Much of the international development architecture still treats food systems as a technical problem requiring technical solutions. This approach alone is no longer fit for purpose. The decisions that shape food security outcomes are now made far beyond agriculture ministries. Money is shifting from traditional aid to new instruments and actors. New alliances are emerging outside of multilateral channels. None of this is new information, but the problem is that reform still has to move through an administrative structure built for another era which prioritised continuity over enabling transformation.
This is a governance challenge as much as a food system one. The task is to set an agenda capable of responding to this shifting context.
Power is moving faster than accountability can follow. States can weaponise food; corporations shape markets and technology choices; philanthropies influence which questions get funded. Meanwhile new coalitions are emerging outside traditional multilateral channels. Brazil’s Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, launched at the 2024 G20 summit, now counts more than 100 countries, 53 foundations and 14 international financial institutions as members; BRICS is increasing cooperation on food security; and China is playing an expanding role in South–South cooperation. These coalitions can work more effectively than consensus-bound multilateral processes, and open space for real South–South agency. But efficiency and speed do not automatically make them more inclusive or accountable.
Photo: FAO/Adam Ibrahim