A Note From the CEO: Celebrating Food Systems on World Food Day

A Note From the CEO: Celebrating Food Systems on World Food Day

In 2015, member states of the United Nations committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Now, with only six years to go, we know this grand initiative to ensure global prosperity and a healthy planet is far off track.  

This is certainly the case with the goals related to ending hunger and malnutrition. According to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024, the rate of global hunger has remained stubbornly steady, affecting about 9 percent of the population in each of the past three years. The report estimates as many as 757 million people may have experienced hunger in 2023 and, at this rate, more than half a billion people will still be chronically undernourished at the end of the decade.

As president and CEO of an organization dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty in smallholder farming communities, this is difficult to stomach.

That’s why, this World Food Day, I don’t want us to just talk about food; I want us to talk about food systems. This complex web of financing, production, processing, transport, consumption and regulation along the food chain determines how food reaches families’ tables and the extent to which the system benefits people and the planet. And it is complicated, indeed.

We, as a global community, have huge challenges to address to ensure food systems work for everyone — notably improving access to affordable, nutritious food and ensuring the system offers ample, dignified livelihood opportunities while minimizing food waste and environmental degradation.

We cannot resolve global hunger without reinforcing this entire framework, and we must not do it in silos.

This undertaking hinges on a shared vision of long-term food security and sustainability, a collaboration with farming communities, governments and multisectoral partners to boost on-farm production and remove barriers to knowledge; improve access to financial services that help food producers invest and grow their businesses; establish more inclusive, efficient and profitable markets for farmers; and integrate nature-positive and regenerative practices throughout the food chain.

The Milky Way program in Nepal, which I visited just last month, offers one model for this big-picture approach. It’s an ambitious 10-year joint initiative of the governments of Nepal and South Korea and Heifer International to transform Nepal’s dairy sector by significantly improving its productivity, efficiency, sustainability and market ecosystem — while also ensuring smallholder farmers are at the center and directly benefit through better incomes and better nutrition.

Milky Way works holistically to address low productivity, underdeveloped dairy markets and weak agricultural support services, alongside public and private stakeholders at the global, national, regional and local levels, together lowering the bar for smallholder dairy producers to participate in the sector and meet domestic demand for nutritious foods. Farmers are also learning environmentally friendly practices such as planting forage crops that regenerate soil health.

As we’ve committed to zeroing out hunger by 2030 and beyond, it’s the systems we need to focus on — with no time to waste.

I invite you to read through our fall digital story collection, Food, Farmers and the Future, to learn more about how Heifer’s partnerships, including close collaboration with smallholder farmers, contributes to stronger food systems, reduced hunger and more resilience for farming communities. We need the right foundation in place to ensure people can sustainably grow food, earn income and feed their children — let’s build it together.


Yours in solidarity,

Surita Sandosham


SEE THE FULL COLLECTION HERE


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Raymond E. Lee Carmichael

For Purpose Agent - Actor - Group Economics/CommUNITY Wealth Builder - Master Hairstylist - Expert Guide

1mo

Thank you Surita Sandosham! Even ' off track' is a huge misnomer! The UN created FOA (Food and Agricultural Organisation) and set that goal in 1974!!! They then moved the peg to 1996, then again in 2015 when a goal was set by the UN to achieve this end by 20230. I am super curious to know more around the Milky Way Program in Nepal (especially since Nepal is owned and controlled by China; known for their Belt and Road Initiative which is creating infrastructure for ease of transport for goods, but also has been criticized for debt-trap diplomacy and neocolonialism; who run FOA via DG Qu Dongyu and own Syngenta. The larger 500 year end-game here is still unclear and perhaps never been revealed by a country which has long been criticized for a host of public health issues and humanitarian violations. I love the culture of diverse global cultures and tribes, but see clearly that we have a serious issue regarding the creation and maintenance of organisations and multi national corporations which act soley at the behest of a few humans who obviously do not care to follow the natural laws and systems of nature and are dictating the health, safety and security of all life on the planet in the name of what? Profit and commerce?

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Matthew Motet McCord

Executive Director Helping people, help people. The Non Profit, the people, the problem. Strategic investing, targeted fundraising and resourced professional development.

1mo

This is such an understated problem in our world. The approach being applied in Nepal is a model that is both critical and inspiring. Critical because seeing this come to fruition, demonstrates to the world a working model that can be applied and provide a desired outcome that includes sustainability and resilience. Inspiring , because after getting to see this model in Nepal at multiple stages it’s not just that this addresses a solution, this once applied and maintained a little, has changed the face of the country. It relies less and less on imports, the women leaders become locally known and are elected into office, the local governments begin to shift towards embracing a more prosperous future and people who once would never dream for dignity lead the charge for bettering their homes, communities and nations- they just need that continued support for momentum and impetus. Now more than ever a call to action is needed to donors, corporations and governments. This isn’t a noble cause with no end in sight. This is achievable and it can be accomplished!

peter Reuben

Community facilitator

1mo

Good job. Success all the way

Dr. Md. Akramul Islam

Sr. Program Manager-MELS at Heifer International, Bangladesh

1mo

Thank you to share a thoughtful writeup on the overall food system and food security, actually food production, processing, consumption and how food reaches families table that's are very important issues to ensure food systems work for everyone as well as in a family..

Good job. If any Fund can given more projects can be done to secure food security

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