As the crisis worsens every day, we must act fast and with determination. Responsible, green and long-term private sector engagement, hand-in-hand with donors and partner countries, is indispensable on the road towards zero hunger.

Donor coordination is a critical factor for successfully addressing the current food crisis. It is also important to IFAD’s mission, evidenced by our role as host of the Secretariat of the GDPRD, a network that brings donors together for strategic dialogue and collaboration on rural development and food systems.

The COVID crisis and the situation in Ukraine clearly shows why reaching the SDG on improvement of food security is even more important than ever. We need to work on SDG2 together for a viable and sustainable food system worldwide.

What keeps me up at night? In terms of reducing the impact of agriculture on the planet, we can’t wait for these things just to fix themselves, we need to take action. We need to take initiative and we need to work together to do that.

Food systems must change. This, the UN Food Systems Summit made very clear. But has the Summit laid the foundations to bring about such change? There is a big win but also some big gaps to be filled for ambition to become action.

The average person on the street needs to understand what this is about and what can be done, and then engage with political decision makers to get it done. Not in 50 years’ time, but from now.

The active engagement of people should be at the forefront of implementation. It is at this level that a food systems approach is already taking shape, as implementers cannot avoid the connections, synergies, complementarities and trade-offs across different sectors.