The contribution of CABI’s expertise to food systems transformation was highlighted at the 14th Meeting of G20 Agricultural Chief Scientists (G20-MACS) summit in Polokwane, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Transforming food systems is essential to achieving global food and nutrition security, enhancing sustainability and building resilience in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, fragmentation and economic inequalities.
Ways in which CABI’s work supports this transformation include providing better evidence to underpin climate-smart agrifood policies, fostering biodiversity within agroecosystems and promoting digital agricultural solutions.
The G20 Presidency in South Africa is tasked with three high-level deliverables centred on (1) inclusive economic growth, industrialisation, employment and reduced inequality, (2) food security, and (3) artificial intelligence, data governance and innovation for sustainable development.
The G20-MACS meeting was held under the theme of ‘solidarity, equality, sustainability’ and chaired by Dr Litha Magingxa, President and CEO, Agricultural Research Council (ARC), South Africa, and Dr Mooketsa Ramasodi, Director General, Department of Agriculture, South Africa. Dr Ulrich Kuhlmann, CABI’s Chief Scientist and Executive Director, Global Operations, represented the organization, providing three comments after those given by G20 country and guest country representatives.
Decisions need to be grounded in the best available evidence
In response to addressing the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and growing inequalities, Dr Kuhlmann said this requires not just urgency but intelligence with decisions grounded in the best available evidence.
Dr Kuhlmann said, “As the Global Commission on Evidence noted in 2022, evidence is not being systematically used by policymakers, organizational leaders, or citizens. Instead, decisions often rely on outdated assumptions, incomplete data, or political agendas.
“By strengthening science-policy interfaces and promoting evidence-informed innovation, G20-MACS can ensure agrifood decisions are guided by evidence that is timely, transparent, and inclusive.”
He said other sectors have tackled these challenges head-on. In health, Cochrane systematic reviews shape WHO guidelines, inform research priorities, and engage a global network of over 30,000 trained contributors. The Campbell Collaboration and Collaboration for Environmental Evidence play similar roles in social and environmental policy.
Dr Kuhlmann said, “But in agrifood systems, this level of rigour is still the exception—not the norm. We lack robust evidence syntheses on critical Sustainable Development Goal priorities like Zero Hunger, Climate Action, and Gender Equality.
“This is where G20-MACS can make a catalytic difference. Through efforts like the Juno Evidence Alliance, CABI proposes five priorities for G20-MACS. These include working with regional networks and universities to generate and advocate for better evidence and identifying and prioritizing evidence needs with national partners.”
Dr Kuhlmann gave the example of working with Nepal’s Agricultural Research Council on reviewing climate-resilient crop performance.
He also spoke about building global capacity through partnerships, inclusion, and training researchers and students to produce policy-relevant, high-quality evidence using proven methodologies adapted from other sectors.
Technology can overcome limitations of face-to-face extension
Dr Kuhlmann referenced the adoption of ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (4IR) technologies and digital agriculture, saying CABI strongly believes that these technologies can help to overcome the recognized limitations of face-to-face extension and will continue to transform support systems for farmers, including smallholder farmers in the Global South.
“To ensure uptake and use of digital advisory tools going forward, the design and development of such tools must be as functional as possible, considering the local internet infrastructure. These resources must also be available in local languages. In addition, it is important to give more attention to the sustainability of digital tools,” he said.
Dr Kuhlmann added that CABI is conducting an ongoing landscape analysis to identify and categorize digital tools designed to assist in crop production and support farm advisory services. So far, CABI has identified 1175 – all of which have been collated within the open access website Crop App Index.
He said, “Developers of digital advisory tools must engage local stakeholders to define the problem, conduct landscape analyses, ensure that all digital development activities are underpinned by sound monitoring and evaluation processes, explore business models for sustainability and local ownership, and develop transition plans for handing over services through public-private partnerships.
“Special attention needs to be given to improving women’s access to digital advisory services by creating the necessary enabling environment. This can be achieved through engagement with local communities and addressing barriers caused by existing social norms, thereby allowing women to access digital devices and building their capacity to benefit from digital advisory services.
“Through the creation and application of digital technologies, we can bring science-based agricultural knowledge to millions more smallholder farmers.”
Participators approaches foster biodiversity conservation and resilient food systems
Finally, considering how sustainability principles and the role of traditional knowledge systems can be better integrated into biodiversity conservation, especially within agricultural and food systems, Dr Kuhlmann highlighted the importance of close cooperation with local partners, such as communities and civil society organisations.
He said that, in response to a direct mandate from its 48 member countries, CABI is launching a new Landscapes Initiative which aims to deliver sustainable, impactful and long-term solutions to the global challenges of land degradation, climate change, biodiversity loss and invasive species that threaten livelihoods and ecosystem functioning.
Dr Kuhlmann said, “We will adopt Integrated Landscape Management (ILM), an approach which strengthens coordination and participation of a wide range of stakeholders, and which allows a better integration of different systems of understandings (such as traditional knowledge or scientific knowledge.
“For example, the ILM approach has allowed us to develop new ways of restoring degraded grasslands in semi-arid regions by combining traditional knowledge on the role of native plant species in grasslands with new scientific evidence for combining plant species traits to foster soil formation and to increase resilience to drought.”
He emphasized that CABI strongly believes in and supports holistic and participatory approaches, such as ILM, to tackle the complex and interconnected global challenges of land degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss.
South Africa’s Presidency of the G20 takes place as the world is facing a series of overlapping and mutually reinforcing crises, including climate change, underdevelopment, inequality, poverty, hunger, unemployment, and geopolitical instability.
CABI works on the biggest challenges facing humanity – hunger, poverty, gender inequality, climate change and the loss of biodiversity – and its Medium-Term Strategy outlines how in partnership it will serves the needs of its Member Countries in these areas.
CABI is currently reviewing its Strategy and the next phase of its work at a series of Regional Consultation Meetings with CABI Member Countries and other stakeholders.
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Main image: Dr Ulrich Kuhlmann at the G20 Agricultural Scientists (MACS) Meeting in South Africa where he outlined CABI’s expertise in plant health and international development.
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