Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future

Published for FAO World Food Day — 16 October 2025

Executive summary

World Food Day 2025 celebrates FAO’s 80th anniversary with a clear mandate: work hand in hand to transform agrifood systems so everyone can access a healthy diet while living in harmony with the planet. The “Four Betters” — better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life — are not slogans; they are an operating system for change.

This article translates that ambition into a practical blueprint: a partnership architecture, evidence-based interventions, finance and policy levers, and a measurement stack that turns collaboration into verified outcomes.

Why partnership is the only path

Food systems are complex by design. Farmers, companies, investors, governments, and communities each control different pieces of the puzzle: agronomy, markets, capital, rules, and lived knowledge. Acting alone, each group hits constraints (cost, risk, information). Acting together, they can:

● Spread risk across the value chain, so transition costs don’t fall on farmers alone.

● Blend capital (corporate, public, concessional) to finance multi-year change.

● Align incentives with clear outcomes for climate, nature, water, and livelihoods.

● Verify progress so commitments become credible disclosures — and, increasingly, access to markets and finance.

In short: partnership lets us change how food is produced and how change is paid for and proven.

A partnership blueprint you can use tomorrow

1) Shared goals, one plan. Open with a joint outcomes statement (e.g., emissions reduction, soil health, water security, biodiversity, living income). Translate it into a single, multi-year program rather than a patchwork of projects.

2) Governance that elevates local voice. Establish a steering group that includes producers (women and youth represented), buyers, local government, civil society, and finance. Publish minutes, decisions, and data rules to build trust.

3) A credible MRV stack. Agree on methods and data flows up front: field protocols, remote sensing, sampling frameworks, and reporting aligned to SBTi FLAG, GHG Protocol Land Sector Guidance, TNFD, and ISSB. Plan for independent assurance.

4) Finance that matches the biology. Soil, trees, and livelihoods don’t transform in a quarter. Use 3–7 year blended finance with milestone-based tranches (practice adoption → intermediate outcomes → verified impacts).

5) Market pull, not just push. Backstop the transition with offtake and preferential terms (e.g., price premia, multi-year contracts, or risk-sharing facilities) so producers are rewarded for outcomes, not only yield.

The Four Betters — with substance

1) Better production: resilient, regenerative, and profitable

What to do (core practices):

● Diversity and rotation: intercropping, cover crops, and longer rotations to disrupt pests, balance nutrients, and stabilize yields.

● Soil health: minimal or strip tillage, organic amendments, composting, and residue retention to build soil organic matter and water-holding capacity.

● Tree integration: agroforestry, windbreaks, and riparian buffers for microclimate, biomass, habitat, and diversified income.

● Integrated pest management (IPM): biological controls, pheromone traps, and threshold-based applications; phase out the most hazardous inputs.

● Precision resource use: soil testing, variable-rate fertilization, and efficient irrigation.

How to make it stick:

● Whole-farm plans co-created with farmers; start with 20–30% of area in year one to de-risk, then scale.

● Peer learning networks and farmer-led experimentation (mini-trials, farmer field schools).

● Service bundles: seed/seedling supply, equipment access, agronomic coaching, and market guarantees.

Indicative KPIs: practice adoption rate; net margin/ha; soil organic matter (%), bulk density, infiltration; water productivity (kg/m³); pesticide risk footprint; percent area under agroforestry.

2) Better nutrition: diversity on farms, diversity on plates

What to do:

● Nutrition-aware cropping: introduce neglected and underutilized species (NUS), pulses, fruits, and leafy greens alongside staples.

● School and community procurement: link diversified local production to canteens and social programs.

● Food safety and quality: basic storage and handling (drying, aflatoxin control), cold-chain pilots for perishables; clean water access near processing points.

How to make it stick:

● Women’s enterprise support (credit, training, childcare, and safe mobility) to grow local processing and retail.

● Behavior change communications that elevate traditional, nutrient-dense foods.

Indicative KPIs: dietary diversity scores; incidence of foodborne risk; postharvest loss rates; women-led agrifood enterprises supported; household food expenditure share.

3) A better environment: climate, nature, and water in one plan

What to do:

● Climate: regenerative soil management and tree cover to reduce emissions and enhance sequestration; methane and nitrous oxide mitigation where relevant (manure management, fertilizer timing).

