Nation Working on Food Systems Transformation

Addis Ababa, December 15/2022 /ENA/  Ethiopia is working on Food Systems Transformation to address bottlenecks starting from production to market, a Food Systems Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Agriculture said.

According to Getachew Deriba, Ethiopia has convened a national process to define the Ethiopian foods system and help transform it a couple of years ago.

Over the last two years, key strategic challenges and strategic opportunities in the Ethiopian Food System have been identified by the ministries of Agriculture and Health, he added.

Ethiopia’s commitment to Sustainable Development Goals has produced the Ethiopian Food System Road Map and Synthesis, a program designed to transform the entire process of food starting from production, processing, manufacturing to transforming consumption, and market, it was learned.

In terms of the UN Framework, "we have identified prior action areas, areas of consumption, dietary adjustment and boosting production and marketing and disaster risk management," the advisor elaborated.

In a bid to close gaps, some 22 game-changing solutions have been identified, Getachew said,  adding that those are clustered in six major areas of solutions to address the food systems transformation.

The clusters are issues pertaining to production, food access in terms of nutrition, integrating policy setting, technology usage, market, and social agenda, he elaborated.

To help track Ethiopia's progress in transforming its food systems, the Food Systems Country Profile was launched today by Alliance Bio-diversity and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

CIAT, Agri-Nutrition and Food Systems Specialist, Christine G. Kiris Chege, said Ethiopia came up with its Food Systems Road Map and Synthesis to address sustainable food challenges, gaps and bottlenecks in the food system at the UN Food Systems Summit last year.

"On our part, we have launched a Food Systems Profile that is designed to contribute to the success of the national process in Ethiopia and other countries."

The project has been implemented in Ethiopia, Honduras and Bangladesh as a pilot case, she said, adding that the interactive profile has a systematically developed tool that will be used by governments, policymakers, donors, food system stakeholders to clearly understand the food systems situation in the country.

The profile will enable the country and donors to clearly understand the gaps, challenges, bottlenecks and make intervention points in the food system very clear, according to Chege.

The interactive website is designed to help decision-makers mentally picture key-components of the food systems and to better understand the different dynamics and interactions that exist between them.