The Stocktaking Moment this summer in Rome is a key proving moment. It will be a crucial moment to address how to finance the institutions, people and organisations that will be working to transform food systems. Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the UN Organisations in Rome, Marcel Beukeboom: “The Stocktaking Moment should also develop a set of metrics for success, clarifying when incentives are working in the right transition direction.” To do so a good analysis is needed of why interventions were successful and why others failed. Lia van Weesenbeeck, director of the Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies, observed that it is also important to do a good context analysis, understanding the environment, and understanding the stakeholder landscape: who needs to act, or who can act?

The international community may also need to face some resistance to the ‘food systems’ agenda at the Stocktaking Moment. The global conversation on food systems transitions is characterised by a multifaceted political economy and a multilateral reality; a reality that we need to be aware of and operate in carefully. In this context, some may refer to the too complex nature of the food systems discourse, an argument about which a participant said: “Complexity is not an excuse, try to always push back when someone comes back with this argument”. The political ambition should be to get a group of countries that genuinely wants to make the Food Systems Summit implementation a success.

The Netherlands as frontrunner?

The meeting explored the Dutch role in the follow up to the Food Systems Summit, and particularly its response to Africa's food system challenges in policy making and practice. First of all, participants agreed that some modesty is justified when Dutch actors talk about food systems transformation in Africa. It was said that “we [the Netherlands] are in no position to lecture anyone on their own food systems transformation”. The Netherlands is itself in the midst of navigating the complex political economy of transforming the way food is produced, processed and consumed. According to another participant, the Netherlands may learn from African countries how to make the food systems agenda an entry point for a broader sustainable development strategy. For example, encourage that debates about food systems transition go beyond the policy boundaries of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

Secondly, participants noted that recognising the value of collaborating with stakeholders of different sectors and transcending one’s boundaries is an important step to take. Yet, also in the Netherlands, it seems that not all players want to walk in the same direction when it comes to food system transformation; even while the Netherlands is a promoter of multi-stakeholder collaboration (the ‘Dutch Diamond’ approach) in its international diplomacy. Domestically, competing claims and differing visions have emerged, making it challenging for the Dutch government to fully implement its goals and effectively transform its own food system. This resistance within society and amongst policymakers has made it increasingly difficult for the Dutch government to walk the talk in transforming its own food system. A challenge that is not unique to the Netherlands, as explained above.

Towards concrete action

“Africa is thirsty for technology and investments,” said Stefanos Fotiou, who clearly sees a role for the Netherlands to help make the case of what successful food systems transformation means, and inspire other countries. The conversation continued, identifying opportunities for concrete measures of Dutch actors to support the national pathways of African countries. This converged around three issues: learning from transformation efforts in other sectors, fostering local solutions, and being a partner in multi stakeholder collaboration.

For Dutch actors, there could be opportunities to jointly define long-term efforts and strategies in food systems transformation. Experience shows that partners in the water sector more readily commit to long-term joint efforts and strategies. The agrifood sector can learn from this, for example that a long-term vision can serve as a basis for coherence in policies and goals, and can help unite stakeholders around a common objective that helps align short-term actions. Not unlike the effort of the national pathways for food systems transitions.

A long-term vision could also help boost investment in food systems transformation. Due to the proven market value of investment in the water sector, that sector has been able to attract significant investment. For food systems transformation, getting such proof is not easy, “because we cannot rely on the traditional economic approach to financial flows to prove that investment in food systems is making good market sense”.

This relates to a key challenge in food systems transformation: to go beyond monetary value and also consider environmental and social costs. In other words, looking into the true cost, true value and true price of food. Such an approach is more holistic - considering the broader environmental, social and economic impacts of food production, distribution and consumption and factoring this into the cost of production. This includes factors such as environmental sustainability, social equity and health outcomes, which are often not fully considered in traditional economic models.

The potential of local solutions

A second angle is the opportunity for Dutch actors to support processes to radically redirect agricultural subsidies and policies towards embracing and integrating local and context-specific solutions. In Senegal and Burkina Faso, for example, national governments have increased investment in their domestic production sectors. In Senegal, millet is being rediscovered as an alternative to wheat and bakeries are now using locally available and locally adapted grains.

Producing for global markets is not necessarily the solution for local food security: “Africa will need to become more self-sufficient and increase regional trade”. Internationally, there is a growing recognition that agricultural policies and subsidies often favour large-scale industrial agriculture, which can have detrimental impacts on the social, environmental, and health aspects of food systems. Redirecting subsidies towards more sustainable, inclusive, and locally relevant solutions is gaining traction as a way to address these challenges and transform food systems.

Working together in multi-stakeholder partnerships

Dutch actors may be valuable partners in national food systems transformation in Africa through multi-stakeholder cooperation. However, the challenge of initiating or expanding collaborations with Dutch actors remained the "million-dollar question" at hand. What are the concrete next steps? One approach suggested was to guide countries in showcasing the added value of adopting a multi-stakeholder approach. This would involve empowering local networks of stakeholders, identifying those who can drive change, and finding ways to include them in decision-making processes.

Moderator Lia van Weesenbeeck concluded by observing “there is plenty of interest amongst the different stakeholders present today to offer support”. The next step is to connect to the national pathways, collaborate with the national food systems convenors, and to connect to the local ambitions, actions and agents for change. Important success factors highlighted today are having a clear long-term vision, collaborating with various stakeholders, and being aware of the resistance in the multilateral reality. Both in international collaboration, and in the Netherlands, there is plenty of opportunity to start walking the talk!