The CGIAR Flagship Report 2025, “Insight to Impact: A Decision-Maker’s Guide to Navigating Food System Science,” provides a comprehensive roadmap for policymakers and stakeholders working to transform food systems across five impact areas: Climate Adaptation and Mitigation; Environmental Health and Biodiversity; Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion; Nutrition, Health, and Food Security; and Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods, and Jobs.

The report synthesises CGIAR’s research into actionable recommendations, addressing the disconnect between available scientific knowledge and implementation.

It emphasises the importance of inclusive, science-based approaches to creating sustainable, resilient food systems in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in the face of climate change and increasing population demands.

The report incorporates case studies, innovative solutions, and practical tools to help decision-makers navigate complex food system challenges while balancing social, economic, and environmental considerations.

Research Context

The report is positioned at a critical juncture where food systems face unprecedented and interconnected challenges, including climate change, environmental degradation, persistent poverty, and food insecurity.

CGIAR, as the world’s largest agricultural research partnership, developed this report through extensive consultations with policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders across the globe to bridge the gap between scientific research and practical implementation.

Key contextual factors include:

• Scientific-policy gap: Despite the availability of valuable research and global public goods, these resources are not consistently utilised by decision-makers, creating a disconnect between science and action
• Compounding global crises: Climate change, geopolitical tensions, population growth, poverty, rapid urbanisation, and shifting consumption patterns are stalling progress toward ending hunger and ensuring healthy, affordable diets
• Urgent need for transformation: Food systems must transform to deliver across the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda while balancing environmental, social, and economic considerations
• Demographic shifts: Increasing urbanisation and population growth (projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050) are placing additional strain on already fragile food systems
• Resource constraints: The report acknowledges that decision-makers operate under significant constraints, including budget limitations, competing policy priorities, and coordination challenges across ministries and sectors

Main Themes

1. Climate Adaptation and Mitigation

The report emphasises the critical need for systemic climate adaptation and mitigation measures across crop, livestock, agroforestry, and aquaculture systems. Key recommendations include:

• Developing strategies aligned with local, national, and global frameworks while ensuring rural communities can implement them
• Supporting farmers through amplifying their voices in decision-making and developing context-specific policies
• Increasing access to climate finance to support transition approaches
• Enhancing farmer preparedness through improved breeding programmes and early warning systems
• Using bundled technologies rather than single-technology approaches

Case studies highlight innovations like climate information services reaching over 1.5 million farmers, the EnviroCow initiative reducing livestock emissions, SMART rice water management, and tropically adapted potato varieties.

2. Environmental Health and Biodiversity

This section explores how decision-makers can meet food production goals while protecting environmental health and biodiversity. Key recommendations include:

• Ensuring policies are inclusive and co-developed with implementing communities
• Integrating environmental health into urban agrifood system policies
• Incentivising ecosystem protection through mechanisms like Payment for Ecosystem Services
• Investing in community capacity to use digital tools in restoration projects

Featured innovations include citizen science initiatives for water monitoring, the My Farm Trees digital platform for landscape restoration, Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Hubs, and landscape-specific fertiliser advisory services.

3. Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion

The report highlights how investing in gender equality, youth empowerment, and social inclusion would benefit over 500 million women and create opportunities for 267 million young people. Key recommendations include:

• Recognising inequalities in food systems when developing policies
• Ensuring equitable access to resources so women can adopt new technologies
• Creating youth-focused investments to deliver a ‘youth dividend’
• Using digital tools to advance social inclusion
• Prioritising disaggregated data collection for better decision-making

Highlighted initiatives include the Women’s Empowerment in Agrifood Governance framework, Women in Business chicken seed dissemination, I-Youth Agripreneurs programme, and community-based breeding programmes.

4. Nutrition, Health, and Food Security

This section addresses how to create food systems that provide culturally appropriate, affordable, diverse, and safe diets. Key recommendations include:

• Considering the whole food system from farm to consumer
• Adopting an integrated mix of food-based strategies
• Making collaborative decisions across multiple sectors
• Carefully introducing alternative dietary options into diverse local food systems
• Investing in improved aquatic foods, livestock breeds, and local staple foods
• Balancing emergency responses with long-term resilience building

Featured innovations include policy incentives for biodiversity in nutrition, integrated One Health service delivery, biofortified crops, and the Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) programme.

5. Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods, and Jobs

The report examines how food systems can effectively address poverty reduction, create livelihoods, and generate jobs. Key recommendations include:

• Prioritising poverty reduction both as an end in itself and in pursuit of broader priorities
• Tapping into rising urban food demand to raise farm incomes
• Partnering with the private sector to stimulate jobs and entrepreneurship
• Investing in capacity building and infrastructure for evolving technologies
• Ensuring regulatory frameworks promote access to high-quality seeds and animals

Highlighted initiatives include the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation programme, the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance, potato seed technologies creating rural jobs, and community-based fisheries management.

