Food sovereignty amid overlapping global crises: a call to action for sustainable food systems

Food Sovereignty Amid Overlapping Global Crises: A Call to Action for Sustainable Food Systems

> As climate change, armed conflict, economic recession, and pandemics interweave, the global food system is under unprecedented pressure. A policy review from a Malawian research team provides an action framework for building resilient food systems in the Global South.

Global hunger levels remain alarmingly high. According to the 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, over 733 million people go to bed hungry every day. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that 9 countries are experiencing the most severe hunger, and another 34 are classified as “serious” hunger, all of them located in the Global South. More troubling, with less than five years remaining until the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline, hunger continues to worsen, marking an alarming regression in the global commitment to ending hunger.

Food Sovereignty: From Food Security to System Control

Traditional food security frameworks focus on the availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability of food, but current crises have exposed the inadequacy of this framework. Food sovereignty goes a step further and asks: Who controls the food system? How are decisions made? Whose interests are prioritized? It emphasizes the right of people, communities, and countries to define their own food and agricultural systems in ways that are socially just, environmentally sustainable, and culturally appropriate.

This means food security is a prerequisite for food sovereignty, but food security alone is not enough to achieve food sovereignty. Food systems must be functional, reliable, and sustainable. Yet in the 21st century, the relationship among food systems, food security, and food sovereignty is not smooth. Catastrophic factors such as climate change, conflict, and economic shocks are compounding, making many already fragile food systems even worse.

How Multiple Crises Are Dismantling Food Sovereignty

Climate change, armed conflict, global economic recession, soaring food/energy/fertilizer prices, and the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer isolated challenges. They increasingly interact with one another, undermining food systems in enduring and overlapping ways and eroding livelihoods, especially in the Global South, where structural vulnerability, limited absorptive capacity, and low resilience prevail.

Take sub-Saharan Africa as an example: the region has long faced poverty, weak infrastructure, and fragile governance systems. When crises strike, these countries have little capacity to respond. Without timely intervention, a vicious cycle of poverty and hunger will form, making it difficult to reverse by around 2030.

Five Action Pathways: Levers for Building Resilient Food Systems

This policy and practice review, published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, employs a structured narrative review method and integrates interdisciplinary evidence. The researchers propose five interconnected food system pathways, with specific action recommendations for each.

1. Access to Productive ResourcesEquitable access to land, water, seeds, credit, and agricultural inputs is the foundation of food sovereignty. The review notes that many smallholder farmers lack secure land tenure and financing channels, preventing them from making long-term investments. Policy actions should include: securing land tenure rights, expanding inclusive financial coverage, supporting farmer cooperatives, and promoting agricultural technology innovation adapted to local conditions.

2. Food Production and Agroecological Resilience

Monocropping systems and industrialized agricultural models are extremely vulnerable to climate shocks. The review emphasizes the importance of agroecological approaches—enhancing the ecosystem's self-regulating capacity through practices such as diversified planting, intercropping, agroforestry, and soil health management. At the same time, precision agriculture technologies such as climate-adapted seeds, water-saving irrigation, and digital crop monitoring help reduce production risks and improve yield stability.

3. Trade, Markets, and Economic Accessibility

Trade is an unavoidable dimension of food systems. Food sovereignty does not reject trade, but requires that trade does not undermine local autonomy and governance capacity. Current global agricultural price volatility and supply chain disruptions have severely impacted developing countries with high import dependence. The review suggests strengthening regional trade cooperation, improving food reserves and emergency logistics systems, and promoting more transparent rules for international food markets.

4. Food Consumption and Nutrition

Food systems must not only "feed" people, but also "nourish" them well. Conflict and malnutrition often form a vicious cycle: hunger weakens immunity, increases the risk of infectious diseases, reduces productivity, and makes households more likely to fall into poverty. The review calls for integrating nutritional interventions into both short-term relief and long-term development strategies in crisis response—including supporting local nutrition-sensitive agriculture, improving dietary diversity, and strengthening social protection networks.

5. Governance and Institutional Capacity

Any technological solution or policy design requires effective governance structures for implementation. Research indicates that countries in the Global South often struggle to coordinate actions during crises due to institutional fragmentation. Governments should establish cross-sectoral food security coordination mechanisms, grant local communities greater participation in decision-making, and ensure the scientific rigor and transparency of policy formulation. The international community, in turn, should honor its historical responsibilities based on commitments made at platforms such as the Climate Change Conference and the G20 Summit.

Industry Impact: The Role of Agricultural Technology in Building Resilience

• This review provides a clear industrial direction for the agricultural technology sector. Whether it is precision agriculture, agricultural AI, satellite remote sensing, or smart irrigation and soil sensors, their value lies not only in single-point efficiency improvement, but also in enhancing the ability of the entire food system to withstand multiple shocks.- Production efficiency: Climate-resilient seeds and smart water and nutrient management can help smallholder farmers maintain yields under extreme weather and reduce losses.
• Operational models: Digital agriculture platforms enable producers to predict market risks more accurately, optimize planting decisions, and reduce information asymmetry.
• Supply chain resilience: Blockchain and IoT technologies can improve the transparency of food traceability and inventory management, helping governments and enterprises respond quickly to supply chain disruptions.
• Sustainable transition: Regenerative agriculture and carbon farming practices, combined with data-driven carbon accounting tools, help convert ecological benefits into economic returns.
• Investment landscape: The rising prominence of food sovereignty issues will drive capital toward climate-resilient agriculture, agroecological research, and localized food infrastructure.

Future Outlook: From Crisis Response to Systemic Transformation

In the next 3–5 years, global food systems may face more frequent extreme climate and geopolitical shocks. Agricultural technology innovation will no longer be merely a tool for increasing production, but will become part of the strategic infrastructure for food security.

• Agricultural AI will rapidly spread in applications such as food risk early warning, crop disease identification, and market forecasting, helping governments and farmers respond in advance.
• Automation and robotics will accelerate deployment in labor-scarce regions (e.g., developed countries) and precision-operation scenarios (e.g., greenhouses, orchards), alleviating labor shortages.
• Alternative proteins and food technology are expected to reduce dependence on traditional protein sources and lower the environmental footprint of food systems.
• Small farm machinery and solar-powered irrigation have great potential in low-lying countries, enhancing autonomy through the energy–food nexus.

However, technological innovation must proceed within a governance framework. The digital divide, technological dependence, and intellectual property issues may exacerbate inequality. True food sovereignty requires that technological development serve the needs of local communities and respect their right to make their own choices.

Conclusion

This policy review by a Malawian research team provides a clear and urgent action agenda for global food governance. It reminds us that in an era of frequent global disasters, food security cannot rely solely on markets or technological silver bullets, but must be achieved by empowering producers, improving governance, promoting fair trade, and strengthening ecological resilience. All countries and institutions—wealthy nations, Global South governments, multilateral donors, humanitarian organizations, investors, and private enterprises—must assume greater responsibility within their own spheres of influence, investing in sustainable agriculture and food systems to prevent the recurrence of hunger.

There is little time left before 2030, but opportunity remains. Only by placing food sovereignty at the core of global policy can we truly build a sustainable future that leaves no one behind.