How Asia can revolutionise food systems—before it's too late

ASIA faces a paradox: home to over half the world’s undernourished, but also the most vibrant economies, where agrifood systems employ 40% of the workforce.

- By Qingfeng Al Zhang

In 2021, 1.9 billion people lacked access to healthy diets, trapped between poverty and skyrocketing food prices. Resource degradation, and economic shocks now threaten to unravel decades of progress.

Yet within this challenge lies an unprecedented chance to rewrite the rules of food production.

Global agrifood systems generate massive hidden costs—environmental, social, and health-related—estimated at $ 13 trillion in 2023, or 10% of global GDP, according to the Food System Economics Commission. These costs stem from greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions, land-use changes, water depletion, poverty among agrifood workers, and dietary-driven health issues.

Productivity losses from poor diets rose 14% globally since 2016, with South Asia seeing a 20% increase. Without urgent reforms, these hidden costs will stifle future economic growth, requiring policymakers to rethink agrifood policies beyond traditional production-centred strategies.

There is great potential for private sector investment. Credit guarantees, first-loss facilities, and parametric insurance are bridging the gap for risk-averse investors. Paired with policy reforms, these instruments make smallholder lending viable—critical for a sector dominated by family farms.

There are also digital bridges to smallholders. In Asia, a significant portion of farmers are smallholders, with estimates suggesting that 80% of the food consumed in the region is grown on small farms.