Food Systems Transformation Approach:
From Theoretical Framework to Application for Vietnam's Food Systems Transformation
Dao The Anh
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS)
daotheanh@gmail.com
Inge Brouwer
Prof. Wageningen University/ IFPRI
Mark Lundy
Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS)
daotheanh@gmail.com
Inge Brouwer
Prof. Wageningen University/ IFPRI
Mark Lundy
Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT
Context and Problems of the Food System in Vietnam
Although Vietnam has made significant progress in reducing poverty, ensuring food security, and promoting economic growth as well as socio-economic development over the past 30 years, agricultural and rural communities remain among the poorest and most vulnerable, especially in the face of climate change, emerging diseases, and market fluctuations. The agriculture and food sectors, which are the most important sources of livelihood for the people of Vietnam, urgently require continued efforts to reduce poverty and address the growing challenges facing agricultural villages. Despite the overproduction of food, challenges related to child malnutrition and food accessibility persist, particularly in some mountainous areas and among ethnic minorities.
Vietnam's food system is diverse and faces many challenges in the context of Vietnam’s Green Transformation. Recent forecasts and the realities of climate change and global disaster risks show that Vietnam is among the nations most heavily affected by climate change. Floods, droughts, saltwater intrusion, pests, and diseases frequently occur causing a loss equivalent to 2% of the annual GDP. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions in the global food supply chain, and Vietnam has not been exempted. The recent global highlights the need to strengthen the resilience of the food production and supply system.
Vietnam's food productivity and output have steadily grown over the past three decades. This is the result of a goal-oriented strategy to increase productivity and output. However, this has also led to the depletion of natural resources and concerns about quality deterioration (nutrients and micronutrients), food hygiene, and safety. The excessive use of chemicals and inputs in production (herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, fertilizers and irrigation) pollutes the environment, affects food quality and safety, and increases the production cost of agricultural products, thereby reducing the income of producers. Intensified production systems, inadequately controlled pollution, and increased greenhouse gas emissions have degraded land, water, aquatic resources, and biodiversity while contributing to climate change. The inefficient, undiversified, and unsustainable production and use of natural resources have increased the vulnerability of food systems to market fluctuations, diseases, climate change, natural disasters, shocks, and external pressures. The rate of food loss and waste in Vietnam remains high. The limited use and reuse of agricultural by-products leads to inefficient use of natural resources and increasing negative impacts on the environment. Meanwhile, financial incentives, skills, and the information needed to apply sustainable good production practices, climate-smart agriculture (CSA), and agroecological farming methods are limited.
There are still many problems in the production value chain and the market. The small, intensive, and fragmented food production system, combined with the lack of economies of scale in value chains, hinders the adoption of advanced technologies, agroecological practices, and industrial processing systems in the country. As a result, small-scale producers, cooperatives, and small and medium-sized enterprises often struggle to meet the requirements for higher quality and value products in both domestic and export markets. This is largely due to the limited access to market information, new technologies, technical support, and training. Additionally, the lack of innovative financial services—such as technological and digital solutions for credit, financing, savings, insurance, and payment systems—further restricts innovation. The performance of new cooperatives and industry associations remains limited, primarily due to weak financial governance and poor connections with the market and the private sector (Dao TA, 2020).
Limited investment in the management of key stages, including harvesting, post-harvest handling, food preservation, storage, and processing, as well as in functional systems for traceability, has increased food loss and waste products This reduces opportunities for value-adding, producing safe and nutritious food, and limits access to higher-value markets domestically and internationally. The lack of cooperation in production results in low quality and added value, unequal distribution of benefits and responsibilities, and fragile supply chains. Moreover, the rapid shift of the young workforce to other economic sectors not only creates a risk of losing the motivation to innovate, adopt technology, and digitize the food system but also increases the need for capital investment and mechanization to replace human labor. The absence of incentive policies for private sector investment in transport, logistics, storage, distribution, and cold storage infrastructure limits market access, raises transaction costs, and reduces post-harvest quality (Dao TA, 2019). Food loss in Vietnam remains high, at about 20-25%, representing 12% of agricultural GDP (FAO, 2024).
