Earlier this week, the first Food for All Talk (#FFATalks) under the World Bank Group (WBG)-Netherlands Partnership took place. Juergen Voegele, Senior Director of the Agriculture Global Practice at the World Bank Group chaired the event. Panelists included A4NH Director, John McDermott, of IFPRI, and A4NH’s Flagship 1 Leader on Food Systems for Healthier Diets, Inge Brouwer, of Wageningen University and Research Centre (Wageningen UR). McDermott and Brouwer urged participants from WBG, Netherlands, and beyond to flip our thinking: from “Farm to Fork“, to “Fork to Farm”.
First 'Food for All Talk' hosted by World Bank Group. (Photo: WBG)
Consumer demand for healthy diets and nutrition outcomes have to drive the value chains, influencing what the private sector delivers and what farming systems produce. However….What is a healthy diet? Can the food system provide adequate, affordable and acceptable food? Where adequate is based on calories and micronutrients; and acceptable is determined by local food culture/preferences. Does the private sector produce what people need or what they want (which is not the same)? How can we change consumer behavior? The event illustrated that partnership can move the agenda – WB’s economic expertise and high-level entry points together with CGIAR/ Wageningen UR research could influence public spending in client countries, potentially leveraging consumer demand and private sector supply.
Take a look at the PowerPoint presentation used during the event. Pilot countries are Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
