Published on 30 April 2025
Thematic focus: 12 Key messages
This chapter explains the twelve key messages on food systems established in 2023 by the SDC Section Food Systems. These state the general points of departure for operational policy, and outline priorities with validity for the whole of SDC.
K-HUB > SDC's Institutional Orientation > Thematic Focus
In 2023, the Section Food Systems, now part of the joint Section Health and Food, established twelve key messages on food systems. These state the general points of departure for operational policy, and outline priorities with validity for the whole of SDC.
Food and nutrition insecurity are on the rise; in 2022, more than 735 million people were affected by hunger (almost 10% of world population). Switzerland responds to the current Food crisis in a two-pronged approach: with immediate assistance, while at the same time addressing the root causes of hunger and food insecurity to build long-term resilience of food systems.
SDC is committed to ensuring global food security, by guaranteeing that all people, at all time, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Agency (the capacity of individuals and groups to exercise voice and make decisions) and sustainability (long-term viability of the ecological and social bases of food systems) also need to be recognised as key dimensions of food security in food policy frameworks.
... are currently not performing sufficiently well. To build healthy, sustainable, resilient, just and inclusive food systems, SDC promotes a holistic approach that includes all stakeholders, from the food system at local/regional levels (smallholder farmers, processers, market actors, consumers, all levels of government, civil society, academia), to the multi-sectorial approach including health (nutrition, non-communicable diseases, One Health), the economy (profitability, inclusive territorial markets, decent work), environment and climate (biodiversity, water, soil) and governance (equal participation, social protection and justice).
... is a holistic and systemic approach promoting environmentally friendly agricultural practices, while embedding at its core the values of fairness, participation, localness, food sovereignty and social justice. Switzerland promotes agroecology as a way to transform food systems to achieve ecological, economic, and social sustainability, supporting its uptake from local communities to multilateral organisations.
... (underweight, overweight and micronutrient deficiency) impacts one in three people in the world, and unhealthy diets are the number one cause of global mortality. Healthy diets prevent malnutrition and contribute to higher educational outcomes, productivity and lifelong health. The cost-benefit ratio of establishing healthy nutrition is 1:16, with the potential to save 3.7 million lives over just two years given the right investments in nutrition. Switzerland advocates for safe, healthy, nutritious, affordable, diverse and desirable diets for all from sustainable local value chains, and supports nutrition-sensitive interventions, innovations, regulations and policies as well as scaled investments, involving in particular young people and women, and other most-vulnerable groups.
... influences how we produce, distribute and consume our food. On the one hand, food systems currently account for one third of global greenhouse gas emissions; on the other hand, the impacts of climate change are already leading to declining agricultural yields in many countries, and are compromising global agricultural supply chains. (Re)designing climate-resilient food systems is essential: more agrobiodiversity, changes in agricultural practices, improved land use, soil protection, more efficient value chains, dietary shift to balanced sustainable healthy diets as well as avoidance of food loss and waste contribute to a reduced impact of food systems on climate, environment and health systems, and support increased resilience of food systems. Programmes related to food systems must be implemented in consideration of current and future risks to shocks and stresses, and thus grounded in a DRR-approach.
... is essential to provide continuous public, inter- and multi-disciplinary innovations, not only to increase agricultural productivity but also to provide evidence-based knowledge to help decision-makers transform food systems. Agricultural R&D has typically a very high return on investment – support to CGIAR, SDC’s main Agricultural R&D partner, has a benefit-cost ratio of 10 to 1.
... work at providing solutions in a continuously changing context and diverse local parameters (climate change, demography, urbanisation). Synergies among different research actors, need to be enhanced, notably as both the public and private sectors test and scale up technological, digital, organisational, institutional and financial innovations to answer to contemporary challenges. Switzerland supports R&D, innovations, training, best practices sharing, advocacy and continuous learning to enhance the performance of the actors along the food systems.
... remain key drivers of food crises and food insecurity. 70% of the world's hungry people live in areas afflicted with war and violence. Food insecurity can both be a consequence and a cause of conflict, particularly in contexts marked by unstable political regimes, slow economic growth, and high inequality – of which women and girls, marginalised people, pastoralists and indigenous communities are often the first impacted. Switzerland calls the full respect of the International Humanitarian Law, in particular related to objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as food and water security, and the access for humanitarian assistance. Switzerland advocates for a comprehensive long-term food system vision with a strengthened humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach, and for a transformation of food system by assessing and addressing structural drivers of vulnerabilities. This entails supporting the WFP in its role as a dual-mandated agency to pursue programmes which bridge the N-D-Nexus with interventions which present durable solutions to humanitarian needs and chart pathways to development. It is necessary to consider more systematically the interlinkages between conflict, migration, climate change, food security and malnutrition, while addressing legitimate - and recognising customary - seeds, land and water governance.
On the one hand, food systems are a major source of livelihood for women, employing up to 70% of the female workforce in some countries, while on the other the gender gap in food security has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are therefore central to SDC. Reducing social and gender inequalities throughout food systems from production to consumption is therefore a priority, be that by improving women’s rights, the control and access to natural resources, education, inputs and financial services, or ensuring the participation in decision-making.
Food systems need to be addressed from a human rights-based perspective and in particular the Right to food. This entails addressing hunger’s structural causes by ensuring that rights-holders such as small-scale farmers, women and youth can claim their food system-related rights and participate in governance mechanisms, and by supporting duty bearers (authorities) in the effective respect, protection and fulfilment of rights-based instruments such as UNDROP (UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants) or the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Agriculture (ITPGRFA), of which Switzerland is a signing party. Switzerland also actively supports the development, negotiation and implementation of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) policy recommendations and Voluntary Guidelines (On the right to food, On food systems and nutrition, On responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests).
Switzerland also strives to protect and strengthen the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Over 70% of the land in Africa is governed by customary land rights. It is important that Land Governance systems (laws, regulations, management) are inclusive and take into consideration customary land rights but also alternative dispute mechanisms, and especially protect and promote the access of women and young people to land and other productive resources. Switzerland contributes to land governance, land tenure rights, sustainable land management and reduction of land degradation as proposed by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
The private sector is omnipresent within a food system, and can entail all forms and scales of activity, from farmers and local small and medium-sized enterprises to multinational firms. In order to develop a sustainable and lasting impact, it is imperative that both market actors and private actors be involved in global efforts to make food systems more resilient, sustainable, efficient and inclusive to ensure healthy diets for all.
... especially in low- and middle-income countries, needs to be framed by strong accountability mechanisms. Switzerland is supports the strengthening of private sector norms and regulations through standard-setting bodies and capacity-building for government to shape better food environments. SMEs also need to be mobilised to bring to domestic markets sustainably produced more diversified and nutritious food for low- and middle-income consumers, and to be able to contribute to local food systems innovations. Switzerland is strongly engaged in supporting and developing better financing schemes and modalities, notably via dialogues and partnerships with international financial institutions, in particular IFAD, and inclusive-responsible impact-first funds which enable agroecological, nutritious-sensitive and competitive rural-urban value chains
K-HUB > SDC's Institutional Orientation > Thematic Focus