Malnutrition rates in Vietnam remain high, particularly in regions with challenging natural and economic conditions, such as the northern mountainous region and the Central Highlands. This is due to limited access to nutritious and affordable food for the poor and vulnerable populations (MARD, 2021a). At the same time, obesity rates in urban areas are rapidly rising. This combination of child malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity places a triple burden on national nutrition security. One of the main reasons for this issue is that much of the population lacks awareness of the importance of nutritionally balanced diets, especially in terms of micronutrients. Additionally, there is insufficient attention to nutrition and health overall. There is also limited awareness of the need for responsible and green consumption, which supports the livelihoods of the poor, reduces food loss and waste, protects the environment, promotes biodiversity, and reduces emissions. Moreover, there is little emphasis on the development, production, and use of local, nutrient-rich foods. A significant gap of information about nutrition and food safety persists, making it difficult for consumers to make inform choices, due to weak systems for quality control, safety, traceability, and food integrity (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT, 2021).
Policy Orientation for Agroecological Transition and Food System Transformation
To promote collective action and integrate of various activities related to the food system, a series of dialogues on food system transformation were organized. The theme of these dialogue was “Vietnam's Food System Roadmaps to More Transparent, Responsible, and Sustainable Food Systems by 2030.” The content of the Food System Dialogues of Vietnam were approached from both national and regional perspective, focusing on five main action tracks to point out challenges, opportunities, and priority solutions in the current context: (1) Ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for everyone; (2) Shifting toward sustainable consumption; (3) Promoting sustainable food production; (4) Developing a competitive, inclusive, and equitable value chain; and (5) Enhancing resilience to shocks, stress, and vulnerability.
For agricultural production, the Communist Party emphasized the orientation toward agroecology and a circular, green economy by 2030 in their political report (PCC, 2021). In response to food system challenges, Vietnam requires bold and urgent collective actions to make progress in smart adaptation to the increasingly severe impacts of disasters and climate changes, the effective and sustainable use of natural resources, and the strengthening of national capacity in an unpredictable business environment Additionally, there is a need for significant improvement and diversification of farmers’ livelihoods and incomes, along with the implementation of sustainable social and environmental safeguards.
Agriculture is a key component of Vietnam’s food system. The development of the agricultural sector follows a multi-purpose approach aims at: (a) continuing to transform into a stronger supplier of agricultural commodities to meet the demand for both quantity and quality in domestic and export marker; (b) promoting climate-smart adaptation, protecting natural resources, ecosystems and biodiversity; and (c) providing a sustainable source of livelihood while ensuring social security, particularly for the poor in rural areas. This approach is reflected in various programs, action plans, and strategies. The national strategy, issued by the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), envisions Vietnam's agricultural brand as a "responsible, transparent, and sustainable food supplier" (MARD, 2021a).
Research Orientation for Addressing Food System Issues
Food systems encompasses all elements and activities related to the production, storage, processing, distribution, consumption, and disposal of food, along with their socio-economic, health, and environmental outcomes (HLPE, 2017). This definition is similar to the definition of food chains, with three major differences. First, it includes food acquisition, diets and consumer behavior. Second, it accounts for the diversity of food products, which is crucial for both nutrition security and the sustainability of production systems. Third, it highlights the importance of food environments, defined as “the physical, economic, political and socio-cultural context in which consumers engage with the food system to make their decisions about acquiring, preparing and consuming food” (HLPE, 2017). Food systems are often associated with contradictory objectives, all aimed at achieving sustainability (Béné et al., 2019).
