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Not many areas of divergence were brought up due to time constraints.

Restoring and rehabilitating degraded systems for sustainable food production and ecosystem services. Key issues: • Adoption of digital technology is common now, but there is a strong need to ensure that digital technology links the value chains more closely. It helps farmers and consumers and production to consumers in terms of using resources and in allocating resources. • Aside from the classic digital technology and softwares, there are also suggestions of using virtual innovation platforms which is a bit more friendly in areas or in countries where communication infrastructure is not ... Read morereally that good like in the Philippines. • Adopting a type of circular economy and the example provided was the use of bio-waste turning it into fertilizer, etc. This is more sustainable in terms of being able to use resources that are already at hand. • In relation to rehabilitating degraded systems, there was a concern about being able to invest, particularly in social forestry. But at the same time, there are issues in going into this type of big projects, which really needs big investments. So, policy will be very important because public investments will be needed especially for long-term projects and for wide-ranging type of social forestry projects. • Solution to support smallholders who produce sustainable products. • There is need to scale up the amount of information so that we are able to inform everyone that there is a market, that there is a demand for sustainable products. • Farm to table concepts to support smallholders - some supermarkets and small shops are already moving towards sustainable products, but this is not yet enough to support the smallholder farmers at this time. Read less

Sustainably manage existing food production systems. Key issues: • Investment in irrigation systems and water harvesting technologies, so as to help local farmers adapt to the situation of water scarcity or depletion due to long drought, which is brought about by climate change. • Building water storage and rainwater harvesting systems/capacity of farmers R&D is important to enhance the resiliency of the farmers on the ground • There is need for policies and strategies to manage land-uses and how to mitigate land conversion • There was also a sharing on strong state regulation and ... Read moremanagement • There is need to look at innovative financial systems • Transdisciplinary action is of utmost importance • There is a gap between technology, the situation and the farmers - innovations should be patent-free and easy access to the farmers • The interlinkages and connections that exist within the global food systems should be leveraged to ensure social protection and inclusivity and environmental and economic sustainability for the entire society. • Investment in state-of-the-art data science methodologies and collection systems. • We must make use of knowledge sharing platforms for inter-sectoral and multi-institutional approaches and inclusive multistakeholder engagement processes should be a priority • I also think that we need strong state regulations to ensure that conservation and management as much as production are taken into account Lessons from COVID has brought elements on technology investment, which is critical such as digital platforms and online platforms The farmer should be enabled and empowered • Farmer end-to-end supply value chain – engagement at policy level and mapping out the value chain We should always have the farmer in the middle and always focus the famer to the private sector and investment and R4D, government. • reduce the distance between Lab to field for the maximum benefit Invest on platforms that promote development of tech and sharing of knowledge and encourage lessons sharing – stimulate the role of development agencies to promote these initiatives Read less

Protecting natural systems from new conversions for food production Key issues: • Public sector’s role on enabling policy environment is very crucial • Leveraging some public funds to scale up innovations such as the livelihood programs for communities in the forest as well as social forestry • Projects that can be funded for scaling up should be localized problems and the solutions are driven by the farmers themselves • One such innovation that also promotes biodiversity conservation is the nursery agri-business. Maybe the government can invest in the multiplication of plant varieti... Read morees that are resistant to climate change and local varieties, particularly in seed development. • Thailand has been promoting as ASEAN seed hub so maybe this can be linked to projects of the government • Thailand is also promoting this plant-based food hub. This plant-based food hub can be a solution to recover from the pandemic. • The innovation on seaweed as feed to reduce methane gas emission can address concerns for food security as well as climate change. • Involve the academe as they have an important role in empowering and educating the farmers • Philippines has good innovative projects that can be scaled-up e.g., rice network • Private and public sector should work together/collaborate • The public sector referred here may include research organizations, the academe, and civil society organizations • Promote 5P’s and not just the 3P’s: private, public, producer, people partnership • Decision making tools are very important for policy recommendations: forecasting tools; yield forecasting, big data, drones and other tools important for policies or decision making • Role of youth in agriculture should be further explored • Jackfruit can be a replacement for meat. This is an innovation that Thailand would like to promote in ASEAN plant-based food hub. • There should be a way on how society can pay back the farmers as payment for ecosystem services. Read less

