Senior Expert Contributions to
OneCGIAR Program Development
Food Systems and Nutrition
Netherlands-CGIAR Partnership
Prepared by: Inge D. Brouwer (Wageningen University & research)1
The aim of this two-pager2 is to provide input for the OneCGIAR investment plan. Notably to identify
key research challenges within the OneCGIAR impact areas, how these areas interact with Dutch
policy priorities and how the challenges could be addressed / strengthened.
Relevance economic, social and cultural barriers: food inse-
Diets and the food systems that deliver them curity affects around 700 million people in the world,
are at the nexus of the critical global challenges healthy diets are unaffordable for an estimated
associated with malnutrition, human health, natural 3 billion people globally; due to rapid urbanization
resource degradation, climate change and poverty. the distance between where food is grown and
Poor quality diets are a root cause of morbidity, where it is consumed is growing; shifts to unhealthy
mortality and malnutrition, more so than many other dietary habits due to rising income and changing
global health challenges. Undernutrition (stunting food preferences; limited time (due to women’s labor
and wasting) is reducing too slowly, micronutrient force participation) and space (due to poor housing
deficiencies (‘hidden hunger’) persist and over- conditions) for food preparation; and food environ-
weight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable ments that promote ready-to-eat, cheap convenient,
diseases (NCDs) are rising, the fastest in low-income and ultra-processed foods. The food system reforms
countries. While the poorest persistently suffer from for healthier diets should go hand-in-hand with
(periods of) hunger lacking diverse, safe and nutri- reduction of environmental degradation, safe-
ent-rich foods, others shift rapidly to diets with more guarding employment and income to reduce poverty
or too much calories, animal-sourced foods and with and inequality, and building resilience to future
foods not supporting health such as ultra-processed shocks. The context-dependent nature of the food
foods. All need a transition towards healthier dietary system-diet nexus further challenges the needed
patterns and this requires major reforms in food reforms from local to global scales. While global
systems at every stage from production through consensus and national commitments are growing
retail to consumption addressing the inadequate around the need for this transformation, robust
availability, physical accessibility, affordability and scientific evidence to guide this process is missing.
desirability of improved diets. These transitions meet
1
With contributions from Peter Oosterveer, Ezra Berkhout, Marrit van den Berg, Elise Talsma, Ruerd Ruben, Thom Achterbosch
and Bart de Steenhuijsen Piters (Wageningen University and Research).
2
This two-pager is an initiative of Senior Experts within the NL – CGIAR research programme. This programme is funded by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands as part of the Strategic Partnership between the Netherlands Government and
the CGIAR and it is implemented by NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development.
3
Healthy diets promote all dimensions of individual health and prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases and
malnutrition in all it forms. Healthy diets ensure adequate amounts of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes,
sufficient intake of starchy staples and animals sourced foods (preferring milk, egg, poultry and fish) and limited or no intake of
foods, food groups, and nutrients that have could lead to health risks when eaten in excess such as free sugars (including sugar
sweetened beverages), total energy and type of fat, salt, red and processed meat and ultra-processed foods). A healthy diet is
also safe with minimal levels, or none if possible, of pathogens, toxins, and other agents causing foodborne diseases. For
infants, a healthy diet is comprised of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, and complementary feeding of
adequate, safe, and nutrient-dense foods after six months of age, including continued breastfeeding to age two years.
(January 2021)
Key research challenges Approach
Using the diet, nutrition and health challenges faced by the Initial focus is on four regions: West and Central Africa, East
poor as a starting point, evidence is needed to guide food and Southern Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. These
system reforms that make that healthy diets3 become more regions differ considerably with respect to the burden of
available, physically accessible, affordable and desirable to malnutrition, food system characteristics, and the nature and
all individuals, while improving environmental sustainability, severity of the environmental unsustainability of these
reducing poverty, and increasing social equity and inclusive- systems. Within each region, countries will be chosen as a
ness. Starting from the consumer perspective, research specific focus and special attention is paid to fragile areas.
challenges are related to the choices that different food
system actors (consumers and public and private actors in The challenge of the transition and reform agenda has
the food environment and along the food value chains) make consequences for engagement in the science community,
in relation to the type, quality, safety, sustainability, and and research methods used will gear towards co-creation,
pricing of foods and the drivers of these choices (e.g. political, experimentation, foresight and scenario analysis and
economic, socio-cultural and demographic factors). Priority reflexive learning.
research questions addressed are (details in Annex 1):
•• How can healthy and sustainable diets, defined in the A global framework guides the research but specific
local context, be used to guide local and global food research questions and actions reflecting the regional
system reforms? specificities and demands (see Annex 2) are identified at
•• Which (individual and household) determinants of con- regional and national levels through an multi-stakeholder
sumer dietary choices can be leveraged to improve the engagement process with relevant public, private, civil
healthiness of the diet? society, and research partners.
