Nutrition, health & food security
Ending hunger and enabling safe, affordable, healthy diets for the world's most vulnerable people.
Objectives
Through research and innovation, CGIAR aims to address these challenges and contribute to collective global targets for nutrition, health, and food security:
- Ending hunger for all and enabling affordable healthy diets for the 3 billion people who do not currently have access to safe and nutritious food (SDG 2).
- Reducing cases of foodborne illness (600 million annually) and zoonotic disease (1 billion annually) by one third (SDG 3).
Activities
To contribute to these collective global targets, CGIAR Initiatives will:
- Provide evidence and options for improving diets and human health through food systems outcomes, policy research, and technical and institutional innovations for making healthy sustainable diets affordable, targeting consumer behavior, local urban and informal markets, and social protection.
- Accelerate innovation in agronomy, livestock, and fisheries management to increase and diversify food supply and to manage zoonotic diseases, food safety, and anti-microbial resistance.
- Advance research on a wider range of foods and farming systems, including vegetables, insects, and urban farming, with a focus on affordable diets and perishable foods.
- Focus on dietary diversity, quality, and resilience underpinned by custodianship and distribution of a wide variety of genetic materials of crops and their wild relatives, and livestock; breeding of nutrient-dense legumes, roots, tubers, bananas and cereals, including biofortification and market relevant traits; and breeding of more productive livestock and fish to increase the supply of nutrient dense animal-source foods.
All CGIAR Initiatives will contribute to Nutrition, Health, and Food Security. Below, browse a selection of Initiatives that primarily contribute to this Impact Area.
News
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UNEA7: Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet
The seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) will take place from 8–12 December 2025, at the United Nations Environment...
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COP30 in Belém: Implications for the Future Work of the MFL Program
COP30 in Belém leaves behind a complex political atmosphere, shaped by global divisions and even the unexpected drama of a fire in the venue.
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Partnerships Powering AI Advances in Agriculture
The AI Agriculture Ecosystem Launch in Abu Dhabi showcased new AI technologies that strengthen farmers' resilience.
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Regional learning for sustainable rice straw management
Knowledge exchange and business model scaling towards a sustainable transformation of rice straw from a waste product into a valuable asset were the...
Publications
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Armed conflict communitybased cash transfers and social cohesion Evidence from a randomized intervention in Ethiopia
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Pork safety across Vietnams traditional markets microbial contamination and vendor knowledge attitudes and practices
Foodborne diseases are a major cause of illness in low- and middle-income countries, and most are due to fresh foods sold in traditional markets....
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Flat planting of cassava is more productive economic and laboursaving than in annual ridges in the highrainfall environments of Northern Zambia
Context: Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a strategic crop for food and income generation, but its productivity is challenged by low soil...
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Can a lighttouch graduation model enhance livelihood outcomes Evidence from Ethiopia