through training courses. - Promote the process of digital transformation in agriculture - Strengthen the mobilization of resources, programs and projects to support farmers in developing sustainable agriculture, ensuring nutrition and food safety. Read less

a comprehensive exploration of food systems an exploration of the five Action Tracks and some other solutions to address the issues relating to Food Systems

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While the “True Cost of Food” narrative has shown effectiveness in awareness raising and exemplifying a systems perspective, further steps are required to lead to policy change. The risk was voiced that the word ‘cost’ in many people’s mind relate to the costs that consumers pay (ie. price), as opposed to the value provided by nature and society to food systems. As such, this narrative may be wrongly interpreted as making food more expensive/less affordable and not the ongoing but unaccounted for costs to society (e.g diminished health) and the environment (e.g. pollution). To respon... Read mored to this, participants voiced the need to create a positive (value-based) decision-making narrative (ie. identifying, valuing and accounting for positive impacts) and to shift incentives to support and enhance these positive impacts. Concern was raised that True Cost Accounting could be linked to higher food prices, raising equity issues and excluding vulnerable populations. Participants suggested a ‘true value’ approach to True Cost Accounting, as well as focusing not only on pricing externalities (taxing the ‘bad’ instead of the ‘good’) but also on public investment and regulations. The core assertion was reiterated that prices have failed to reflect the true value of the natural world, and the economic systems that we are using are broken. It is therefore about addressing the economic invisibility of important things that we value. The important difference between price (the quantity of one thing that is exchanged in sale for another) and value (relative importance or worth) was highlighted in this context. Even though we may seek where possible to monetize changes in capital stocks, it was recognized that in some cases it is neither appropriate nor possible to do so. Overall, participants expressed optimism that together we have the tools and information necessary to put nature and people at the heart of food systems and achieve equitable economic prosperity throughout the agrifood value chain. While some emphasized the need for simplified tools and frameworks for the technical application of valuation, others iterated that this should not go against the need to showcase the complexity and variability of the system pertaining to different contexts and geographic locations. Different suggestions were made to improve the articulation of the business proposition around True Cost Accounting to different stakeholders. There was divergence in opinion about changing the narrative of ‘externalities’ towards ‘impacts’ with regards to illustrating a more holistic view of the value provided by nature, people and society in food systems. Read less

Private sector engagement Private sector representatives highlighted the pivotal role the government should play through regulation and the creation of a level playing field to support the transition to more sustainable business models. A safe level playing field is needed to support businesses to transition to value-inclusive business models in a competitive space. A commonly accepted framework would support business decision making. Incentive structures through financial mechanisms should be in place in order fund the transition to a more sustainable system and reward a value-based approach.... Read moreThe financial sector needs to be educated and provided with information on what a good investment looks like to support the transition. Private companies need to be made financially accountable for the impact on our food systems through accounting standards. For example, repurposing subsidies can create value for nature, people and society. Read less

Trade-offs and synergies In relation to trade-offs and synergies, participants expressed various key elements to take into account when conducting True Cost Accounting: i) the utility of TCA to reveal the web of interactions, allowing decision makers to reduce trade-offs and increase synergies , ii) the importance to consider and analyse distributional impacts of trade-offs between different stakeholders including smallholder farmers, iii) the need to consider spatial scales (e.g. beyond the farm gate) and temporal scales (e.g. short-term and long-term impacts), iv) the need to understand the ... Read morelocal context and role of local actors in negotiating the prioritization of trade-offs, for example in development planning processes, v) to illuminate the interconnectedness of SDGs and potential trade-offs and synergies between those, particularly linked to poverty reduction, climate action and food security, vi) and the dependence of trade-offs on national government priorities across the food systems value chains. Read less

Effective framing and messaging In relation to effective framing and messaging to shift decision-making the following actions were formulated: i) promote a focus on positive messages including long-term value in terms of the environmental and health benefits of food systems transformations, rather than focusing only on the negative impacts (identify and value/account for positive impacts); ii) communicate to stakeholders groups in a tailored and comprehensive way with solid scientific grounding; iii) improve the articulation of the business proposition on True Cost Accounting and value-based d... Read moreecision-making to stakeholder groups; iv) engage in a forward-looking approach, with a focus on future visions and opportunity pathways; v) the need for inspiring case studies; and vi) the need to translate numbers into concrete policy recommendations. Read less

Grow coalition Participants highlighted that, in order to build political support throughout the Food Systems Process, there is a need to actively involve a growing coalition that is already supporting the measurement and valuation of often-neglected impacts and dependencies that food systems have on nature, people and society. To scale-up rapidly, participants highlighted the pivotal role of champions and the impact of demonstrations to inspire further action. Uptake of comprehensive food systems evaluations in the context of the Food Systems Summit process: the wide socialization of concepts... Read more and issues; ensure national and regional momentum and ownership; strengthening a growing coalition of practitioners and policy champions; and highlighting best-practice examples at different levels: policy, region, business, investment or product; engage with smallholder farmer groups to understand the diversity of what farmers and farmer workers value and possible lock-ins; Ensure a multi-value perspective in particular to the role of Indigenous and local knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services (including cultural values, knowledge on local varieties); develop a multi-stakeholder platform/coalition supported by strong data and information. Read less

Standardization and comparability needed A focus on standardization in terminology and practices, also to create transparency and comparability across the value chain (eg. integrated profit and loss statements). The private sector calls for the creation of a measurement matrix that values both positive steps but also targets negative interventions. This will allow different stakeholders to compare each of these diverse aspects and make decisions based on more ‘complete’ information, not just between businesses, but across the full value chain from farmer to consumer.

Urgent action required Participants voiced the need for urgent action for transforming our food system, based on approaches that measure and value the contributions of natural, social, human, and produced capital to food systems.