Achieving Sustainable Food Systems in a Global Crisis: Ethiopia

Ethiopia is not on track to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with poverty and hunger levels projected to be higher in 2030 than they are today. This is being made worse by the conflict in Tigray, swarms of desert locusts, an economic slowdown, skyrocketing food, fertilizer, and energy prices—exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the COVID-19 pandemic—and climate change. To get back on track, it is critical to pursue policy pathways that favour synergies and limit the trade-offs between hunger, poverty, nutrition, and climate change. This report presents an evidencebased and costed country roadmap for effective public interventions to transform agriculture and food systems in Ethiopia in a way that ends hunger, makes diets healthier and more affordable, improves the productivity and incomes of small-scale producers and their households, and mitigates and adapts to climate change.

The report shows that it is possible to achieve sustainable food system transformation in the next decade by increasing public investment by USD 4.6 billion and targeting this spending on a more effective portfolio of interventions that achieve multiple sustainable development outcomes. Importantly, when comparing the financing gap between the long-term investment needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 and the short-term investment needed for emergency food assistance, there is significant underfunding of the longer-term investment needs (Figure 11). The shortfall in longer-term funding increases the vulnerability of Ethiopia to shocks and crises, increasing the number of people affected by hunger and poverty. Donors should, therefore, simultaneously increase emergency food assistance while ensuring this is linked to—and complemented with—an increase in longer-term investments to build resilience and help mitigate against future shocks and crises.

The findings are based on a review of academic and grey literature, donor-funded projects, micro- and macroeconomic modelling, and engagement and consultations with key stakeholders in Ethiopia. This report is part of a project that explores the interaction between achieving hunger, poverty reduction, and healthy diets while addressing climate change within the evolving food systems in three countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria.