Vision 2030: Transforming Ethiopian Food Systems – Part I: A Synthesis Report: Game Changing Solutions to Transform Ethiopia’s Food Systems.

This is a national synthesis report prepared under the Ministry of Agriculture and revised in January 2022. The document sets out Ethiopia’s vision and pathway for transforming its food systems in the context of the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the objectives of ending hunger, improving food security and nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. It presents the Ethiopian Food Systems process as a government-led and multi-stakeholder initiative convened by the Ministries of Agriculture and Health, involving national dialogues, technical review and prioritisation of “game changing solutions” intended to guide transformation through to 2030. The report identifies the prevailing structure, progress and constraints of Ethiopia’s food systems. It records substantial improvements in agricultural production, cereal yields, pulses and oilseed production, dietary diversity, rural incomes, market development and agro-processing, while also noting continuing systemic challenges. These include slowing yield growth, limited access to nutrient-dense foods, inadequate food safety infrastructure, insufficient food fortification and processing capacity, low dietary diversity, micronutrient deficiencies, increasing non-communicable disease risks, land degradation, soil depletion, deforestation, water scarcity, low mechanisation, limited irrigation, weak rural finance, fragmented landholdings, weak market linkages, high post-harvest losses and insufficient institutional support. The report further recognises that climate change, recurrent droughts and floods, conflict, displacement, locust infestation and other shocks increase the vulnerability of farmers, pastoralists and food-system actors, requiring stronger disaster risk management and social protection measures. The future pathway is organised around the five UN Food Systems Summit Action Tracks and translated into fourteen national action areas, twenty-two game-changing solutions and six implementation clusters. These clusters concern the availability and accessibility of safe and nutrient-dense foods; sustainable and equitable consumption of healthy diets throughout the life cycle; integrated policy systems for agricultural transformation; digital technology, mechanisation and innovation; access to markets, market information, infrastructure and specialisation; and risk management and protection of vulnerable groups. The proposed measures include strengthening food safety systems, expanding diversified and fortified food production, promoting climate-smart livestock value chains, supporting rural electrification and cold chains, adopting dietary guidelines, reforming land administration, improving land-use planning and watershed management, implementing the Green Legacy initiative, expanding agricultural finance and insurance, improving input supply and mechanisation, strengthening national market information systems, developing agricultural commercialisation corridors, and scaling social protection and shock-response systems.