Putting food systems thinking into practice: Integrating agricultural sectors into a multi-level analytical framework
Gareth Borman, Walter Simon de Boef, Flo Dirks, Yeray Saavedra Gonzalez, Abishkar Subedi, M.H. Thijssen, Judith Jacobs, Ted Schrader, Salome Boyd, Hermine J. ten Hove, Edwin van der Maden, Irene Koomen, Sheila Assibey-Yeboah, Coulibaly Moussa, Assumpta Uzamukunda, Annabelle Daburon, Asaah Ndambi, Simone van Vugt, Joost Guijt, J.J. Kessler, Jan Willem Molenaar, S. van Berkum
Abstract
In the wake of the United Nations Food Systems Summit - the first of its kind - practitioners need to capture the abstract concept of the food system and learn how the process of transformation that they engage in contributes to food system outcomes or risk operating in silos. With that aim, we focus on sector analysis, interpreting changes in sector performance as food system outcomes. This makes food systems thinking more actionable. We share an application of the integrated framework in a particular case: rapid assessments of the impact of COVID-19 on the functioning of the horticulture, sesame, and seed sectors across seven low- and middle-income countries. We highlight lessons learned from applying the multi-level integrated framework for putting food systems thinking into practice.