According to the FAO, a sustainable food system is defined as one that “ensures food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition of future generations are not compromised.” FAO (2018) emphasizes that a sustainable food system (SFS) delivers food security and nutrition while safeguarding the economic, social and environmental resources necessary for future generations. Within the concept of sustainable food systems, inclusive food systems are defined by Fan and Swinen (2020) as “reaching, benefiting, and empowering all people, especially socially and economically disadvantaged individuals and groups in society.”
The research approach for the sustainability of food system is defined as one that “considers food systems in their totality, taking into account the interconnections and trade-offs among the different elements of food systems, as well as their diverse actors, activities, drivers and outcomes.” It aims to maximize societal outcomes across environmental, social (including health) and economic dimensions simultaneously. The theoretical framework of the food system integrates various components: the food chain, the food environment, individual food-related factors, and diets. Better coordination between production and consumption is also needed. In the global food system literature, two main holistic approaches contributing to sustainable food system. The first is the agroecology transition approach, which focuses more on food production and supply. The second is the healthy diet approach, which emphasizes food consumption.
At the global level, about 70% of the food supply is consumed in urban areas (HPLE, 2024). Therefore, research on how existing urban food systems respond to these challenges and recommendations for improving their responsiveness is essential. The challenges faced by rural food systems may differ from those in urban areas.
In the context of Vietnam, food system transformation research should integrate both approaches: agroecology and healthy diets. This is the focus of this session: Agroecology and Sustainable Food System.
The Agroecology transition approach
According to Altieri (1995), agroecology is a method of that relies as much as possible on making the best use of nature’s functions. Agroecology is a key component of sustainable agriculture and food systems (FAO, 2019). FAO (2019 further defines agroecology as an integrated approach that simultaneously applies both ecological and social concepts and principles to the management of agro-food and agricultural systems. Agroecology aims to optimize interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment, while also addressing social aspects necessary for creating a sustainable and inclusive food system. Globally, there is a growing trend toward implementing green economic strategies, circular economies, sharing economies, and knowledge economies to achieve sustainable development goals. These strategies are essentially aligned with agroecological principles.
The HLPE defined three key principles that guide the pathways toward a sustainable food system. These principles emphasize the need for a holistic food system approach by addressing their interconnections. Sustainable agricultural development refers agricultural practices that enhance resource efficiency, strengthen resilience, and secure social equity and responsibility within agriculture and food systems, thereby ensuring food security and nutrition for all, both now and in the future (HLPE, 2019). The HLPE sought to identify the smallest, non-repetitive but comprehensive set of principles and codeveloped the 13 principles of agroecology. While each agroecological principle is tied to a specific operational principle, many of them contribute to multiple operational principles.
1. Recycling: Prioritize the use local renewable resources and close nutrient and biomass cycles as much as possible.
2. Input Reduction: Minimize or eliminate reliance on purchased inputs, increasing self-sufficiency.
3. Soil Health: Secure and improve soil health and functionality to enhance plant growth, particularly through organic matter management and promoting soil biological activity.
4. Animal Health: Ensure animal health and welfare by adopting a One Health apporach.
5. Biodiversity: Maintain and enhance diversity of species, functional diversity and genetic resources and thereby maintain overall agroecosystem biodiversity in time and space at field, farm and landscape scales.
6. Synergy: Enhance positive ecological interaction, synergy, integration and complementarity among the elements of agroecosystems (animals, crops, trees, soil, water or tourism).
7. Economic Diversification: Diversify on-farm incomes by ensuring that small-scale farmers have greater financial independence and value addition opportunities while enabling them to respond to demand from consumers.
8. Co-creation of Knowledge: Enhance co-creation and horizontal sharing of knowledge including local and scientific innovation, especially through farmer-to-farmer exchange.
9. Social Values and Diets: Build food systems based on the culture, identity, tradition, social and gender equity of local communities that provide healthy, diversified, seasonally and culturally appropriate diets.
10. Fairness: Support dignified and robust livelihoods for all actors engaged in food systems, especially small-scale food producers, based on fair trade, fair employment and fair treatment of intellectual property rights.
