Re-imagining Food Systems Transformation and the Achievement of Healthy Diets for All in Zimbabwe Implications for Nutritional Policy

Abstract

Ensuring a sustainable, healthy diet for all people has become one of the critical objectives of the global developmental agenda.  Policymakers and development practitioners are now re-directing all their efforts towards transforming food systems to ensure an  inclusive and equitable healthy diet – particularly in poor countries. Yet the impact of food systems transformation on facilitating a  healthy diet and the implications on nutrition policy in poor countries like Zimbabwe remains unknown. This research qualitatively  analyses the nutritional policy implications of food systems transformation to achieve healthy diets in Zimbabwe. The study shows that  the government could develop and implement nutrition policies that focus on rolling out education programmes to promote a healthy  lifestyle and enforce front-of-pack food labelling, fiscal incentives and disincentives in promoting a healthy diet, mainstream nutrition in  designing and implementing social protection programmes and ensuring food standards. Designing and implementing effective  nutrition policies that support the provision of healthy, nutritious food sources could be a robust strategy for food systems transformation and achieving Agenda 2030. The article calls for multi-sectoral collaboration of all nutrition actors in Zimbabwe to ensure  that people follow a healthy diet and incorporate essential components of food system resilience into its structure.