By Vibhu Mishra
Rising food prices and declining farm incomes are putting increasing pressure on the global food system, with up to 720 million people facing hunger last year, and billions more struggling to afford healthy diets.
These numbers point to an even deeper crisis: in 2024, an estimated 2.3 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, and chronic hunger affected 96 million more people than in 2015.
Against this backdrop, senior UN officials called for urgent investment and innovation to transform global agrifood systems. These systems encompass everything from farming and fisheries to food processing, transport, markets and consumption – the full chain that brings food from field to table.
“Agrifood systems are at the heart of progress in our societies,” said Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), opening a special meeting in New York.
“They are the thread that links the environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainable development.”
Engaging young people
Food and farming systems underpin livelihoods worldwide, providing employment for more than 39 percent of the global workforce, as well as some 64 percent of jobs in Africa. Beyond feeding populations, they shape rural economies, public health, trade and environmental sustainability.
Transforming these systems, Thapa noted, could generate between $5 trillion and $10 trillion in benefits across health, economic growth and environmental protection.
Furthermore, with a seven per cent projected rise in the world’s youth population by 2030, ensuring meaningful participation of young people would help ensure agrifood systems transformations are inclusive, sustainable and future-ready, he added.
A crucial moment
Deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed told delegates the meeting came “at a pivotal moment.”
“Hunger remains at unacceptable levels. Fiscal space is shrinking, and pressures on agrifood systems are intensifying,” she said.
Since the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, 130 countries have drawn up national pathways to reform how food is grown, processed and distributed. But ambition must now translate into results.
“This momentum must be turned into delivery by scaling these solutions, aligning finance with national priorities and accelerating action where needs are greatest so that we leave no one behind,” Mohammed stressed.
Close gender gaps
Marking 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer, Mohammed highlighted that “women farmers are essential to food security, nutrition and economic resilience worldwide.”
“Closing gender gaps is not only a matter of justice – it is a driver for better outcomes for all,” she added.
Discussions focused on mobilising more finance and harnessing digital innovation – from data systems to emerging technologies – to boost productivity, create decent jobs and strengthen resilience in the face of climate shocks and market disruptions.
“We can boost productivity, create decent jobs, and strengthen resilience by translating ambition into action and coordination into results,” Mohammed said. “We can make food systems a powerful engine for accelerating progress across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that leave no one behind.”
