Expert opinion

With the aim of reaching SDG2 (zero hunger and sustainable agriculture) development agencies have for a long time funded research for development. In the margins of the recent Wageningen SDG conference Melle Leenstra, policy officer food security at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was invited to give his take on the topic of the session entitled “Co-creation for impact: Donors and Knowledge institutions”. »

The “Food Systems Approach” was one of the buzzwords of the WUR SDG conference of late August. There seemed to be consensus among speakers, panelists and participants that food systems need a transition. Future food systems need to deliver better: more food needs to be available and accessible for the growing, more urbanized world population, it needs to be part of a balanced, nutritious diet, and to be produced, processed and traded in new ways in order to cope with climate change and resource scarcity. »

Since 2015, the “Food for All” Partnership brings together the World Bank Group and civil society, academia, government, private sector, and other stakeholders from the Netherlands. Read here the interview with Wijnand van IJssel, a Dutch expert who is actually seconded at the Agriculture Global Practice within the World Bank in Washington to foster matchmaking and knowledge sharing. »

 “Who will produce our food in the future?” Ken Giller, professor Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University, asks out loudly during a presentation at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 5,  2018. It asks for policy that doesn’t exist at the moment”, Giller says, “this is what I frame as the Food Security Conundrum”. »

The IITA Youth Agripreneur initiative (IYA) is a youth-in-agribusiness model which was established to address the issue of unemployment and also provide a platform along the agricultural value chain for unemployed youth to generate wealth and create jobs. »

There is great potential for the Dutch food security agenda to be more effective when a food system approach, the ambition of leaving no one behind and local knowledge gain a more central role. This was the main conclusion from the multi-stakeholder dialogue on the recent IOB evaluation of the Dutch food security policy, on May 31, 2018 in Wageningen. »