Tackling hunger and inequality through food system transformation

The global food system is at a critical juncture and is facing enormous challenges. With hunger still persistent, ecosystems degrading, and socio-economic disparities deepening, the call for transformative change has never been more urgent. Enabel has extensive expertise in the field of food system transformation, aiming to build resilient, inclusive, and sustainable food systems.

To know more about this, and to explore how Enabel is addressing these challenges, we spoke with Sofie Van Waeyenberge, Enabel’s Coordinator for Agriculture and Food Systems.

Enabel is supporting food system transformation. Why do food systems need to be transformed?

As stated by Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, at the Food Systems Summit in 2021, our food systems are broken, and Africa is on the front line. Between 713 and 757 million people may have faced hunger in 2023 – one out of 11 people in the world, and one out of every five in Africa. Factors like Covid-19, climate change, and conflicts, such as the Ukraine-Russia war, have driven up food insecurity globally affecting 2.33 billion people, with 58% of Africans facing moderate or severe food insecurity – almost double the global average.

In addition, today’s food and farming systems are generating negative environmental outcomes, with degradation of land, water and ecosystems, high greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity losses, and are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as extreme weather events. Finally, the global food chains are often marked by profound socio-economic disparities, which makes it increasingly difficult for the 2.3 billion dependent smallholders to decently derive their livelihoods from the actual food systems.

The transformation of food systems is a global agenda. The EU has its specific “from farm to fork strategy” that is part of the Green Deal. It aims to shift the current European food system towards a sustainable mode. Furthermore, the African Union recently adopted the Kampala Declaration on Building Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems in Africa, aligning with its Agenda 2063.

How does Enabel define and apply the concept of sustainable food systems?

When we talk about a food system, we consider all elements and activities related to agricultural production, to food processing and distribution, up to preparation and consumption of food, and we take into account the 3 desired outcomes with regard to people, planet and prosperity. This means making sure that the system provides healthy and sufficient food accessible for all, that the food is produced in an environmentally sound and climate-resilient way, and finally that this transition to sustainable systems is just, by improving the income and creating decent jobs for the most marginalised in the food system, such as smallholder producers, but also youth and women operating in on and off-farm activities.

Can you give some examples of projects?

Enabel supports the transition towards more sustainable food systems in around 15 countries. For example in Burundi, we improve the productivity of different crops like maize, rice, bananas, and vegetables through climate-resilient practices as well as good water management, to improve food security. Through strengthening of farmer organisations in quality management, storing, and commercialisation, access to markets and revenues are improved. The establishment of nutritious food gardens in schools and health centres also serve educational purposes to support learning about healthy and balanced eating.

In a project on agroecological innovation in Benin, we supported research on climate-resilient practices and reducing the use of chemical inputs in rice and vegetable production. The research was linked to agricultural advisory services to farmers to encourage adoption of climate-resilient and sustainable practices. This was done in collaboration with local universities and Belgian universities like University of Liege and the Catholic University of Louvain.

How do partnerships strengthen Enabel’s Sustainable Food Systems efforts? Any key initiatives to highlight?

Innovation is key to accelerate the transformation of food systems. And therefore, partnerships with innovation actors, be it research actors or innovative enterprises, are very important. For example, we recently signed a partnership in Belgium with the Botanical Garden of Meise, which has renowned expertise in the field of botany and biodiversity, and which has also a large network of partners, for example in DRC and Burundi.

Additionally, other actors like the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) can provide very specific expertise that is highly demanded in our partner countries to improve the quality and safety of food produced. Furthermore, reducing post-harvest loss and recycling agriculture and food waste is also an important theme on which we have been collaborating with various actors.

In the private sector, we are proud of our partnership with Colruyt to create sustainable and inclusive food supply chains. For example, we supported quality production, storage and packaging of dates in Morocco. Another example is our collaboration in Benin where we improved cashew nuts production and facilitated commercial relations with farmer organisations that led to delivering 1,950 tonnes of cashew nuts a year to Colruyt.

We are also proud to partner with Puratos, a Belgian supplier of industrial bakery products, in a EU-funded project in Côte d’Ivoire. There we provide support to the cooperatives and the growers of cocoa. Under this partnership, cooperatives are supported to increase their fermentation and drying capacities in a win-win approach through a co-investment of Puratos in our project activities. This leverage effect from Puratos helps to multiply the impact and increase revenues. This value is then redistributed to help improve the living conditions of cocoa farmers. In this approach, Enabel provided the advisory support needed to consolidate relations and trust between partners, and to ensure the chain’s operation and sustainability.

Any last message?

Yes, let us not forget we can all contribute to making our food systems more sustainable by paying greater attention to which food we buy and consume, and how our food has been produced.