Something significant is happening in food fortification. Quietly, and across more countries than most people realize, the years following passage of a milestone resolution on food fortification at the World Health Assembly have delivered a meaningful acceleration in the scale, quality, and political visibility of large-scale food fortification programs worldwide.
India’s agricultural transformation is widely recognised as one of the most consequential development stories of the twentieth century. From chronic food shortages in the decades following independence to self-sufficiency in staple cereals like rice wheat and millets, India’s investments in irrigation, research, and price support fundamentally reshaped food availability. Public procurement and subsidised public distribution systems ensured that calories reached even the most vulnerable. And this culminated in the institutionalisation of food security through the National Food Security Act.
In the current global context of prolonged global conflicts, increasing severity of climate change and ever rising inflation, the need to make our food systems, resilient has never been more urgent than now.
Resilient food systems feed and nourish people, create jobs, protect livelihoods and withstand shocks such as climate change, conflict, rising prices and supply disruptions. And the backbone of what makes food systems truly resilient are the Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). They are small individually, but together they form the everyday engine of our food systems.
In Ethiopia, the growing Textile industry is powered by the youth, typically aged 18 to 35 years, more than 85 percent of whom are women. Yet, behind the machines lies a hidden challenge: malnutrition. Evidence reveals that poor diet on the job is costing countries up to 20% in lost productivity due to malnutrition1 and this is further impacted by food inflation.
Food is the foundation of life. It nourishes our bodies, connects communities, and reflects culture and tradition. Yet what we eat must be safe to fulfil its purpose of sustaining health and well-being. Food safety is the set of practices and conditions used to handle, prepare, store, and distribute food in a way that prevents contamination and reduces the risk of foodborne illness. In simple terms, it means making sure food is safe to eat at every stage from production to consumption.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, most SMEs producing nutritious foods are family-owned enterprises. Often built from modest beginnings, these businesses play an important role in food systems by creating jobs, supporting rural economies, and expanding access to safe and affordable nutritious foods. As these companies grow, the demands for strengthening and streamlining their corporate governance and management structures increase significantly.
What if the food on your plate could be guided by science, culture, sustainability, and affordability — all at once?
That is precisely what Kenya is building. From 12–15 May 2026, a multi-disciplinary team of nutrition scientists, policy experts, academics, and development partners gathered at Oleken Hotel, Nakuru, for the most technically intensive session yet in the development of Kenya's first-ever Food Systems-Based Dietary Guidelines (FSBDGs). FOLU Kenya, operating through GAIN Kenya, is proud to be a convening and coordinating partner in this transformative process.
There is something quietly powerful about institutions that have spent centuries mastering the art of storytelling. Long before food systems became a policy agenda, religious communities were already doing something that nutrition programmes have long struggled to achieve: making people feel something about what they consume, share, and value.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), in collaboration with the Food and Land Use Coalition Indonesia (KSPL), officially launched its support for the development of the Regional Action Plan for Food and Nutrition Based on Local Resources (RAD-PG BPSDL) in Trenggalek Regency. The two-day inception meeting marked a critical step toward building a more resilient, nutritious, and sustainable local food system
When you ask families in Tanga what salt means to them, the answer is often simple: “It’s something we cook with every day.” Yet few realise that the quality of that salt; its purity, safety, and level of iodization; directly affects the health of households, particularly children and pregnant women.
For years, salt producers in Tongoni and Masiwani worked with unlined pans, contaminated crystals, and unpredictable yields. Salt was often sold locally without consistent iodization, leaving families vulnerable to iodine deficiency, which contributes to goiter, impaired development, and weakened immunity.
Today, a different story is unfolding. Improvements in infrastructure, training, and coordination, supported by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), are transforming production from low-quality, non-iodized salt to safer, cleaner, and more reliable salt that strengthens household nutrition.
