1308. Report on UNFSS+4 Side Event

The UN Food Systems Summit +4 (UNFSS+4) took place from July 27–29 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. On July 27, JIRCAS held a side event with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF), the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), the Vietnam Gardening Association (VGA), the Ministry of Water and Environment of Uganda (MWE), FAO Forestry Division, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., and Greein Inc.

The event began with an introduction by PD Iiyama of JIRCAS, who acted as the general moderator, followed by a keynote speech by Mr. Kubota, Deputy Assistant Minister, Export and International Affairs Bureau, MAFF, who introduced Japan's efforts in food system transformation, and welcome remarks by Prof. Dechassa, Director General of EIAR.

Following this, Dr. Hughes, Secretary General of the World Agriculture Forum and International Scientific Advisory Board Member of the JIRCAS Green Asia Project, moderated the panel session, in which the panelists shared their experiences with their respective organizations' activities, including backgrounds, motivations, approaches and tools, achievements to date, and challenges.

The panel included:

• Dr. Yasuro Funaki, Director of Social Sciences Division, Project Leader of the Green Asia Project, JIRCAS - The application of agricultural technologies in the Asia-Monsoon region
• Ms. Gaia Stopponi/ Ms. Serena Fortuna (tbc), FAO Forestry Division - Solutions-tree for sustainable agricultural solutions and policy coherence and public expenditure analytical framework to align investments to halt deforestation
• Mr. Bob Kazungu, Uganda MWE– Experience from public expenditure review and cross-sectoral policy shifts to support forest-positive food systems
• Dr. Kaori Ono, Ajinomoto – Climate-smart, sustainable livestock and agricultural solutions 
• Mr. Junichi Hanai, Greein Inc., and Dr. Tadele Mamo, EIAR– Using e-kakashi to optimize agronomic practices
• Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Vietnam Gardening Association

Afterwards, there was an active Q&A session between the MC, panelists, and audience. Despite the differences in contexts, participants learned a great deal by sharing their experiences in applying innovative solutions to provide nutritious food while reducing the environmental impact.

Finally, PD Iiyama gave a summary of the meeting and closed the event.

We plan to update the materials presented at the conference on the following website.

UNFSS+4 Side-event: “Tailoring Science, Technology, and Innovation to Local Contexts while Advancing Global Agendas: Lessons from Multi-Country, Cross-Sectoral Approaches to Agri-Food Systems Transformation”
https://www.jircas.go.jp/en/event/2025/e20250727
 

Contributor: Miyuki IIYAMA, Information Program