Bangkok Symposium - Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets

What is the issue?

• At a time when dietry patterns are changing rapidly, improving nutrition should be central to our debates on food culture.
• FAO and other UN partners are currently organising a conference on nutrition in Bangkok to ideate for future food policies.

Why is it critical?

• Nutritional security is under threat worldwide as our food systems are not properly responding to nutritional needs.
• The poor are constrained with limited access to nutritious foods due to its un-affordability.
• This leads to development of monotonous diets that do not provide them with adequate nutrients. 
• For a considerable population of the well-off, taste has increasingly taken precedence over nutrition in our food habits.
• These factors have led to an increase in non-communicable diseases, which is heavily burdening on our health-care systems.
• These have the potential to derail the economic progress that is essential for the poor to improve their lives.

What are the major international efforts?

• An “International Conference on Nutrition” was organised in Rome by  ‘UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’ (FAO) and the ‘World Health Organisation’ (WHO) in 2014.
• This was followed up last year, with an International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition.
• This week, experts on nutrition and major players in the food systems sector from across Asia and the Pacific are expected to gather at Bangkok for further discussions.
• All these actions are expected to better shape the ‘UN Decade of Action on Nutrition’ (2016-2025).

Who are the other stakeholders?

• A vast majority of the food we eat is produced by small farmers, many of whom are poor and undernourished themselves.
• Improvements to food systems must be achieved in ways that benefit their livelihood and nutritional needs.
• Small farmers are also key to building dynamic rural economies.
• It is hence critical to provide them with technological inputs that enhances their product valuations in the markets.
• Investing the all key players of the food supply chain (producers, transporters, marketers) is needed to push the nutrition agenda ahead.
• Food processing for value enhancement is also another key focus area to produce and deliver more nutritious food.

Source: The Hindu