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FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL TRANSORMATION World Bank: Transforming our food systems for healthy people, environment, and economies 
Dry corn field. Photo credit: Shutterstock A cornfield dries out. Under the World Bank Group Food Systems 2030 program, we are supporting countries to transform their food systems with the goal to achieve zero hunger by 2030. Original article: https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/transforming-our-food-systems-healthy-people-environment-and-economies Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Yes ... I like the idea that is being described in this World Bank blogpost by Juergen Voegele ... but as a practical matter I am very sceptical that anything like this will be implemented let alone getting desirable results at scale. I did quite a lot of consulting work for the World Bank (including the IFC) and various agencies of the United Nations for a period of a little more than 20 years starting in 1978 when MacNamara was the World Bank President. Previously I had been a very young CFO in the corporate world and had some understanding of modern (circa 1960s and 1970s) corporate management methods. In fact soe of the work I was doing in connection with management and computers in the 1960s became the subject of several 'business cases' at the Harvard Business School. When I started to do consulting work for the World Bank and other organizations in the 'development' arena, I was appalled at the primitive state of 'management', and even more appalled when I got to do work 'inside' a variety of institutions of 'government', both in developed countries and developing countries. While I am very critical of the World Bank, the IMF, the United Nations and the 'development industry' in general, I do not want to see them removed from the scene, rather I want to see them reformed to do a much better job, and for them to be funded at a scale that fits the need. Bottom line, most of these institutions were underfunded in the 1980s and the funding problem is significantly worse several decades later and the problems to address are far worse and getting worse more rapidly now than in years past. Decades ago when I was in the middle of 'development' work, there was a very competent core of good ideas, good people and good results. Over time this core had not grown very much while the institutions themselves have increased in size and the availability of funds relative to the scale of the problems has degraded substantially. A theme throughout my own work with 'development' and 'humanitarian assistance' has been to make the best possible use of relevant 'management metrics'. As a former CFO I was accustomed to the management metrics associated with optimizing a company for profit performance, and I adopted an enhancement of financial management accounting to incorporate social impact in all the 'planning' that I was privileged to do. Over time this has been further enhanced to also include environmental impact. In the relatively early days of computer database technology (late 1980s to mid-1990s) I used FoxPro to develop and implement something I called DBSDA or BDSDA ... Database System for Development Analysis or Burgess Database System for Develpment Analysis. Sadly before I got to the stage of having a stable system, the FoxPro developers were acquired by Microsoft, and within months FoxPro was history together with my development management initiative. At this time (January 2023) I have not been engaged in development consultancy in the field for more than 20 years, but my interest continues. Quite a lot of what is described rings true ... but I do not sense that either the World Bank, the IMF or any of the other national or global development programs have any serious interest or commitment to actually organizing themselves and the essential resources to actually get the essential job done, or doing what is needed to get rid of the many constraints on getting the job done and delivering the results needed. This is more a matter of organizing access to and use of resources rather than merely establishing a program within an existing and quite dysfunctional international economic system. I should engage with the World Bank, the IMF, the UN and others ... but it is not easy given the nature of what I have to say ... and if they go back to their personnel files to check me out, they will almost certainly choose to minimise any interaction for fear of what I might have to say!!!!!! Peter Burgess | ||
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Transforming our food systems for healthy people, environment, and economies
JUERGEN VOEGELE JANUARY 17, 2023 A cornfield dries out. Under the World Bank Group Food Systems 2030 program, we are supporting countries to transform their food systems with the goal to achieve zero hunger by 2030. As the world continues to grapple with the food crisis, we need to remember that this problem didn’t emerge overnight. The war in Ukraine accelerated and triggered more attention to the crisis, but food prices and global hunger were already on the rise even before the war. Climate change, among others, has been a major driver of these worsening trends. Ironically, although global food production has nearly quadrupled between 1961 to 2020 and increased by 50% between 2000 to 2020, more people than ever before are going hungry. Resolving the situation we face today requires a sharper focus than ever on transforming our food systems to make them more sustainable while feeding a growing global population. A well running food system will help build human capital, lift communities out of poverty, and improve climate resilience. Instead, our global food system generates an estimated $12 trillion in hidden social, economic and environmental costs each year – including being the source of nearly 1/3 of global greenhouse gas emissions. It also drives consumer choices towards unhealthy foods by keeping healthy food prices too high. The business-as-usual path is unacceptable. We need a systemic shift in our approach to agriculture and food systems to transform how we produce, transport, and consume food. The upcoming 2023 Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin, one of the largest gatherings of agriculture ministers and experts from all around the world, provides an excellent opportunity to discuss options, share experiences, and agree on concerted actions to make food system transformation a reality. One key shift we need to make is the use of agriculture support. Globally, the support provided to agriculture and food exceeds $700 billion a year. While this support is needed, much of it is poorly targeted – farmers receive only 35 cents of each dollar and support often encourages production practices that are unsustainable. There are options for governments to repurpose current agricultural support – mostly used for price support, input subsidies and direct payments to producers – and instead use them to implement environmentally friendly policies and incentivize farmers' uptake of climate smart agriculture practices. Public financing can also be used to help reduce risks of private sector investments that meet higher social and environmental standards. Support can also be used to incentivize new technologies that have already shown promise, such as cattle feed additives that reduce greenhouse gases, or for rice-production techniques that reduce methane emissions. Adopting appropriate policies would reduce price distortions, promote resilient and sustainable productivity growth, and strengthen value chains. This, in turn, will improve food security and nutrition, bolster farmer incomes, and secure better value for money in public programs. Another challenge is that the global food system is highly complex and fragmented. Despite significant increases in output, the system is inefficient and wasteful, with abundance and hunger living side by side. At the heart of these failures is a lack of access to information among farmers and within markets, where inflexible systems promote high transaction costs. Better use of data and digital technology can help connect the world’s 570 million farms to 8 billion consumers. Data-driven digital agriculture can help improve crop yields, reduce waste, lower costs, and decrease pollution, all of which go a long way in reducing inequality and global hunger. But there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each country has its own set of challenges and needs to identify options and strategies to achieve its desired outcomes. Ultimately transforming food systems to deliver better development outcomes requires country-specific, local analysis – backed by multi-stakeholder dialogues to include all voices in the policy-making process. Under our Food Systems 2030 program, the World Bank is supporting countries to transform their food systems with the goal to achieve zero hunger by 2030. The program is funded with support from Germany, the UK, the European Commission and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We are working with 25 countries, seeking country-specific entry points for repurposing agriculture policies and support, creating business models to stimulate private sector financing, promoting climate smart agriculture, applying digital innovations, and strategies to make healthy nutritious diets more affordable. The World Bank Group and our many partners stand ready to work with governments and partners by sharing knowledge of policies and investments that work to transform the global food system. And the Global Forum can be a place for those working in food and agriculture to share compelling experiences in our efforts to achieve the triple wins of food systems transformation: healthy people, environment, and economies. Related links:
Authors ユルゲン・フォーグレ 世界銀行 持続可能な開発担当副総裁https://www.linkedin.com/in/juergen-voegele-b70b6910a/ Juergen Voegele ... Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank
| The text being discussed is available at | https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/transforming-our-food-systems-healthy-people-environment-and-economies and |