Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) | Source | Report |
Prepared jointly by FAO and IFAD for the G20 Food Security Task Force under the South African G20 Presidency, this report examines policy instruments and agrifood systems approaches for promoting food security while enhancing sustainability and resilience. It presents 35 policy measures and analyzes how they can generate impacts across multiple thematic areas and be grouped synergistically. The report underscores the severity of global food insecurity: between 713 and 757 million people may have faced hunger in 2023, representing 1 in 11 people globally and 1 in 5 in Africa. In 2022, 2.83 billion people were unable to afford a healthy diet, with 71.5% of populations in low-income countries affected. Agrifood systems employ 4 billion people directly and indirectly, making them the largest economic network of systems globally. A central argument is that a systems approach is essential for agrifood transformation. Rather than addressing issues within isolated value chains, the report advocates for examining interconnections between actors, activities, and feedback loops across the full food system. This enables the identification of both synergies and trade-offs between economic, social, and environmental objectives.
Key recommendations include strengthening multi-level governance and inclusive stakeholder processes, bundling complementary policy measures to maximize impact, repurposing agricultural support toward public goods such as research, development, and infrastructure, leveraging blended finance structures to attract private investment into smallholder-focused value chains, and improving agrifood systems resilience through anticipatory action, risk mitigation tools, and science-based technologies. The report estimates that shifting to sustainable food systems could unlock approximately USD 4.5 trillion in annual business opportunities while eliminating up to USD 15 trillion in hidden costs, but notes a financing gap of an estimated USD 2.5 trillion in developing countries that requires mobilizing private capital at scale.
