How sustainable is our country”s food system? Ethiopia does better than US, China and Nigeria

Can lower-income countries develop sustainable food systems?
·         France, Japan and Germany lead the world
·         Ethiopia, coming 12th in our Food Sustainability Index, performed better than both the US and China.
·         Nigeria came 24th out of the 34 countries in the coverage, performing better than Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Brazil, India and United Arab Emirates.

Food represents a common thread linking the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by UN member states in 2015. The Food Sustainability Index (FSI), developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit with the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, is a model designed to assess the sustainability of national food systems in a qualitative and quantitative manner.

The FSI aims to highlight best practices among different countries, establish a comparable benchmark and measure progress over time.

The first edition of the FSI, published in 2016, ranked 25 countries according to their food system sustainability.

In the 2017 edition The Economist Intelligence Unit is adding nine new countries—including seven from the wider Mediterranean region (Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia), plus Hungary and Sweden. The FSI’s ranking is not intended to be judgemental, but rather offers a benchmark against which the performance of countries can be monitored vis-à-vis the main challenges confronting the global food system.

The FSI’s three pillars—sustainable agriculture, nutritional challenges, and food loss and waste—remain the same, but a weighting scheme based on consultations with experts has been added. This has an impact on the indicator results and rankings. The FSI’s three pillars are divided into eight categories, which are in turn divided among 35 indicators scaled from 0 to 100, where 100 equals fully sustainable. The overall score for each country is then calculated from a weighted average of the categories.

A more detailed explanation of the methodology and indicators included in the 2017 edition can be found in a dedicated methodology report.1 In future, it is envisaged that the FSI will be expanded further and an even more longitudinal analysis created.

Find here the executive summary written by Laurence Blair and edited by Martin Koehring of The Economist Intelligence Unit.

The Report – Eat better, eat less, food for all.

The coexistence of hunger and obesity, the overexploitation of natural resources and food waste: these are the three paradoxes identified by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition.

We use a multidisciplinary approach to study and analyse the relationship between food and scientific, economic, social and environmental factors.

Through research, dissemination and public engagement, our contribution to shift towards more sustainable food systems includes the Nutritional and Environmental Double Pyramid, the Milan Protocol as well as Eating Planet.

Following the COP 21 agreements and the definition of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Food Sustainability Index is just the latest result of the endeavour to turn previously identified paradoxes into pillars of global analysis, in order to study and promote sustainable practices and to rebalance the fundamental links between food, people and the Planet.

In order to accelerate this process, raise awareness and enable people to make informed choices about food and nutrition, we also collaborated with the development of the Right to Food Map and the Food Sustainability Media Award.

Food sustainability is about culture, education, health, equity and respect for the planet we live in.

We hope that all these initiatives become useful tools for policy makers and civil society, for experts and trainers, and for anyone studying to work in the food system in the future.

Overall Performance / Ranking

Nigeria came 24th out of the 34 countries in the coverage. This ranking is the result of a composite index made up of a weighted sum of selected indicators. A higher score means that the selected country is on the right path towards a sustainable food and nutrition system.

Food loss and waste

This chart ranks countries according to the food loss and waste subindex. A higher score means that the selected country is on the right path to addressing food loss and waste.

Sustainable Agriculture

This chart ranks countries according to the sustainable agriculture subindex. A higher score means that the selected country is on the right path to implementing a sustainable agriculture system.

Nutritional Challenges

This chart ranks countries according to the hunger and obesity subindex. A higher score means that the selected country is on the right path to tackling nutritional problems via quality practices.

Proshareng

Related posts