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SCIENTIFIC NEWS 1
New report highlights critical food system trends and challenges in countdown to 2030
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Figure: The report tracks 50 food systems indicators across the world, organized into five themes: 1) diets, nutrition, and health; 2) environment, natural resources, and production; 3) livelihoods, poverty, and equity; 4) resilience; and 5) governance. ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano
FAO News 14/01/2025
Geneva – A groundbreaking new study, “Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030”, published today in Nature Food, presents the first comprehensive analysis of change since 2000 in key food system indicators.
Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director of GAIN, said, “This new report reveals a mix of encouraging advancements and concerning setbacks, underscoring the urgency of accelerating food systems transformation. As this report shows, tradeoffs are inevitable between food system goals such as jobs, climate, nutrition, food security and resilience. But with stronger governance and better data these tradeoffs can be mitigated and even flipped into synergies. This report helps us to understand how to do this and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
The peer-reviewed research was conducted by the Food Systems Countdown Initiative (FSCI), a collaboration of leading experts and organizations, coordinated by Columbia University, Cornell University, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The resulting report tracks 50 food systems indicators across the world, organized into five themes: 1) diets, nutrition, and health; 2) environment, natural resources, and production; 3) livelihoods, poverty, and equity; 4) resilience; and 5) governance.
Key Findings
• Encouraging progress in resilience and nutrition
Twenty of the 42 metrics analyzed over time have improved, and notable achievements include significant increases in access to safe water and the availability of vegetables. Conservation of plant and animal genetic resources has also risen, bolstering the resilience of food systems to climate shocks and other disruptions.
Twenty of the 42 metrics analyzed over time have improved, and notable achievements include significant increases in access to safe water and the availability of vegetables. Conservation of plant and animal genetic resources has also risen, bolstering the resilience of food systems to climate shocks and other disruptions.
• Emerging concerns: Food price volatility and government accountability decline
Seven indicators show significant decline, including increased food price volatility, worsening government accountability, and decreased civil society participation. These shifts suggest challenges in maintaining stability and policy coherence amid global crises.
Seven indicators show significant decline, including increased food price volatility, worsening government accountability, and decreased civil society participation. These shifts suggest challenges in maintaining stability and policy coherence amid global crises.
• Interactions drive complex outcomes
The report highlights how changes in one area, such as governance or diet quality, affect other areas, emphasizing the need for coordinated, cross-sectoral approaches. Case studies from Ethiopia, Mexico, and the Netherlands illustrate the local relevance of these dynamics.
The report highlights how changes in one area, such as governance or diet quality, affect other areas, emphasizing the need for coordinated, cross-sectoral approaches. Case studies from Ethiopia, Mexico, and the Netherlands illustrate the local relevance of these dynamics.
A Call to Action
Mario Herrero, Professor and Director of the Food Systems & Global Change Program, Cornell University, said, “This report sheds light on the ways different areas of food systems are related and interact, which is critical in understanding how we can focus our efforts to maximize synergies, manage trade-offs, and avoid unintended consequences.”
The report identifies governance and resilience as pivotal leverage points for food system transformation. Targeted improvements in these areas could catalyze positive changes across other indicators, amplifying global progress.
Jessica Fanzo, Professor of Climate and Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative, Columbia Climate School, said, “We need wholesale reform of our food systems so we can provide the world’s population with the nutritious food needed to grow and develop. We are facing a syndemic of challenges: increasing diet related disease, continued undernutrition, and a changing climate. Combating these requires significant and rapid change. This study is so important because it shows the speed of change so far, to guide more action because we can only manage what we measure.”
José Rosero Moncayo, Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), concluded, “This report provides a clear roadmap for evidence-based policymaking. As we enter the final five years of the SDG process, we have to double down on areas of progress while addressing persistent gaps, keeping the interconnectedness of food systems at the forefront. At the same time efforts are needed to improve the pool of indicators we have at our disposal to describe and analyze different elements of the system. As the report points out, the Countdown Initiative has a strong commitment to filling the current data gaps”.
See https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/new-report-highlights-critical-food-system-trends-and-challenges-in-countdown-to-2030/en
See https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/new-report-highlights-critical-food-system-trends-and-challenges-in-countdown-to-2030/en
BULLETIN 2
A jack of all fruits
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Figure: The jackfruit was Bangladesh’s natural choice for the FAO One Country One priority product initiative, which helps countries identify and maximise the market potential of certain national products. ©FAO/Saikat Mojumder
FAO STORY 13/01/2025
Khadiga Khanom never used to give much thought to jackfruit. In her home district of Gazipur, about 50 kilometres north of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, Khadiga had certainly seen plenty of jackfruit trees in her life. They are hard to miss, as oblong, spiky green fruits, which can easily each weigh several kilos.
She had even cooked jackfruit in her curries along with an array of other ingredients. But she never imagined that one day it would become one of the main sources of her family’s livelihood.
It all came about after the 37-year-old homemaker took part in a series of workshops and trainings where she learned how to process a whole range of products that can be made from the jackfruit.
