Promoting Sustainable and Innovative Food Value Chains to Achieve Rural Development and Migration Flow Stabilization in the Mediterranean Region

This chapter explores the main challenges facing agro-food systems in the Mediterranean region vis-à-vis the need to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris agreement. Based on the analysis, it is here argued that some of the current and emerging challenges characterizing Mediterranean food systems can be effectively tackled by enhancing the sustainability of food value chains (FVCs) as well as the integration among stakeholders. Producing and transferring value along with the food systems in more sustainable ways means that each FVCs partner should activate synergies to change competitive seller-buyer interactions in a cooperative way. Therefore, producers, processors, and distributors should share goals, managerial capabilities, resources in terms of knowledge, innovative organizational and technological solutions, data, employees, strategies, and profitability. The actors of the value chain should cooperate not only among themselves but also with local and regional institutions, in order to promote capacity building, innovation, access to the market. Such a cooperative approach is crucial to minimize negative effects produced by a mix of overlapped crisis in progress (climate change, unbalanced demographic growth, and migration flows, geopolitical instability, market volatility, and speculation) which penalize more vulnerable actors, such as farmers and smallholders, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. It also creates conditions for economic sustainability and long-term prosperity. Partnerships and cooperation require a major change in the value systems and operating models of entrepreneurs, institutions involved in food systems, and institutions promoting economic development. However, we are all aware that ‘business as usual’ is not the right answer to the challenges in front of us. The implementation of Agenda 2030 needs not only technological transformations but also social change. In particular, the capacity to create strong, trustworthy, and reliable partnerships among private and public actors in local and regional food systems will be key to promote sustainable food value chains and to implement such a relevant Agenda.