Food systems around the world face a triple challenge: providing food security and nutrition for a growing global population; supporting livelihoods for those working along the food supply chain; and contributing to environmental sustainability. Better policies hold tremendous promise for making progress in these domains.

Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara — especially for small farms and businesses — requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent’s evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book’s recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.

Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. There has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions. The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also not on track to meet global nutrition targets. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report puts a spotlight on diet quality as a critical link between food security and nutrition. Meeting SDG 2 targets will only be possible if people have enough food to eat and if what they are eating is nutritious and affordable. The report also introduces new analysis of the cost and affordability of healthy diets around the world, by region and in different development contexts. It presents valuations of the health and climate-change costs associated with current food consumption patterns, as well as the potential cost savings if food consumption patterns were to shift towards healthy diets that include sustainability considerations. The report then concludes with a discussion of the policies and strategies to transform food systems to ensure affordable healthy diets, as part of the required efforts to end both hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

New evidence this year corroborates the rise in world hunger observed in this report last year, sending a warning that more action is needed if we aspire to end world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Updated estimates show the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to prevailing levels from almost a decade ago. Although progress continues to be made in reducing child stunting, over 22 percent of children under five years of age are still affected. Other forms of malnutrition are also growing: adult obesity continues to increase in countries irrespective of their income levels, and many countries are coping with multiple forms of malnutrition at the same time – overweight and obesity, as well as anaemia in women, and child stunting and wasting.

International Food Law and Policy is the first interdisciplinary piece of academic literature of its kind with a comprehensive, reader-friendly approach to teaching the major aspects of food regulation, law, policy, food safety and environmental sustainability in a global context. The sections are grouped by continents and focus on a range of cross-disciplinary subjects, such as public health, international food trade, the right to food, intellectual property and global regulatory aspects of food production. With its systematic approach, this book will be a valuable resource both for professionals working in food regulation and anyone interested in the subject. It provides a solid foundation for courses and master’s programs in environmental management, food law, policy and regulation, and sustainable development around the world.

While undernutrition persists, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases rise, including in low- and middle-income countries. What is wrong with our food systems? How will we feed a growing and urbanizing world population with natural resources that are more and more limited and depleted? In June 2019, a two-day symposium brought together academics, researchers, policymakers, representatives from civil society and private sector, parliamentarians and government agencies to discuss these questions (and many more), and explore pathways to a sustainable future of food and healthy diets for all. These proceedings report the presentations and discussions that recolved around the four main areas of (1) Research, Knowledge Gaps and Needs for Sustainable Food Systems and Healthy Diets; (2) Governance of food systems for healthy diets; (3) Building Consumer Confidence in Food Systems; and (4) Transforming Food Systems: What does it take?

Over the past few decades, some countries in Asia have been more successful than others in addressing poverty and malnutrition. The key question is what policies, strategies, legislation and institutional arrangements have led to a transformed agricultural sector, effectively contributing to poverty alleviation and addressing malnutrition. The great majority of national policymakers within and outside the Asia-Pacific region are keen to understand the causes of agricultural development and transformation in successful countries in Asia. A large number of studies have been conducted and some of them link specific public policies and interventions to successful agricultural transformation. However, there seems to be lack of focus on the policy, legislative and institutional environments that have enabled or impeded agricultural transformation in Asia. National policymakers are likely to benefit significantly from adequate and convincing information on successful and relevant experiences in successful transformation. Countries are interested in what their neighbours and peers have done, and why some have achieved impressive results. The main purpose of this study is to take stock of public sector experiences in facilitating and enabling agricultural transformation in selected countries in Asia. The study focuses on key public sector interventions, in particular policies, legislation and institutional innovations, because these areas have so far not been adequately researched.