•• How could urban and rural food environments be shaped
to increase access to safe and affordable foods necessary Initially, engagement will result in 1) an outline of priority
for a healthy diet? challenges and key knowledge gaps that address (regional)
•• How can midstream actors in middle of agri-food value demands and support the transformation of food systems to
chains be mobilized to improve the distribution, quality deliver better diets in an inclusive and sustainable manner;
and safety of healthy foods? 2) Identification of a compelling theory of change and impact
•• How can technical, governance and behavioural factors be pathways for food system innovations, interventions and
balanced to optimize diet, nutrition and health impacts, incentives for regional-specific leverage points, and
minimizing possible negative social and environmental 3) Co-defining of generic research questions, research
impacts and strengthening equity, and inclusion? strategies and methods, and learning trajectories.
•• What policy incentives, investments and regulations are
needed to overcome trade-offs and support synergies Continued engagement throughout the program ensures
between consumer dietary choices, the food environments continuous feed-back, learning and adaptation of research to
and the middle of value chains? stay relevant for the local context. Specific mechanisms for
South-South sharing and learning will be established across
In all research questions, close attention is paid to the regions and for different groups of stakeholders (govern-
empowerment process of women and youth, the interactions ments, private sector, civil society and national researchers),
between formal and informal sectors, and to the interactions as a way to ensure that lessons derived from specific regions
between urban, peri-urban and rural areas. The role of key (e.g. how acute prevalence of obesity in Latin and South
stakeholders (government, private sector, civil society) play in America is being handled) can benefit other regions where
achieving healthy and sustainable diets through food system similar issues are just emerging (e.g. West Africa). Through
reform in all research questions is addressed. this formal South-South exchange, the objective is to
strengthen the learning but also accelerate the scaling-up
The intended outcome is a set of scalable evidence-based process around innovations for food system reform and its
strategic program, strategies and policy options, packaged governance.
for different actors and settings depending on stage of food
system development and related dietary challenges, to
improve nutrition and health through diverse, nutritious and Linking to Dutch policy and
safe diets resulting from sustainable and inclusive food CGIAR priorities and initiatives
systems. This research will be embedded in the research programme
of the System Transformation Science group and will
contribute directly to three of the five OneCGIAR Impact
Areas (Nutrition, Health and Food Security; Gender Equality,
Youth and Social Inclusion; and Poverty Reduction,
2 | Senior Expert Contributions to OneCGIAR Program Development Food Systems and Nutrition Netherlands-CGIAR Partnership
Livelihoods and Jobs) and indirectly to the two remaining scope, and provide little evidence on impact due to poor
impact areas (Environmental health and biodiversity and methodology and study designs. Evidence addresses
Climate adaptation and greenhouse gas reduction). It will selected aspects of consumer choices (such as costs,
closely collaborate with the Nutrition, Health and Food taste) failing to address the complexity of consumer
Security and Gender platforms and contribute to the other choices. Effective bundling of behavior change
initiatives in the Systems Transformation Science Group. This communication interventions with innovations in other
research responds to the key Dutch food policy challenges components of the food system need to be identified for
as highlighted in the Kamerbrief 2019, and, conform the maximal impact.
recommendations of the IOB, addresses acceleration
progress on SDG2, perspective of consumers, empowerment •• How could urban and rural food environments be shaped
of women (and youth), relevant trade-offs in food system to increase access to safe and affordable foods necessary
outcomes and interests, and responsiveness to national and for a healthy diet?
