As the global community gathered in Rome for the 53rd Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), one theme resonated across plenary discussions, high-level panels, and side events alike: the urgent need to make food systems work for people. This year’s session emphasized the importance of strengthening coordination and collaborative actions across sectors and governance levels as a key means to address complex food security and nutrition challenges. This includes ensuring decent work, fair incomes, and social protection for the 4.5 billion people whose livelihoods depend on food systems. 

Amid this backdrop, the Decent Work for Equitable Food Systems Coalition, joined forces with the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) to host a dynamic side event: “Harnessing Data for Policy Making: Advancing Food Security and Decent Jobs in Agrifood Systems.”

From Data to Decisions: Why Evidence Matters

The side event, held on 24 October, showcased how data can drive smarter, fairer policies in food systems. Opening remarks from the Director of ILO Sectoral Policies, Frank Hagemann, set the stage by reminding participants that “no transformation of our food systems can be truly sustainable unless it is also equitable and just.” Across the globe, over 1.3 billion people work in agri-food systems, yet the sector still accounts for the highest rates of informal, unsafe, and poorly paid work.

Decent work, Hagemann emphasized, is not just a moral imperative but a strategic one: “reliable labour statistics are essential to understanding sectoral trends and targeting support where it is most needed.” The JobAgri initiative, a partnership between the ILO, FAO, CIRAD, and the African Union with support from Germany’s BMZ, was highlighted as a promising example of how better evidence can inform policy design.

CIRAD researcher Pierre Girard presented early findings from JobAgri’s pilot project in Ghana, which maps employment across the maize value chain. The study surveyed nearly 950 farming households and hundreds of processors, traders, and transporters to capture dynamics often missed in traditional statistics.

The results were eye-opening. While small and medium enterprises remain vital employers, large-scale actors, such as aggregators and processors, also generate significant numbers of jobs, albeit often under precarious conditions. Casual and seasonal workers, especially women, remain largely invisible in data collection and underrepresented in policymaking.

Girard shared that casual women workers earn on average 42% less than men, with wage gaps varying significantly by crop and task. “If we want to narrow gender gaps,” he noted, “policies must consider crop- and task-specific differences and address the vulnerabilities of both family and casual workers.”

Building on this evidence, IFAD’s Juan Carlos Mendoza, Director of the Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division, stressed the need to connect data with decision-making. Drawing on lessons from IFAD’s Agribusiness Hubs Programme in Africa, he highlighted how interventions grounded in solid data on youth participation, job creation, and business viability lead to more sustainable and inclusive outcomes.

Mendoza called for policy coherence, stronger public–private partnerships, and greater investment in data-driven policymaking that links agriculture, employment, and education sectors. “Decent jobs are not just a development goal, they are a development guarantee,” Mendoza affirmed.

Building Momentum for Action

The event concluded with a lively panel discussion that called for strong data systems and inclusive dialogue to catalyze tangible improvements in both food security and livelihood quality. As the CFS 53 discussions wrapped up, the coalition’s message was clear: transforming food systems requires transforming work. Data is not just a technical tool, it’s a bridge between evidence and justice, between visibility and voice. The Decent Work for Equitable Food Systems Coalition will continue to champion this agenda, advancing partnerships and policies that turn data into decent work and ensure that the people who feed the world can do so with dignity.