Wheat, maize, and rice are vital food crops that support global food security, providing 50% of the world’s dietary energy. While maize is widely cultivated by smallholder farmers, particularly in Africa and Latin America, wheat is also produced by smallholders, notably in Ethiopia and South Asia.
Despite record-high cereal harvests in recent years, these essential crops are increasingly threatened by rising temperatures, groundwater depletion, pollution, biodiversity loss, and other environmental challenges. However, there is a unique opportunity to address both environmental and socio-economic issues by strategically transforming food systems and the value chains of wheat, maize, and rice, according to a press release.
Two integrated programs funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) — the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program (FOLUR) and the Food Systems Integrated Program (FSIP) — are driving this transformation. These programs cover 46 countries, with many dedicated to enhancing maize and wheat production. Their efforts aim to improve food crop value chains, making them more sustainable, pollution-free, resilient, and inclusive.
A significant milestone in the global discussion on maize and wheat sustainability took place in January 2025, when the FOLUR program, in collaboration with the Government of Türkiye, co-hosted the “Sustainable Maize and Wheat: Scaling Innovations for Resilience” dialogue. The event brought together over 60 international experts, including FAO and IFAD specialists, to explore the latest advancements in sustainable maize and wheat value chains and agricultural systems.
The dialogue served as an opportunity to reinforce connection and efforts of teams coordinating the two GEF-funded integrated programs — FOLUR, led by the World Bank, and FSIP, jointly led by FAO and IFAD. Key areas of discussion included:
- Sustainable diversification: Moving beyond mono-crop commodity-driven approaches to increase resilience.
- Support for small-scale producers: Ensuring an inclusive transition that benefits farmers’ livelihoods and enhances food security and nutrition.
- Cross-country learning: Facilitating South-South and South-North knowledge exchange among FOLUR and FSIP maize and wheat countries to share best practices and innovative solutions.
Transforming food systems offers a unique opportunity to improve policies, governance, and regulatory frameworks while maximizing knowledge resources for positive change. A robust policy and governance framework at national, landscape, and field levels is crucial to accelerating the transition to sustainable crop production.
To support this transformation, FAO has introduced its innovative Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT) at the national level. This tool helps governments optimize food and agriculture budgets, enabling the efficient allocation of financial resources to boost agrifood GDP, reduce poverty, create rural jobs, make healthy diets more affordable, and increase agricultural production — all while meeting environmental goals. Early results show that economic growth and emission reductions can go hand-in-hand, demonstrating that well-designed agricultural policies can achieve both objectives.
To connect national policies with on-the-ground action and ensure coherence between strategic interventions at the landscape level, FAO shared early results of the Participatory Informed Landscape Approach (PILA) under FOLUR. PILA is a cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder, and inclusive approach that promotes informed decision-making through tailored information at the national, landscape, and field levels. It supports integrated landscape management and governance, driving the transformation of food systems toward greater sustainability.
IFAD also shared practical experiences from its global food systems projects, including those under the GEF-supported Resilient Food Systems (RFS) programme. The presentation highlighted innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture, such as smallholder-operated sub-surface irrigation systems, adapted small-scale machinery for rice-wheat systems, and strategies to address zinc deficiencies. These examples reflect IFAD’s commitment to scaling practical, climate-resilient solutions.
The global dialogue in Istanbul underscored the urgent need for innovative, collaborative, and inclusive approaches to maize and wheat sustainability. By fostering synergies between FOLUR and FSIP, enhancing policy and governance frameworks, and supporting small-scale producers, FAO and its partners are working together to build resilient food systems capable of withstanding the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation.