regional to accelerate progress. The research involves Dutch Current evidence is limited to high-income countries and
knowledge partners (e.g. WUR) and several development to formal markets. Studies address selective aspects of
NGOs and private sector parties (e.g. SNV, East-West Seed, the food environment and its associations with consumers
Rijkzwaan, GAIN), and builds on expertise gained through diets and other outcomes. This evidence fails to provide in
coordination by WUR of the flagship research programme on the wild, cultivated and informal food environments and do
Food Systems for healthier Diets (A4NH-CGIAR), the KB not provide a holistic view of the interactions between
programme on food and water systems, and partners with individuals, households, and their food environment.
several CGIAR Centres, (notably IFPRI, The alliance of CIAT Present evidence does not reveal how men and women
and Bioversity, IITA, ILRI, CIFOR/ICRAF), non-CGIAR centers might differentially experience the food environment.
(WorldVeg) and local and regional networks in Africa and Another limitation is the use of static geospatial methods:
Asia. dynamic geospatial approaches are needed to provide a
detailed assessment of consumer’s exposure and inter-
action with the environment. There is little evidence on the
Annex 1 various prisms through which government actors perceive
Elaboration of knowledge gaps to be addressed in key informal food vendors. Inconsistencies, contradictions, and
research questions: bottlenecks in the regulatory landscape faced by informal
•• How can healthy and sustainable diets, defined in the vendors need to be identified and addressed. Ways should
local context, be used to guide local and global food be identified to make interventions respond better to
system reforms? consumer choices, and to make successful interventions
WHO, Global Burden of Disease Group and Eat Lancet more powerful and scalable.
identify optimal levels of intake of different food groups
but need thorough evidence-based translation into •• How can midstream actors in middle of agri-food value
culturally appropriate food-based dietary guidelines chains be mobilized to improve the distribution, quality
(FBDGs) reflecting the local context. These guidelines do and safety of healthy foods?
not only inform the public what to eat to prevent mal- It is important to understand how various technologies
nutrition, but also facilitate policy decisions. FBDGs are and institutions can be harnessed to reduce transaction
not available or need major revisions, incorporating safety costs between the farmer and retailer for nutritious and
and sustainability considerations, in many LMIC especially safe foods, so that both risks for value chain actors and
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although there is some evidence on costs to consumers can be reduced.
consumer understanding and adoption of FBDGs, there is Evidence for innovations in product tracing, cold chains,
no information available on the use and impact of using vertical integration, and finance that can make value
FBDGs in guiding policies or programmes investments chains work more efficiently especially for healthy foods is
toward healthy diets through food system reforms. needed, focusing on technologies that can be used by
SMEs and the informal sector.
•• Which (individual and household) determinants of
consumer dietary choices can be leveraged to improve the •• How can technical, governance and behavioural factors be
healthiness of the diet? balanced to optimize diet, nutrition and health impacts,
Current evidence is generally limited to consumers of minimizing possible negative trade-offs with social and
high-income countries. Current studies and interventions environmental impacts and strengthening equity, and
to influence consumer choices do not differentiate inclusion?
between segments of consumers and do not address how Food systems analysis should identify potentially
men and women differentially make food choices. conflicting objectives across or trade-offs between the
Innovations address specific contexts and are limited in multiple food systems actors, drivers and food systems
Senior Expert Contributions to OneCGIAR Program Development Food Systems and Nutrition Netherlands-CGIAR Partnership | 3
outcomes. Whereas the healthy diets objective seems well toward desired impacts. While consumer and food
aligned with attaining environmental sustainability of food environment interventions are mainly developed for more
systems, other trade-offs may exist between the desired complex food systems, nutrition sensitive agricultural
diet by consumers, the economic objectives of producers interventions are more directed to the rural/traditional and
(e.g. farmers, food processors, traders, and food and informal/expanding food systems. There is as of yet no
beverage companies) and the social objectives of govern- effort nor evidence of the design of coherent and con-
ments, which all need to be weighed and managed nected interventions or simultaneous implementation
carefully. A key component is to understand and quantify across the complex food systems to create a multiplier
macro- and microscale trade-offs that exist between effect on desired health and environment outcomes of the
different food systems outcomes and food system actors. food systems at scale. This asks for strong food system
At a macro scale, if food systems are optimized for diets, governance, but it is unknown what that would entail.
