The 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report will, as usual, present the latest updates on the food security and nutrition situation around the world, including updated estimates on the cost and affordability of healthy diets. Subsequently, it will take a deep dive into how healthy diets can become more affordable by repurposing existing food and agricultural policy support in ways that help reduce the cost of nutritious foods relative to other foods and people’s income.
The report draws on a stocktaking exercise that explore the predominant food and agricultural policy supports currently in place around the world, the amount of support provided, the activities and actors supported, and the extent to which this support is pushing up the relative cost of nutritious foods and promoting unhealthy diets. The respective analyses and evidence-based guidance are also provided on alternative food and agricultural policy support mixes that can help reduce the cost of nutritious foods, as well as on how the resulting trade-offs need to be managed to ensure agrifood systems are not only more efficient, but also sustainable and inclusive.
To the extent that the contribution of agrifood systems to the economy is significant in many countries, such alternative food and agricultural policy support will also be important to enable inclusive recovery. In this regard, the report is aligned to the 2022 HLPF theme – “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
The theme this year, “Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable,” is a clear reflection of the fact that the world has recognized that agrifood systems – and their transformation – are central to rethinking the way we produce and consume food, the relationship between humanity and nature, and what is at stake as the world redouble efforts to achieving the SDGs.