With this training provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), she soon decided to take a leap of faith and start her own business. Today, she produces an array of jackfruit-based goods, including pickles, jam, burgers, cakes, pizzas and even plant-based leather.
Processing about 100 kilograms of jackfruit daily, with five employees in a specially equipped room in her home, she’s able to earn an income of about USD 400 a month. She proudly shares that the money is “helping me support my family, and I'm even saving up to expand the business. I never thought jackfruit would change my life like this.”
The learnings were part of the FAO One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative which helps countries identify the products that have the most market potential and provides support in maximising it.
For Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest producer of jackfruit, this was a natural choice. Jackfruit is also the country’s national fruit and symbolizes abundance. Yet much of the potential of this fruit remained untapped.
Outdated subsistence farming methods and post-harvest losses due to poor storage have led to many jackfruit rotting before reaching markets.
See https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/a-jack-of-all-fruits/en
She had even cooked jackfruit in her curries along with an array of other ingredients. But she never imagined that one day it would become one of the main sources of her family’s livelihood.
It all came about after the 37-year-old homemaker took part in a series of workshops and trainings where she learned how to process a whole range of products that can be made from the jackfruit.
With this training provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), she soon decided to take a leap of faith and start her own business. Today, she produces an array of jackfruit-based goods, including pickles, jam, burgers, cakes, pizzas and even plant-based leather.
Processing about 100 kilograms of jackfruit daily, with five employees in a specially equipped room in her home, she’s able to earn an income of about USD 400 a month. She proudly shares that the money is “helping me support my family, and I'm even saving up to expand the business. I never thought jackfruit would change my life like this.”
The learnings were part of the FAO One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative which helps countries identify the products that have the most market potential and provides support in maximising it.
For Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest producer of jackfruit, this was a natural choice. Jackfruit is also the country’s national fruit and symbolizes abundance. Yet much of the potential of this fruit remained untapped.
Outdated subsistence farming methods and post-harvest losses due to poor storage have led to many jackfruit rotting before reaching markets.
See https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/a-jack-of-all-fruits/en
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Microsatellite markers development and molecular fingerprinting of cashew cultivars
Siddanna Savadi, Gokul Mohan, K Manoj, Manju Manuel, B M Muralidhara, Babli Mog, Jamboor Dinakara Adiga
Mol Biol Rep.; 2024 Dec 5; 52(1):34. doi: 10.1007/s11033-024-10131-5.
Siddanna Savadi, Gokul Mohan, K Manoj, Manju Manuel, B M Muralidhara, Babli Mog, Jamboor Dinakara Adiga
Mol Biol Rep.; 2024 Dec 5; 52(1):34. doi: 10.1007/s11033-024-10131-5.
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Abstract
Background: Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a widely cultivated tree with great economic significance. In cashew, several elite cultivars have been developed for commercial cultivation, which form the underpinning for the cashew-based industries and the several billion-dollar world trade. However, frequently the genetic purity of the planting material is not maintained, resulting in great economic losses. Therefore, there is a need to develop a reliable method for the identification of cultivars to avoid economic losses to the cultivators and the protection of cultivars by the breeders.
Methods and results: In this study, 35 new microsatellite/simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed, and a set of 20 highly polymorphic and reproducible markers were used for DNA fingerprinting and genetic diversity analysis in 32 cashew cultivars. The polymorphic information content (PIC) of newly developed markers varied from 0.19 to 0.67, with an average of 0.44. The probability of identifying any two genotypes with identical fingerprints using the 20 SSR markers used for fingerprinting here in cashew cultivars was less than 2.8 × 10-11. Of the set of 20 markers, eight were sufficient for uniquely fingerprinting all the cultivars. Genetic diversity analysis by the neighbor-joining (NJ) method grouped 32 cultivars into three main clusters, and the grouping had no relationship to the geographic regions or the pedigree.
Conclusions: The findings of this study are useful for the conservation and protection of cultivars under the PVP Act for ensuring the trading of quality planting material and are also useful for cashew breeding programs.
See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39636481/
Methods and results: In this study, 35 new microsatellite/simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed, and a set of 20 highly polymorphic and reproducible markers were used for DNA fingerprinting and genetic diversity analysis in 32 cashew cultivars. The polymorphic information content (PIC) of newly developed markers varied from 0.19 to 0.67, with an average of 0.44. The probability of identifying any two genotypes with identical fingerprints using the 20 SSR markers used for fingerprinting here in cashew cultivars was less than 2.8 × 10-11. Of the set of 20 markers, eight were sufficient for uniquely fingerprinting all the cultivars. Genetic diversity analysis by the neighbor-joining (NJ) method grouped 32 cultivars into three main clusters, and the grouping had no relationship to the geographic regions or the pedigree.
Conclusions: The findings of this study are useful for the conservation and protection of cultivars under the PVP Act for ensuring the trading of quality planting material and are also useful for cashew breeding programs.
See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39636481/