6. Future Outlook

The final section addresses emerging challenges and innovations, emphasising:

• The importance of foresight analysis to navigate uncertainty
• The need for disaster preparedness and climate adaptation
• The potential of technological innovation, including AI and advanced breeding
• The urgency of financing a just transition to sustainable agrifood systems
• The impacts of rapid urbanisation and population growth on food systems

Key Statistics and Insights

Global Challenges

• 3.6 billion people globally live in regions acutely vulnerable to climate impacts
• Agriculture, forestry, and land use account for approximately 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions
• 40% of the world’s land is degraded, reducing nutrients in soil and water retention capacity
• In 2023, nearly 2.33 billion people (one-third of the global population) faced food insecurity
• Low- and middle-income countries face GDP losses of 3-16% from malnutrition
• 83.2% of the world’s poor people live in sub-Saharan Africa (553 million) and South Asia (402 million)

Food System Transformation Potential

• For every dollar invested in CGIAR agricultural research and development, investors see USD 10 worth of benefits
• Enabling women farmers to access the same productive resources as men could increase their yields by 20-30%
• Biofortified crops have reached 23 million households across 40 countries
• In Ethiopia, adopting improved beans reduced food insecurity by 44%
• GIFT tilapia now makes up more than half of the world’s tilapia production across five continents
• Climate digital advisory services can generate returns up to USD 70 for every dollar invested

Implementation Challenges

• Women make up around 43% of the agricultural labour force in low- and middle-income countries (up to 66% in sub-Saharan Africa and 71% in southern Asia)
• Only 0.8% of total climate finance goes to small-scale producers despite their critical role in food systems
• 20% of young people lack access to employment, education, or training
• 74% of Indigenous Peoples face systemic exclusion from decision-making and resources
• Over half of children under five and two-thirds of non-pregnant women of reproductive age lack essential nutrients
• Women in waged employment earn just 82 pence for every pound earned by men

Technical Glossary

Agrobiodiversity: The variety and variability of animals, plants, and microorganisms necessary for sustaining key functions of agroecosystems, including structure and processes for food production and food security.

Biofortification: The process of increasing the nutritional value of crops by enhancing the density of vitamins and minerals through plant breeding, agronomic practices, or biotechnology.

Circular Bioeconomy: A framework for using renewable natural capital to transform and manage land, food, health, and industrial systems to achieve sustainable well-being in harmony with nature.

Climate Adaptation: The process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities.

Climate Mitigation: Human intervention to reduce emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.

Food System: All the people, institutions, and processes by which agricultural products are produced, processed, and brought to consumers, including policymakers, civil society organisations, researchers, and development practitioners.

Foresight Analysis: The identification of opportunities, challenges, risks, and disruptions that may arise over time to help inform decision-making.

Just Transition: Ensuring that no one is left behind in the transition to low-carbon and environmentally sustainable economies and societies.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): Country efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to climate change impacts as part of the Paris Agreement.

Nutrition-Sensitive Food Systems: Systems that provide culturally appropriate, affordable, available, diverse, and safe diets that ensure nutrition, health, and food security.

Key Questions and Answers

What is the purpose of the CGIAR Flagship Report?

The report aims to bridge the gap between scientific research and decision-making by translating complex scientific findings into practical, actionable recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders working to transform food systems.

Who are the target audiences for this report?

Primary audiences include decision-makers from low- and middle-income countries and regional bodies engaged in national, regional, and global processes, such as ministries of agriculture, environment, health, and finance. Secondary audiences include research institutions, NGOs, private sector actors, funders, and regional economic bodies.

How was the report developed?

The report was created through extensive consultations with users and potential users of CGIAR research, donors, partners, and decision-makers in low- and middle-income countries, UN processes, and international bodies to identify key challenges and determine the most relevant solutions.

What are the five impact areas addressed in the report?

The report focuses on Climate Adaptation and Mitigation; Environmental Health and Biodiversity; Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion; Nutrition, Health, and Food Security; and Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods, and Jobs.

How does the report address the needs of smallholder farmers?

The report provides practical solutions tailored to smallholder farmers’ contexts, including access to improved seeds and livestock breeds, climate information services, financial support mechanisms, and market opportunities, while emphasising the importance of including their voices in decision-making processes.

What role does technology play in food system transformation?

The report highlights various technologies as crucial enablers, including digital advisory services, advanced breeding techniques, AI-powered tools for data analysis, and digital platforms for monitoring and traceability, while emphasising the need for equitable access.

How does the report address climate change impacts on food systems?

It offers strategies for both mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation (building resilience to climate impacts), including climate-smart agricultural practices, water-efficient technologies, early warning systems, and climate finance mechanisms.

What follow-up is planned after this report?

The report is part of a wider bundle of decision-making resources, supported by videos, articles, and workshops. Future editions will feature deeper, targeted analyses based on feedback from decision-makers, with key learnings embedded into CGIAR’s new research portfolio.