Strengthening subnational food systems planning in Honduras

Key result story from our 2025 annual technical report.

Experts focused on transforming food systems have created a range of guides to support the development of food system policies and programs. These resources emphasize that a comprehensive, participatory assessment of the entire food system is a crucial first step — one that moves beyond production and food security to encompass challenges across the agriculture, nutrition, health, and economic sectors. Since 2020, CGIAR has worked with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) in Honduras to develop and use Food System Profiles as a tool in their national and subnational policymaking. By the end of 2025, SAG invested in developing 20 Municipal Food System Profiles to help decisionmakers prioritize actions and investments to strengthen local food systems. 

Food systems in Honduras face challenges such as vulnerability to climate shocks, food insecurity, unhealthy diets, and limited coordination sectors. While national food systems transformation strategies exist to address these concerns, decisionmakers at the subnational level often lack the evidence and analytical tools needed to fully understand local food system dynamics. Without localized data and a diverse group of stakeholders to make sense of the evidence, municipalities struggle to prioritize and implement transformative actions aimed at improving access to sustainable healthy diets. 

To help address this gap, researchers from the CGIAR Better Diets and Nutrition Program partnered with national stakeholders to strengthen evidence-based food systems planning in Honduras. Building on earlier CGIAR funded work, this effort aimed to generate actionable food systems evidence and support national and municipal actors in translating commitments made through the UNFSS into local action. 

The foundation for this work began in 2020, when researchers from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, in partnership with the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, developed Sustainable Food System Profiles for Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Honduras. The profiles introduced a participatory framework that engages stakeholders in the process of identifying and analyzing key food system dimensions including supply chains, food environments, and consumer behavior, plus data on the drivers of food system outcomes, like shifting demographics, economic development, and changes in diets and consumer behavior. Rather than simply compiling data, the profiles synthesize critical existing information for a limited number of key food system indicators (just 30), prioritized by and interpreted with a group of stakeholders selected to represent diverse sectors and actor types, into short documents that provide a holistic overview of the food system and identify hotspots of unsustainability. An online dashboard supplemented the published profiles.  

In Honduras, these resources were incorporated into government-led activities in the lead-up to the UNFSS in 2021. Since then, the methodology has been applied at both national and subnational levels in Viet Nam and Ethiopia, with additional methodological guidelines published for each country in 2025 based on experiences with local and provincial authorities. In Viet Nam, the profiles have become a key resource supporting the subnational implementation of the country’s National Action Plan on Food Systems Transformation towards Transparency, Responsibility, and Sustainability by 2030. 

Building on this experience, the approach was adapted for use at the municipal level in Honduras. In 2023, SAG, which leads the country’s UNFSS engagement, partnered with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to lead this process in two municipalities with local food system actors from the public and private sector and civil society. 

Two Municipal Food System Profiles were published in 2024, alongside practical guidelines in Spanish on how to develop them. In 2025, independent of CGIAR financial support, SAG invested in advancing this effort by developing profiles for 20 additional municipalities. Better Diets and Nutrition provided training for SAG staff and their consultants on the methodology and continue to provide in-kind mentoring and technical support as the profiles are finalized. 

The primary users of the profiles are municipal governments, local offices of national ministries, and development organizations, who can use the evidence to guide food system policy and investment decisions. National agencies like SAG also benefit from localized insights that complement country-level food system transformation strategies. Through collaboration with diverse stakeholder groups, the process of developing the profiles has strengthened coordination while enhancing capacity for evidence-based decision-making.  

The development and expansion of municipal food system profiles in Honduras demonstrates growing government ownership of the approach and its value for guiding policy and investment decisions. As similar efforts continue in other countries, the methodology offers a pathway for more practical, coordinated and evidence-driven actions at the local level, supporting food systems transformation toward sustainable healthy diets. 

The Municipal Food System Profiles are tools that provide a comprehensive overview and strategic orientation. They specify and describe the characteristics of a territory and its people in relation to the components of a food system, identifying capabilities, opportunities, and key weaknesses. These insights help promote equitable, competitive, and resilient livelihoods, and can be used to promote and strengthen food and nutrition security and human development, applicable at the community, municipality, region and country levels, and can be periodically updated. 

Wilmer Escobar, Food and Nutrition Security Officer,  PROINORTE Project, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) of Honduras 

Contributing Center: Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT 

Contributing external partners: Honduran Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)