This dialogue formed part two of a 3-part series dialogue aimed at connecting Innovation Ideas with Food Systems. The major highlights of the key issues emerging from the breakout sessions included: 1. What is needed to catalyze public and private investment in innovation systems for R4D in the region? • Smallholder famers, who still make up the vast majority of farmers in the region, are already actively practicing nature positive agriculture and growing interest in agroecological principles • There is growing interest by private sector in fostering sustainable production models • Each ... Read morepartner comes to agriculture with different expectations, so catalysing action will require different actors to work together in partnership • There is need to understand the gaps between available technologies and the capacity or willingness of farmers to adopt • Focus on partnership also reflects well the investment environment for climate-smart and nature positive agriculture • There are more public and private actors working to find innovative ways to deliver finance resources to farmers and provide incentives for other value chain actors • There is need to improve understanding of stakeholders needs and potential adopt and/or scale up climate-smart and nature-positive innovations for agriculture. 2. How can we better realign and coordinate national international research efforts to facilitate innovation and ultimate achievement of the SDGs? • There is need for new digital technologies that collect and organize information on farm conditions and options to improve productivity, address climate variability and address potential environmental impacts • There is need for more discussion and collaboration on how to help farmers and agri-businesses build and capture consumer markets for sustainable produce • There is a need to show the impacts of improved practices - needs to be improved evidence on how changes in farmer practice can drive improvements in sustainability. This is going to be a crucial for building sustainable markets for nature-positive agriculture. • There should be more attention on the knowledge and needs of farmers and consumers in developing climate-smart and nature positive agriculture products and markets. 3. Which innovations are ready for scale up and what is needed to take these to scale? • There are already be a number of technologies and approaches that we could taking off the shelf - agroecology for example. Such technologies to address interrelated climate and water management risks such as irrigation are perhaps not ground breaking, but will be essential • It was noted that in the past these have been public investment • Some specific on-farm technologies included: o New varieties and the use of underutilized species: farmer-led varietal selection o Agroforestry • There are a number of digital technologies and platforms that are being scaled, for an example how social media and digital platforms have been used in some countries to help link farmers to markets following the impact of COVID-19. In addition to how farmers are increasingly using platforms like YouTube on how to learn about new innovations Innovations are not necessarily something totally new. Innovation is equally about how local, old and new knowledge and technologies can be applied in new contexts or scaled-up. With this basis understanding there are a wide range of innovations ready for scale. Achieving scale may be about aligning interests - takes us back to partnership and respect. Read less

On the 15th of March 2021, the ASEAN-Climate Resilience Network (ASEAN-CRN), in partnership with the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA) and UN FAO Regional Asia Pacific Office (FAO RAP), convened the first series of a three-part Independent Summit Dialogue under the UN Food Systems Summit dialogue process. Meeting brought together over 150 participants to generate innovation ideas to support nature positive sustainable food systems. Building on the innovation ideas gathered, ASEAN-CRN in partnership with GACSA and FAO RAP, convened the second series of the three-part Indepen... Read moredent Summit Dialogue series to give stakeholders from the ASEAN region an opportunity to deepen and connect the innovation ideas to strengthen food systems in the region. The second dialogue builds on key outcomes of the first dialogue in this series and takes a deep dive to connect the “innovation idea generation to support nature positive sustainable food systems.” The dialogue was aligned to Action Track 3: Boost nature-positive production. This dialogue sought to answer the following key questions: 1. What is needed to catalyze public and private investment in innovation systems for R4D in the region? 2. How can we better realign and coordinate national international research efforts to facilitate innovation and ultimate achievement of the SDGs? 3. Which innovations are ready for scale up and what is needed to take these to scale? 4. How can we strengthen dialogue platforms to promote innovation and idea sharing? To facilitate engagement guided by the values of sustainable development and informed by both science and experience, participants explored opportunities to scale up nature positive sustainable food systems under three main pillars: 1. Protect natural systems from new conversions for food production 2. Sustainably manage existing food production systems 3. Restore and rehabilitate degraded systems for sustainable food production and ecosystem services Read less

While there were active discussions where divergent views were shared, each group was able to come to a general consensus at the end of their breakout.

• Food insecurity is a poverty issue • Structural racism exists within food access • Different communities need different things • Food banks need support and are only helping those who are severely food insecure – not a long-term solution • Labour rights/workers rights must be considered, not just welfare or charity approach • Data, properly disaggregated, to benchmark and measure impact is crucial • School nutrition (education and food supply) is a vital part of this

