Food Systems Pathways: Towards Sustainable Food Systems.

Yemen’s Food Systems Pathways were developed as part of the country’s commitment to the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit and are informed by extensive research, policy reviews, and national technical dialogues across key sectors, including agriculture, fisheries, industry, education, social protection, water, environment, and health. These pathways provide a strategic vision for strengthening food security, improving nutrition, and advancing food self-sufficiency as foundations for greater national stability, resilience, and prosperity. The pathways are operationalized through national task forces organized into thematic groups responsible for driving the transition toward healthy and sustainable food systems while fostering collaboration with regional and global partners. Their work focuses on six core areas: promoting agricultural and fisheries investment to improve food availability and reduce food insecurity; supporting economic development through increased investment, productivity, and diversified financing; empowering vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, through improved health, education, and economic participation; strengthening strategic development partnerships across public, private, civil society, and international actors; enhancing human capacities through investments in health and education; and improving food quality and safety throughout the entire food value chain. Together with a set of identified thematic priorities, these areas form a transformative pathway toward a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable food system in Yemen.
The following is a description of the thematic priorities emerging from Yemen’s national food systems dialogues: (i) scaling up social protection through coordinated reforms and targeted interventions to strengthen food access and equity; (ii) expanding the scale and quality of agricultural and fisheries production as key drivers of economic growth, food security, and improved nutrition; (iii) promoting lifelong nutrition, health education, and awareness raising, including school- and hospital-based initiatives to encourage healthy diets, particularly for children; (iv) strengthening food safety through a multi-sectoral approach, including improved management of agricultural pesticides and fertilizers and efforts to reduce food loss and waste; (v) enhancing sustainable financing and improving efficiency in local resource management to support comprehensive development and progress toward self-sufficiency; (vi) building national readiness for transformation and resilience to shocks by strengthening capacities for system transition, prediction, absorption, adaptation, and prevention; and (vii) fostering strategic collaboration and partnerships across government, private sector, civil society, and development partners.