how might that affect incomes or income distribution and
the environment? What is the effect of climate and climate
changes policies on food prices and affordability? At a Annex 2
micro scale, if retailers shift their focus to healthier foods, Description of food systems and dietary challenges by region
what (if anything) do they give up in profits? If consumers (www.foodsystemdashboard.org, accessed 5 January 2020).
have to shift to healthy diets, what would they have to give
up in terms of preferences and what would be the effect to West and Central African food systems can be characterized
affordability? Quantifying answers to these types of as rural/traditional moving to informal/expanding, with food
questions – and answers could differ depending upon production depending on smallholders focusing on staple
drivers and regional or national characteristics – would crops with low yields and large food losses and waste,
help define targets of a food systems transformation while smaller but fast growing urban populations. Food insecurity
minimizing adjustment costs. is still a large problem. Quantity and diversity of foods
available vary by season and food is mainly sold in informal
•• What policy incentives, investments and regulations are markets. Modern food supply is coming up and processed
needed to overcome trade-offs and support synergies foods are only starting to be available. Few food quality
between desired food system outcomes, and interests of standards are in place. Diet diversity is low, with low con-
different stakeholders and their constituencies? sumption of protective foods. The population is still suffering
Evidence of policy investments and regulations such as from undernourishment and undernutrition, while overnu-
labelling, regulation on advertising, and taxes and subsi- trition is rising rapidly in urban but also in rural areas.
dies are often limited to high-income countries and there
is limited evidence whether the existing policies are The East and Southern African region comprises food
conducive and how they need to be adapted in different systems that are emerging and diversifying, with an
settings. Investments in research should be made in increased number of medium-and large commercial farms
low-and middle-income countries for testing of inter- co-existing with large numbers of small-scale farms. Modern
ventions which are impactful in one food systems type for supply chains are developing rapidly also for fresh foods.
adoption and effectiveness in another food systems type. Supply chains become longer and more complex, (ultra)
Nudges to drive healthier consumer choices, food environ- processed foods are more available also in rural areas and
ment adaptations and effective interventions to increase there is less seasonal fluctuation in availability and pricing of
supply and affordability of healthy foods, should be perishable foods. Supermarkets are common even in smaller
adapted to and tested in countries characterised by rural, cities. Food safety and quality standards exist but are only
traditional or emerging food systems. enforced within formal markets. Greater proportion of
countries have adopted food based dietary guidelines.
Comprehensive impact evaluations of policies and Undernutrition is reducing although at a slow pace, and the
programs in the food environments or food systems are problem of overnutrition is rising rapidly together with diet
needed to evaluate what works to improve diets among related non-communicable diseases. Diet diversity is
the poor, how it works and at what costs. increasing but also consumption of unhealthy foods also
rises rapidly.
Most interventions targeting the consumer, food environ-
ment or supply of nutritious foods are developed as Southern Asia characterized by a mixture of informal/
stand-alone interventions focusing on a single component expanding, emerging/diversifying with some having charac-
of the food systems. Though such interventions may be teristics of a modernized/formalized food system. The
effective within their ‘food systems component’, there is no characteristics as described for West, East and Southern
alignment, cohesion or connectedness of interventions Africa are also present in Southern Asia. Overnutrition is a
across food systems components which work in tandem fast growing nutrition problem (even if it is still less prevalent
4 | Senior Expert Contributions to OneCGIAR Program Development Food Systems and Nutrition Netherlands-CGIAR Partnership
than in West and Southern Africa), alongside with micro-
nutrient deficiencies. Dietary diversity is high, but still
insufficient consumption of protective foods, while consump-
tion of unhealthy foods is increasing. Health burden of NCDs
is high.
Latin America shows to be fully modernized/formalized going
towards industrialized/consolidated food system, with larger
farms relying on mechanization and input-intensive prac-
tices, market consolidation is common, long and complex
food systems, and there is growth in luxury food retail. There
is a large share of processed and dry foods and low-income
consumers are much likely to shop them. Supermarket
density is high. Food labelling is emerging for ultra-processed
foods. Overnutrition is the largest nutrition problem although
there are still some ‘pockets’ of undernourishment and
undernutrition. Inclusion of this region serve as a ‘model’ for
learning in the other regions where similar issues are
emerging.
Senior Expert Contributions to OneCGIAR Program Development Food Systems and Nutrition Netherlands-CGIAR Partnership | 5