Canada should commit to reducing food insecurity in our country by 50% by 2030. To measure progress towards this target, we must create a national framework to measure food insecurity. Food justice is a poverty issue with links to health, education, and community building. Further, food insecurity finds it roots in structural racism and colonialism. Initiatives to address this include school nutrition programs, income floors and other forms of social protection that guarantee every Canadian has a basic standard of living. While funding for these programs can emerge from federal investments, th... Read moree specifics of any program need to be tailored to community-specific solutions. This links to UNFSS Action Tracks 1 and 2. Major global trends linked with population growth, climate change, new consumer expectations and novel technologies suggest that the next 10 years may be incredibly disruptive for food systems everywhere. In Canada, we have much to celebrate: our producers are amongst the most environmentally conscious in the world, most Canadians enjoy safe, healthy, and affordable food year-round. Nevertheless, systemic problems of food insecurity and disruptions to the food system caused by the pandemic mean that we need to do better. Together, by working to empower communities to develop locally-relevant programs to address the root causes of food insecurity we can ensure Canada has the tools it needs to continue having one of the greatest food systems in the world. This will not only help support domestic producers and consumers as well as allowing those parts of our food system that depend on exporting to international markets thrive and expand over the next generation. Read less

Ahead of the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit, Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph hosted three independent Food System Dialogues to bring together voices from across and beyond the Canadian Food System. The second dialogue explored the root causes of food insecurity. There were 5 discussion groups in this Dialogue, all of whom discussed one of these three topics: • Reducing poverty in Canada by 50% by 2030, with an equal reduction in food insecurity • The disproportionate impact of food insecurity on BIPOC populations, and meaningful progress towards BIPOC populat... Read moreions’ food sovereignty, reflecting cultural, ecological and economic interests • A Canadian universal school nutrition program that also promotes food literacy Framing speakers: Suzanne Barr Chef and Food Activist Paul Taylor, Executive Director, Food Share Toronto Evan Fraser, AFI Director Read less

Divergence in opinion among stakeholders were observed in the dialogue. First, the label “Forgotten Foods” was largely criticized by majority as untruthful and not representing the state of affairs. Questions like who forgot the food? And forgotten in what dimension. It was opined that label like “Underutilized food commodities” will be appealing since the commodities in question are still used in certain climes, although not optimally. The neglect is in terms of investment into research for improvement and product development. The prospective funding mechanisms for the development of ... Read morethe underutised species also attracted wide divergence of stakeholder’s opinion. While a segment opted for funding from taxes from industries and corporate businesses. A handful are averse to technology tax of one percent from farmers income when the environment is suitable for their profitability. Apparently, the promotion of the underutilized species may not be very successful if the funding is expected from foreign donor and development partners. The commodities were neglected in terms of research and development largely because they were not in the priority of the key donors. A handful of past initiatives in this direction also failed for lack of funding and other resources. Subtle disagreement was observed on the issues of characterization of the forgotten food. A school of thoughts felt that since these commodities are still used in the rural settings, they should not fall into the category. Apparently, what constitute an underutilized commodity will form the first research action to be undertaking by the community of practice on underutilized food commodities. Read less

The discussion topics followed three interrelated sections of the webinar, one, the presentation of the technical paper on the manifesto, second the expert panel discussion and third, the broad stakeholders’ poll on key decision pathway. The technical presentation highlighted the five pillars of the Africa manifesto viz., the establishment of a dedicated research system forgotten foods. Building the systemic capacity for innovation, the establishment of partnerships and strategic alliances, engagement of the private sector and creation of a regional pool of financial resources. The panel dis... Read morecussion highlighted the the central issues to be considered in ensuring the contributions of underutilized species to food and nutritional security in Africa. It explicated what is required to mobilize farmers, women and the youth all along the process. It further prescribed the agricultural innovation systems approach to and the best research to development partnership model. The likely funding mechanism for the process were also discussed. The result of the participants poll indicated that the five pillars are important to giving prominence to the underutilized food in the food system. The issues of publicity, research system development and engagement of youth were voted to be most important priorities. The poll indicated that the research system should give prominence to Market research for the commodity, germplasm collection and conservation and agronomic integration of the underutilized commodities in the food system. Eight nine percent of the participants agree that innovations systems approach is the best research for development model to be used; the research coordination should follow the FARA /SROs/NARI model with smart implementation of the subsidiarity principle. The resource mobilization efforts could explore funding from technology tax, support from industry corporate social responsibility fund and support from philanthropic endowments. Eighty-seven percent of poll participants agreed that incentives in terms of funds, policies and other support should be made available for the private sector to drive the process. Read less

The dialogue came up with five main key finding/recommendations that need to be implemented to enhance the Africa food system. These five elements should form the pillars for the Africa manifesto. (1). Establish a dedicated and functional research system for holistic development of forgotten foods. (2). Incrementally build an appropriate innovation capacity (infrastructure, equipment and expertise) at local level to enable African research and education institutions develop solutions for increased productivity, resilience to shocks, value-added production and quality assurance for forgotten fo... Read moreods. (3). Establish partnerships and strategic alliances to foster engagement of youth and women for rapid integration of forgotten foods into the national food system and engagement for policy development. (4). Facilitate the engagement of private sector for investment into production, processing and marketing of forgotten foods and (5). Create a regional pool of financial resources to support research and coherent development efforts on forgotten foods. Such funds should be accessible by institutions and governments which have research topics aligned to regional priorities on forgotten foods. In other to mitigate the danger of food shortage and nutritional insecurity that was orchestrated by various constraints and lately aggravated by climate change, COVID-19, increased desertification, etc. There is the need to invest in life-saving crops that are resilient and in wide diversity from a wider range of crops and cropping systems. This will require a major modification in the agricultural research and innovation approaches towards identified underutilized species in each region of Africa. These logical modifications include: i. Adoption of new metrics and indicators to show the value of forgotten foods. ii. Concerted efforts in participatory plant breeding to improve the adaptation of forgotten foods and forgotten foods to social, economic and ecological conditions, and nutritional value. iii. Granting required respect of rights of farmers through allowing them to locally use, save, exchange and sell their Forgotten Foods. iv. Development of sustainable seed systems, facilitating conservation, access, availability, use and exchange of high-quality seeds of forgotten foods by farmers. v. Introduction of the development of forgotten foods into education programs. vi. More advocacy and evidence-based policy change. vii. Better access to markets, support to short supply chains and alternative retail structures. viii. Enhance capacity development of NARES etc. ix. Novel research development and networking (e.g. molecular genetics, nutritional profiling, agronomic interventions, digital technologies and applications). x. Enhance awareness raising to ensure that the values of Forgotten Foods are recognized by all in society, including researchers and technical agents as well as urban communities and consumers, for their nutritional, cultural and environmental benefits. Read less

The dialogue on forgotten foods as a respite to sustainable food and nutritional security was organized to with the intention to foster a paradigm change in the production and consumption pattern for in Africa. The subject natter have strong bearing to the five action track of the food systems summit. The Human Development Index is premised on the balanced attention to issues that drive individual as well as societal wellbeing. The issues of food and nutritional security are central in this goal and they require more inclusive perspectives than the conventional. The webinar takes a deeper pers... Read morepective at the complete chain of issues and factors from production, through processing, marketing, distribution, quality control and safety, consumption patterns, food waste management, to recycling of nutrients and other elements of environmental sustainability. The action track 1 looks into ensuring access to safe and nutritious food; the documented evidence of the nutritious nature of the forgotten and underutilized foods warrants the crave to bring back this food into the food systems. Secondly that action track two on shifting to a sustainable consumption pattern, is consistent with the need for Africa to eat what it can produce to reduce the economic burden of food importation, Africa currently expend US$53 billion on food import per annual. Africa countries may also benefit economically from producing commodities that are well adapted to its natural resource base. This will reduce the cost of production owing to use of external inputs. The cultivation of well adapted food commodities will contribute to action track three on boosting the nature’s positive production at sufficient scale. Africa countries are struggling with huge yield gap on most of the food commodities, largely because of poor comparative advantage on climate, soils and other natural resources issues. It is speculated that with advancing the production and consumption of the indigenous commodities; the agrarian livelihood that engages more than 60% of the labor force in Africa will improve, this is consistent with action track four on advancing equitable livelihoods and value distribution. The indigenous commodities will foster resilience and reduce vulnerability, apparently, the commodity that sustains the populations are often the forgotten foods which are largely ignored in terms of research and development investment. It is crucial for Africa to revisit its neglected and underutilized species within the context of food system. The term forgotten food refers to crop and livestock commodities that have been neglected or underutilized as they have been displaced by increasingly uniform diets fueled by mass-produced processed ingredients from the ‘BIG FOUR’ of wheat, maize, rice and soybean. These four accounts for about two-thirds of the world’s food supply. The dialogue thus, identified the pathway to bring to the fore the subject of forgotten food and ensure its prominence in the continental food system. The need for awareness about the commodities and their nutritional advantages was identifies as the first action followed by the need to develop a new research and innovation system to ensure knowledge and technology development along the different commodities. It was opined that the research system will need to prioritize germplasm collection and conservation. It should also give attention to breeding and improvement. The issues of developing new food commodities that meets the need of the growing elites is important. The engagement of the policy makers for consistent action is vital. The stakeholders opined that active engagement of the private sector all along the development process is vital. Incentives should be created for agribusiness development around the various underutilized foods. Towing the pathways of sustainable intensification will be vital as the various endeavors develops and trigger the desired change. Efforts should be channeled to engage the growing youth population actively along the entire value chain to foster job creation and strong economic benefits from the upsurge in the production and use of the underutilized commodities. Read less