2. Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition
A large number of proposals in the e-Inventory put forward specific goals on food and agriculture. These can be split into three broad categories: food sovereignty and empowerment; sustainable agriculture; and hunger and nutrition. Nevertheless, the degree of overlap between these categories and the large number of apparent inter-linkages at the target level reveals the cross-cutting nature of the issue and its centrality to overall framework.
Food Sovereignty and Empowerment
Goal | Food sovereignty[6] | Interlinkages | Support and empower farmers to create a sustainable agriculture[7] | Interlinkages |
Targets | Adopt food sovereignty as policy framework towards adequate, safe, nutritious food for all. | | Farmers in the developing world can become as productive as those in the developed world - while supporting continuous gains in sustainability for all. | |
Policies and investments to support small-scale farmers, women producers, and workers. | | Re-commit to empower farmers via support to knowledge sharing and accessible, quality extension in farm management and marketing. | |
Secure access to (and protection of) the water, land, soils, biodiversity. | | Supportive frameworks for investment in infrastructure and inclusive markets. | |
Work with farmers and other actors across the value chain to address not just food waste, but also food loss. | |
Sustainable Agriculture
Goal | Sustainable agriculture[8] | Interlinkages | Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices[9] | Interlinkages |
Targets | By 2030, chemical inputs, herbicides and pesticides are largely replaced with organic and biological alternatives. Cultivated crop strains are diversified, as are production techniques and the mix of agricultural producers. | | Sustainable intensification: • Prevent zero net land degradation in wild areas and increase production on existing arable land; • Restore land and soil quality and manage land and soil resources sustainably; Ensure that food production can meet growing demand and that, in line with the vision of the Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used and that ecosystem services are maintained; • Reduce biodiversity loss due to agricultural activities. | |
Interspersed natural areas should be protected and restored as sources of pollination, pest control and soil fertility. Best management practices reduce erosion by 90 per cent and nitrogen runoff by 50 per cent or more. | | Restoring soils and degraded land: • Restore land and soil quality and manage land and soil resources sustainably. | |
Food for export is secondary to food for local consumption. | | Expanding resource efficiency techniques: • Invest in nutrient use efficiency research; • Promote connections between water, energy and land. | |
The local ecological knowledge of indigenous peoples and traditional and local communities is utilized to identify resilient crops and cultivation practices that provide maximum protection against climate change. | | Reducing the yield gap for smallholders: • Invest in extension and knowledge sharing that assists in scaling farmers’ adoption of good farming practices, and in planning for resilience to climate change and potential yield losses; • Develop a network of agri-input dealers as farmers’ main point of contact for inputs and advice, in order to promote extension services and knowledge transfer; • Governments need to invest in agricultural education programs to train agronomists, extension workers and agro-input dealers. | |
Hunger and Nutrition
Goal | Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger beyond 2015[10] | Interlinkages | To ensure adequate and healthy food for all[11] | Interlinkages |
Targets | Improve food security and nutrition by focusing on increasing production and productivity. | | To halt the rise in overweight and obesity for children and adults. | |
Support farming communities, the poor and the vulnerable to go into small holder farming. | | To reduce the global number of children under five who are stunted by 2025. | |
Encourage commercialization of agriculture through ensuring the availability of modern farm equipment and tax free farm inputs. | | To increase exclusive breastfeeding rates in the first six months by 2025. | |
Ensure that extension services are provided free of charge. | |
Ensure that farmers have easy access to information, especially on the marketability of their products. | |
Focus on improving infrastructure, such as roads and electricity. | |