The Necessity of Territorial Approaches for Designing and Implementing Sustainable Food Baskets: A Case Study in Iran

ABSTRACT

The unsustainable impact of people's food choices and consumption on ecosystems and financial resources highlights the need for sustainable diets to achieve overall sustainable development. In large countries like Iran, diverse climates and cultures make it inappropriate to impose a single set of dietary guidelines nationwide. This study aimed to compare more sustainable food baskets in each zone to assess the need for developing distinct food baskets for each zone. The study used data from the 2020 household income and expenditure survey. The country is divided into 11 study zones with similar ethnic, ecological, geographical, economic, and social characteristics. The data were adjusted for comparability based on adult male equivalent units. The study employed linear programming and goal programming models to establish the most sustainable food basket for each zone, focusing on a maximum NRF19.3 and a minimum cost, water, and carbon footprint. Significant variations in energy and food consumption were observed across zones, with Region 4 having the highest energy consumption and Region 8 the lowest. Moreover, the more sustainable food baskets tailored to each region showed distinct differences. Bread and cereals decreased by 8 to 20 points across zones, vegetable consumption decreased by 2 points in some areas and increased by 4 points in others, fruit consumption rose by up to 4 points, dairy products increased by 10 to 18 points, meat consumption increased by up to 5 points, and fats and sugars decreased by 1 to 6 points. Due to the diversity in the designed food baskets, creating a single sustainable food basket for the entire country is not feasible. Hence, it is crucial to tailor sustainable food baskets and food and nutrition programs to the unique characteristics of each zone in order to promote a more sustainable diet.