On-farm risks for resilient food and nutrition systems

Our demands on the world’s food producers continue to grow as we look to the global food system to efficiently provide growing populations with safe, nutritious and higher quality food, while also using fewer inputs and preserving vulnerable ecosystems. At the same time, rapid economic transition in many countries, increased integration of global markets and new technologies provide many opportunities for the farming sector. Smallholder farmers, who feed a significant portion of the global population, remain amongst the world’s poorest people, and they are one of the groups most vulnerable to impacts of climate change such as more extreme weather events, less predictable weather patterns, threatened water security, emerging pest and disease threats and soil and land degradation. They face complex livelihood decisions which will see many leave the sector for opportunities in urban areas, leaving increasing labour shortages in rural areas. This presentation explores options for innovation by smallholders to address these on-farm risks and the technologies, policies, and economic and social enablers needed to facilitate more resilient food and nutrition systems.