11. Connectivity: Ensure proximity and confidence between producers and consumers through promotion of fair and short distribution networks and by re-embedding food systems into local economies.
12. Land and Natural Resource Governance: Improve institutional arrangements, recognizing and supporting family farmers, smallholders, and peasant food producers as sustainable managers of natural and genetic resources.
13. Participation: Encourage social organization and increase participation in decision-making by food producers and consumers, supporting decentralized governance and adaptive local management of agricultural and food systems.
The research topic should focus on technical and institutional innovations for food system transformation.
Agroecology is inherently flexible, adaptable across different scales (small to large) and levels of integration (partially or fully integrated), which allows it to offer context-appropriate solutions to local and regional challenges. With its focus on protecting and utilizing ecosystem functions (ecological services), agroecology has the potential to succeed on a larger scale. This approach is often based on knowledge co-creation, blending scientific insights with traditional knowledge and local practices of producers. By enhancing producer autonomy and adaptive capacity, agroecology empowers both producers and communities to become agents of change.
Technically, agroecological innovation applies ecological principles in the design of production systems to enhance ecological benefits, such as biological control, pollination, nutrient regeneration, soil and water conservation, etc., across different scales. Ecological processes are promoted on the basis of technology application. As a result, modern agroecological intensification can be combined with precision agriculture and the digital technology to optimize these benefits.
The Healthy Diet Approach (SHIFT)
The main goal is to ensure sustainable healthy diets for all through food systems transformation. The SHIFT initiative focuses on the consumer side of the food systems, aiming to stimulate the demand for sustainable, healthy diets while supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and informal sector actors in delivering more nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainably produced foods. Simultaneously, SHIFT’s engagement with stakeholders generates evidence-based policy options, develops robust metrics and tools, and strengthens capacity to collectively drive food systems transformation in ways that also improve livelihoods, gender equity, and social inclusiveness.
To achieve these goals, SHIFT includes five research topics that support one another.
• “Consumers and Their Food Environment” aims to characterize food consumption and dietary patterns among marginalized populations, identifying key drivers and inequalities to inform innovations and policies that increase demand for sustainable healthy diets.
• “MSMEs and the Informal Sector” focuses on characterizing MSMEs and other informal actors in the food sector, including wholesale, processing, catering, and retail It generates knowledge about the decisions these actors make regarding which food and beverages to sell to consumers. WP2 also aims to assess employment conditions for marginalized populations, women, and youth in these enterprises, and develop solutions to increase the supply of sustainable, nutritious foods while addressing inequalities in employment opportunities.
• “Governance and Inclusive Food Systems” aims to identify policy "lock-ins" and barriers that hinder the food system’s contributions to healthy diets, fair livelihoods, and sustainable environments, proposing evidence-based solutions through consultation with partners.
• “Trade-off Scenario Analysis” focuses on developing simulation models and decision support tools to analyze trade-offs associated with increasing the consumption of sustainable healthy diets. These tools will also raise stakeholder awareness and build capacity to understand and navigate potential tensions arising from food system innovations and policies.
• “Catalyzing Food Systems Transformation” supports the Initiative’s engagement in national food systems transformation processes. It identifies, co-designs, supports, and learns from context-specific pathways to driver food systems transformation toward sustainable healthy diets.
The food system could be different in the urban and rural areas. We define ‘urban food systems’ as food systems linked to cities by material and human flows. Urbanization poses challenges related to food and nutritional security with the co-existence of multiple forms of malnutrition (especially for women and children/adolescents), changing employment (including for women), and environmental protection. This session is concerned with identifying: (i) challenges to food systems in Africa, Asia, and Latin America caused by urban development, (ii) how existing food systems respond to these challenges, and (iii) what can be done to improve their responsiveness.
In brief, the content of the session 7 combines agroecological and heathy diet research efforts, contributing to a sustainable food system, including urban and rural food system.
