NAME: HELLEN HANKUBA
ROLL NUMBER :22BABBA401
Sustainable food system
Food system refers to the entire actor and the interlinked value-added activities involved in the
production, aggregation, processing distribution, consumption and disposal of food product that
originate from agriculture, forestry and fisheries and in which they are embedded as part of the
economic, social and environmental dimensions
How a food system is structured
The structure of the food system is a wheel of a framework ie centered around the FCO’s main goals
which include poverty reduction, food security and nutrition. These are embedded in the broader
performance of the system referring to the three dimensions of food sustainability. Such performance is
determined by the behavior of the diverse actors or the conductor of stakeholders in the food system.
This conduct in turn takes place in the structure of the system which consists of the core system, societal
elements and natural elements
The core system includes the layer of activities through which the food products flow (production
aggregation, distribution, consumption and waste disposal) and a layer of services supporting the flow.
These are embedded in the societal context and natural environment. The former includes all related
policies, laws and regulations, socio culture norms, infrastructure and organization. The later includes
water, soil, air, climate and ecosystems and genetics
The food system weel
Sustainable food system
A sustainable food system encompasses the production, distribution and consumption of food
(distribution of health food to all people irrespective of age, race, caste, class and ethnicity)
It can also be said to be a dynamic process in which achieving food and nutrition security for today
should also contribute to nutrition and food security in the future. In Food systems there must be
sustainability at all the three dimensions which is the environmental, economic and social. This is
because from agricultural production, processing and to consumption there is disturbance In the food
system due to pollution of land, climatical changes, emission of greenhouse gases.
Sustainable food system SFS as engines of growth, create value added that has five components which
are
salaries to work
I return on Athens profits to entrepreneurs and asset owners
Tax revenue to the government
benefits to the consumers and
impacts on their social culture and natural environment
On an economic dimension a food system is considered sustainable if the activities conducted by each
food system actor or support or provider are commercially or fiscally viable. The activities should
generate benefits or value added for all categories of stakeholders, wages for workers, taxes for the
government, profits for enterprises and improved food products for the consumers
Further on the environmental dimension, sustainability is determined by that the activities done in food
systems are positive or natural towards our surrounding taking into consideration of the biodiversity,
water, soil, animal, and plants health, the carbon footprint, water footprint, food loss, waste and toxicity
Moreover, on the social dimension food system is considered sustainable, when there is equity in the
distribution of economic value-added, considering vulnerable groups categories by gender, age, race. of
Its fundamental importance, food system activities need to contribute to the advancement of socio-
cultural outcomes such as nutrition and health, tradition, labor conditions and animal welfare
Promotes
Sustainable food system promotes
Agro ecology, which is science practice and social movement. takes holistic, system-based
approach towards understanding food system so stainability well direct confronting political and
economic power structures in current industrial food system
Organic agriculture promotes healthy soil for people and the ecosystem. reliance on
biodiversity, ecology, processes end cycles adapted to local conditions, Avoid the use of
chemical inputs known to have negative effects
Agroforestry, incorporation of trees and shrubs into farming system. trees provide grazing
animals with feed and shelter the and animals' manual enrich the soil and Improve soil structure
minimizes erosion and improve carbon Sequestration, enhancing yields and benefit farmer live
hoods
Regenerative agriculture used for production pof food and fiber indoors grazing and farming
practices that rebuild organic murder in soil capture and store more CO2. Revitalizes soil and
environment by and cooperating holistic organic and permaculture farming
practices. Permacultures promote Esquire, people care, fair share that incorporates not just
farming systems but also homes and communities
Biodynamic agriculture complementary use of plants and animals treating animals in humane
way, working in rhythm with earth and cosmos
The changing food system
A food system must be considered in the context of rapid population growth a banalization, growing
Wealth, changing consumption patterns, and globalization as well as climate change and depletion of
natural resources. The developments in food system have her yielded many positive results especially
over the past three decades in developing countries these results include the expansion of of formal
employment opportunities as food industries have developed and widening of food choice beyond local
staples thus satisfying consumers preference in terms of test form of quantity.
However, the associated rapid structure transformations have also resulted in increasing and significant
challenges with potentially wide-reaching consequences for the state school food security and nutrition.
These include then many highly processed high calorie and low nutrition food items that are now widely
available and consumed, limited access of small-scale producers and Agri enterprises to viable, high
levels of food loss and waste, increase in incidences of food safety, and animal and human health issues.
An increased energy intensity and ecological footprint associated with the lengthening of
industrialization of food supply chains
Approaches of institutions towards sustainability food system
Institutions are having a global approach on food systems sustainability are helping the development of
food system to promote food security, good nutrition, employment and reduction of hunger and
poverty by including the farmers worldwide
summits have been held by the UN thus the recent summit which was held on the 23rd of September
2021 to launch decade of action to achieve sustainable development goals is SDGs. The stated goals of
food system summit were to transform the way the world produces, consumes and things about foods
within the context of 2023 agenda for sustainable development and to meet the challenges of poverty,
food security, malnutrition, population growth, climate change, and natural resources
Add to this summit, the United States announced its commitment to $10 billion (about $31 per person
in the US) in multi yeah initiatives to strengthen food security and nutrition for all, accelerate climate
change, mitigation in adoption, and expand inclusive food system home and abroad.
Limitations of current approaches
The complexity of food system requires a more holistic and coordinated approach. Many foods security
and nutrition challenge our complex problems whose solutions are contested, and which transcend
disciplinary, divisional and institutional boundaries in increasingly global foods systems, these challenges
result from interaction across different scales and levels. They require integrated actions taken by the
stakeholders at local, national, religion, and global levels by both public and private actors and across
multiple fronts not only in agriculture but also in trade policy health environment, gender, norms,
education, transport and infrastructure and so on. It requires a synergic merging rather than a
destructive clashing of ideas imagine from these various angles
traditional food security programs tend to adopt a production for focused approach which seeks to
direct influence food security through increasing we supply of food in fewer regions of the world
particularly sub-Sahara Africa, in adequate food production it's still the major cause of food and
nutrition insecurity. However, the dramatic yes of food system over the past decade has brought about
complex interactions and feedback loops that impact food security and nutrition in many ways. The
focus on food production leads to the neglect of other areas in which the root cause of food system
underperforms, as well as leverage points to bring about the biggest impact can often be found.
Furthermore, the interwoven interactions and feedback in food system mean that's direct intervention
in one area risks creating or exacerbating problems in another.
Recently, other approaches that employ system thinking have gained momentum. The value of chain
development approach for instant, use systems thinking of examine they were value is created and
captured not only by producers but also by other stockholders, including workers, governments, and
consumers. Incidentally, VC development approach nonetheless focuses on one commodity and
therefore tends to overlook the interdependency of different VCs, farmers, especially small holders,
often, combine going a very variety of crops with livestock, fisheries and forestry activities and national
status of consumers depends on diet made by the multiple commodities. Achieving broad based
development impact thus requires taking a brother look at the interactions of all food VCs at the food
system level
Another increasingly popular approach the market system approach recognizes markets as complex
adaptive systems to address systemic Constraints Umm market linkages that can affect multiple value
chains (for instance, strengthening linkages to financial services for farmers). While it can overcome the
VC approaches one change at a time limitation, the market system approach tends to be constrained to
one market and as such subject to a similar narrow perspective challenge as the VC approach