● Nature: protect and restore natural habitats, maintain corridors, and manage high-conservation-value areas; pollinator-friendly practices.

● Water: watershed-level planning, efficient irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and water quality buffers.

How to make it stick:

● Landscape or jurisdictional delivery so farm-level wins are reinforced by land-use planning and community benefits.

● Deforestation- and conversion-free (DCF) assurance integrated with sourcing and traceability.

Indicative KPIs: emissions intensity (per tonne), area under tree cover, habitat condition scores, pollinator abundance indices, blue/green water use, nitrate/phosphate levels, DCF compliance.

4) A better life: equity, resilience, and voice

What to do:

● GESI mainstreaming: gender and social inclusion analysis; targets on participation and leadership; safeguards against unintended burdens.

● Living income and decent work: income gap assessment; pathways via productivity, quality, diversification, and better terms of trade; OSH and grievance mechanisms.

● Youth opportunities: agri-services, digital extension, and green jobs in nurseries, soil labs, and monitoring.

How to make it stick:

● Value-sharing mechanisms: outcome payments, community funds, or cooperatives with transparent dividend policies.

● Local governance: village committees and producer organizations with budgeting power and data access.

Indicative KPIs: living-income gap closed (%), household resilience index, women/youth in decision roles, occupational safety incidents, functioning grievance cases resolved.

Measurement that investors, regulators, and communities can trust

Design for verification from day one.

● Methods: pair remote sensing (cover, canopy, land-use change) with statistically robust field sampling (soils, biodiversity, water, and socioeconomic surveys).

● Data governance: open protocols; consented, privacy-aware data; farmer dashboards with useful feedback loops.

● Standards alignment: SBTi FLAG for land-sector targets; GHG Protocol Land Sector Guidance for accounting; TNFD for nature dependencies and impacts; ISSB/IFRS S2 for climate disclosure; alignment with deforestation-free regulations in key markets.

● Assurance: periodic third-party reviews; traceable audit trails from raw data to reported claims.

Outputs that matter: decision-grade KPIs, progress toward targets, risk maps, and disclosure-ready datasets that de-risk finance and keep partners honest.

Paying for the transition: finance and incentives

● Blended finance architecture: combine corporate working capital, public development funds, and concessional capital. Use guarantees to crowd in private lenders.

● Outcome-based payments: release tranches when independently verified milestones are reached (e.g., adoption rates, water quality thresholds, habitat condition).

● Market incentives: long-term offtake, quality premiums, and performance-based bonuses shared transparently with producers.

● Enabling policy: streamline permits for restoration and agroforestry; reward water stewardship and biodiversity outcomes; integrate landscape programs into rural development plans.

Guardrails: doing more good, not new harm

● No one left behind: design around smallholders, women, and Indigenous Peoples; provide free, prior, and informed consent where relevant; budget for inclusion (time, care, mobility).

● Avoid leakage and burden-shifting: work at landscape/jurisdiction level and trace supply to prevent moving problems next door.

● Respect food security: when allocating land to trees or set-asides, pair with productivity/efficiency gains elsewhere and ensure access to nutritious foods.

● Data responsibility: measure what matters, not everything; minimize burden; return value to farmers through advisory insights and better terms.

How SAN can help you operationalize the Four Betters

● Program design and governance: co-create a single, multi-outcome plan with clear roles and a locally rooted steering group.

● Field implementation at scale: mobilize a Global Impact Network of technical partners, cooperatives, and community groups across regions and commodities.

● Investor-grade MRV: robust methods, independent assurance, and reporting that stands up to scrutiny and plugs straight into corporate and investor disclosures.

● Finance structuring: align incentives, integrate public and private funds, and manage performance-based payments.

● Readiness for regulation and markets: traceability, DCF assurance, risk mapping, and evidence for claims.

Call to action

If you’re ready to make better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life real — and provable — here’s a crisp starting plan:

1. Convene your coalition (producers, local government, buyers, finance, civil society).

2. Agree on 5–7 shared outcomes and a single multi-year plan.

3. Fund it with blended capital and market commitments.

4. Design MRV up front and invite an independent reviewer.

5. Report progress transparently, share learnings, and scale what works.

   
   
   
   

World Food Day is a celebration — and a checkpoint. Let’s turn partnership into proof, and proof into a better future for people and planet. If you want a ready-made framework and a team to help you deliver, SAN is here to work hand in hand.