Chapter on Equitable Livelihoods

The private sector is responsible for almost all the food produced, sold and consumed globally. Therefore, businesses have a central role to play in improving food production and consumption patterns worldwide. The Food and Agriculture Roadmap calls on companies to work actively to address the issues of healthy and environmentally sustainable production and consumption by delivering integrated solutions to transform food systems.

What is it about:

The Equitable Livelihoods chapter of the Roadmap provides a common narrative, identifies gaps, and highlight new opportunities for bold private sector action around two transformational targets corresponding to the body of work developed by the Global Agribusiness Action on Equitable Livelihoods: improving incomes and resiliency in agricultural communities, and ensuring human rights are respected across the agricultural value chain. The Roadmap maps out the key action areas and a series of business-led solutions to achieve equitable livelihoods and reduce food loss, covering direct pathway 2: “Enhance equitable distribution of value” and [partially] 4: “Minimize food loss and waste,” from the CEO Guide to Food System Transformation.

Key findings:

Three action areas are proposed in this chapter to achieve the transformational targets: improve access to markets, respect and protect human rights, and promote inclusive innovation and technology. They are drawn from the most relevant existing scientific and sector-specific literature – produced by the Food and Land Use (FOLU) Coalition, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, LandScale, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and World Resources Institute (WRI). The suggested targets are a call to action for the food and agriculture sector to achieve a drastic global change and provide healthy, accessible, enjoyable food for all, produced equitably and within planetary boundaries.