Prioritizing the data that matters for food security and nutrition
What information do policymakers need most to tackle food insecurity? The challenge is no longer simply identifying data gaps, but determining which gaps should be prioritized to enable better decision-making.
- data and methods
- food security
- governance
- Sustainable Agriculture
Prioritizing the data that matters for food security and nutrition
What information do policymakers need most to tackle food insecurity? The challenge is no longer simply identifying data gaps, but determining which gaps should be prioritized to enable better decision-making.
This was the central message of the Collaborative Governance Dialogue hosted by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) at FAO headquarters in Rome on 16 July 2026. Bringing together governments, UN agencies, civil society, research organizations and the private sector, the event explored how multi-stakeholder processes can strengthen information and data systems for food security and nutrition (FSN).
Elisabetta Gotor, Principal Scientist and Leader of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT's Policy, Inclusion and Socio-Economic Analysis for Impact and Learning (PISA) programme, spoke on the panel "Mapping Priority Data Gaps Across Key FSN Dimensions." Her intervention focused on a critical shift in perspective: rather than trying to fill every data gap, countries and institutions should prioritize the information that has the greatest potential to improve policies and food security outcomes.