The “Institutionalisation of food safety in Bangladesh for safer food” project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented between 2013 and December 2019, had as main objective to support the operationalisation of the newly established Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA). Support provided helped BFSA to define its role, objectives and activities, and to strengthen its capacities. The project also contributed to enhance institutional coordination and define mechanisms for establishing standards and regulations. Important advances were made in raising public awareness on the importance of food safety. The project also helped create a strong drive to adopt an integrated ‘farm-to-fork’ approach in the poultry and mango sectors. The introduction of a BSc degree course in food safety management is an important achievement for medium and long-term capacity development. Awareness was raised on the need for a risk-based approach with regard to allocating public resources for food control and inspection. More efforts should be made to integrate the principles of risk analysis applicable to food safety systems and to develop data collection and processing skills, risk ranking and risk assessment tools.

The Resources, Partnerships, Impact – 2020 report elucidates who FAO is, what it has done, and how it has worked in collaboration with multiple stakeholders in 2019. Also, it highlights the way FAO has been adapting to changes in the development aid landscape, specifically by leveraging different kinds of funds and seeking innovative partnerships, in order to accelerate the attainment of the SDGs. The report takes a closer look at the challenges and strategies that guided FAO’s activities at the regional and global levels in 2019, while showcasing selected interventions that delivered critical results on the ground.

Micronutrients, often referred to as vitamins and minerals are vital to healthy development, disease prevention, and wellbeing. Although only required in small amounts, micronutrients are not produced in the body and must be derived from the diet. Commonly cited micronutrients include Iron, Vitamins A, B, D, Iodine, and Zinc. Malnutrition in micronutrients tends to trap populations in a vicious cycle of poverty, causing adults to be less productive and preventing children from reaching their full potential, and exacerbating household poverty in general. Addressing the problem of micronutrient malnutrition, therefore, provides substantial benefits to the cause of development (Ara et al. 2019). The fortification of staple food items including rice to deliver vital micronutrients offers a unique opportunity to target the vulnerable populace – mostly women, young children and female adolescents – at a low cost, and importantly, without forcing a change in dietary habits.2 Although considerable investments are currently being made to improve micronutrient nutrition outcomes around the world, such efforts generally take time to provide results.

This framework fosters the replication and scaling up of home-grown school feeding models and the mapping of opportunities for linking such programmes with relevant agricultural development and rural transformation investments.

This book presents research into the production of safe, high-quality, and environmentally friendly agriculture products in the Greater Mekong Subregion. It also explores the actions and policy options that could be pursued. Three themes are examined: Improving Food Safety and Quality; Inclusive and Sustainable, Safe and Environment-Friendly Agriculture Products; and Value Chains for Safe and Environment-Friendly Agriculture Products. This aligns with the ASEAN Economic Community blueprint, which calls for the creation of a single market and production base for food, agriculture, forestry; and integration of the region into the global economy.

The Global Food Policy Report is IFPRI’s flagship publication. This year’s annual report examines major food policy issues, global and regional developments, and commitments made in 2015, and presents data on key food policy indicators. The report also proposes key policy options for 2016 and beyond to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the global community made major commitments on sustainable development and climate change. The global food system lies at the heart of these commitments—and we will only be able to meet the new goals if we work to transform our food system to be more inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly.