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UN Sustainable Development Goals

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Team’s Name

Course

Date of Submission
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Contents
UN Sustainable Development Goals............................................................................................................4
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Problem.............................................................................................................................................5
1.1.2 Causes of Food Insecurity in Sri Lanka......................................................................................5
1.2 Solution to Sri Lank Food Problem...................................................................................................5
2.0 Social Marketing Mix.............................................................................................................................6
3.0 The Pain Points......................................................................................................................................7
4.0 Unique Circumstances should be identified..........................................................................................7
5.0 Recommendations for the Challenge....................................................................................................7
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Abstract

This study evaluated the diversity of the second UN Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) as a solution for the food insecurity challenge and nutrition crisis in Sri Lanka. The

evaluation defined the potential challenges of the food crisis in Sri Lanka as a reason of climatic

change and poor government economic management. The world population requires more food

through agricultural development solutions to ensure a sustainable future. According to the

study, the food market is also facing challenges and difficulties in setting prices due to a lack of

farmers' support from the government. The application of the reduction of food waste and

support of local farmers indicate a sustainable future for food security and poverty eradication

based on the new agricultural development. Sri Lanka is one of the world nations that require

applying this SDG to avoid relief food dependence and humanitarian needs in the future.

According to the WFP reports, the world can face a huge food security challenge if the proper

actions of food production and agricultural practice continue to be under poor governmental

management. Reducing food wastage and improving local farming production is a solution that

can enhance Sri Lanka's food market and ensure adequate nutrition for its population,

malnourished children, and mother in the future.

Keywords: Sustainable, humanitarian, farming, agriculture, management, climatic, economic,

and WFP.
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UN Sustainable Development Goals

1.0 Introduction

The world's contemporary society faces multiple challenges in urban and rural contexts

due to the population pressure that requires day-to-day solutions (Rural Health Information Hub

(RHIhub), 2022). In 2015, the UN General Assembly set up 17 collective SDGs to foster a more

sustainable future for the world population by 2030 (UN Sustainable Development Goals Report,

2022). In that sense, food security is a global challenge and one of the UN's SDGs. According to

the UN reports, a third of the world's food is wasted, yet a population of 821 million face hunger

challenges (UN Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2022). Zero Hunger is a focus on food-

securing production as listed in SDGs. Agriculture and food development is a solution for a

globally sustainable future that provides a central action for hunger and poverty eradication (UN

Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2022). In this case, Sri Lanka is one of the countries in

the world that is facing food insecurity and needs humanitarian assistance. Out of 6.3 million

people, more than 30% of Sri Lanka's population requires World Food Program (WFP) support

(Reliefweb, 2022). The country can use a second UN SDG to address this issue in the future. As

the second SDGs goal, reducing food and supporting local farmers provides a blueprint for the

agriculture and food development sectors to offer sustainable solutions for the eradication of

hunger and poverty fostering food security for future rural and urban societies in Sri Lanka.
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Graph 1: Showing the World's Population and its Growth Rates (Data Commons, 2021).

1.1 Problem

1.1.2 Causes of Food Insecurity in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a country that can provide substantial evidence of climate change impacts. It

is facing significant environmental threats of climate change without any solution for adaptive

action. Agricultural yields have decreased in recent decades due to high temperatures and rainfall

failures (Reliefweb, 2022). Sri Lanka is facing a food crisis due to its governmental economic

mismanagement. Some past tied policies affected this nation's food crisis, including the 2009

massive infrastructure projects (Adu, 2022). Sri Lanka accumulated huge fiscal debts, with

China as one of the creditors accounting for more than 10% of Sri Lanka's foreign fiscal debt

(Adu, 2022). Additionally, the Sri Lanka government's failure to support the local farmers

unfolds the food crisis in this nation. According to the current research, rice production dropped

by more than 30% due to the struggle of the farmers to cover their costs.

1.2 Solution to Sri Lank Food Problem

The solution to Sri Lanka requires the government to support the local farmers and

encourage proper management of economic resources. The expansion of the market of the

available products to ensure reduced food wastage for the farmers will curb the storage problem
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of surplus production. The government should educate the public and farmers about food

processing and storage to limit wastage or spoilage. Additionally, the government should

subsidize the production of agricultural products to ensure full market support. The country

should have an environmental conservation program to reduce climatic change in the future

(Reliefweb, 2022). Finally, the Sri Lanka government should have a feeding program and

disaster management projects to curb emergency issues.

2.0 Social Marketing Mix

One way of reducing the effects of the food crisis in Sri Lanka is social marketing, which

can be a consideration that will help determine a sustainable change. The social marking mix will

include the 4Ps of marketing, including place, product, promotion, and price. Product is the

priority element for marketing, and therefore increase in production will avail the potential

foodstuffs in the market. The availability of a variety of food products in the market will ensure

all needs of the population against the food crisis is attainable. Price is another factor that should

be considered in this project. An increase in food products will influence the economics of scale,

and every farmer can sell at a convenient price (Dietrich et al., 2022). The demand will go low

because the supply will be high due to maximized production. Price will ensure the provision of

certain behavior in the market, and consumers will have high negation power. 

Promotion is another important element that influences the development of the foodstuff

market. The use of social media will be the appropriate advertising platform that can offer

sufficient promotion of the new farm products. It will allow customers to consumers to chat and

share their preferences and quality. Place is where people reach to access the food or commodity

supplied by the farmers. The supply chains from the food from the government platform will

ensure that the product reaches every part of the country at the right time. Developing a modern
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supply chain through e-commerce will ensure farmers can access customers online and make

orders accordingly (Dietrich et al., 2022). Communication in the supply chain will reduce

spoilage and increase quality. 

3.0 The Pain Points

Four major pain points are associated with Sri Lanka's food production and products. The

first pain point is the support showing that current prospective farmers, clients, and consumers

cannot meet their demands in the marketing journey. The second pain point is productivity,

which shows that local farmers are facing low yields due to a lack of support. The third pain

point is a financial crisis that involves government economic mismanagement that widens the

food-marketing crisis. The fourth pain point is the process that involves the small production and

wide market, leading to high prices on the staple food products in the market (Hogeveen &

Rosengren, 2022).

4.0 Unique Circumstances should be identified

There are unique circumstances to be identified in the Sri Lanka food crisis case; it is

important to know that the customers for food products are unhappy. Also, identify that they are

sad about the food market, ready for alternatives to the staple food, and change to other options.

The eventual food consumers are identified as hopeless because the solutions are extremely

limited for food products. In that sense, food consumers feel more disappointed by the food

market (Dietrich et al., 2022). Through social marketing, diversity in food products is achievable.

5.0 Recommendations for the Challenge

The prototype design included agriculture and livelihood, food security, nutrition and

wash, protection and education, and health as the essential elements. More than 1.5 million

people have been exposed to the program and 7.0 million are in need, with 3.4 million as the
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targeted population. More than one million US dollars has been disbursed to the reached people

showing that 25 districts have benefited from the program. The design can work because more

people have reached various districts (Reliefweb, 2022). This aspect identifies a great impact of

the solution provided by the humanitarian agencies as the priority in Sri Lanka. 

The designed Prototype (Reliefweb, 2022)

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Appendices
Appendix 1: MIRO Board
https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVP7PLphE=/#tpicker-content

Appendix 2: Table 1: The Social Marketing Mix Impact

Market Mix Element Market Impact

Promotion There is overtly promotion of the food products in the Sri

Lanka food market

Price The price can be used to assert the food consumers' pain
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points and understand customer behavior

Product The food product has reduced flaws due to online process

Place Social media can act as a unique and popular place where

people (farmers) can share experiences about the product

and the market

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References

Adu .Y. (2022). Sri Lanka is on the brink of a Food Crisis. Food Security. DW.

https://www.dw.com/en/sri-lanka-on-brink-of-food-crisis-after-economic-meltdown/a-

63139193#:~:text=With%20almost%20no%20foreign%20currency,and%20fertilizers

%20in%20Sri%20Lanka.

Data Commons (2021). https://datacommons.org/place/Earth?

utm_medium=explore&mprop=count&popt=Person&hl=en

Reluiefweb (2022). Food Security and Nutrition crisis in Sri Lankan. OCHA services. Reliefweb.

https://reliefweb.int/report/sri-lanka/food-security-and-nutrition-crisis-sri-

lanka#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20World%20Food,people%20are%20severely

%20food%20insecure.

Roggeveen, A. L., & Rosengren, S. (2022). From customer experience to human experience:

Uses of systematized and non-systematized knowledge. Journal of Retailing and

Consumer Services, 67, 102967.

Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) (2022). https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/rural-

toolkit/1/rural-issues

UN Sustainable Development Goals Report (2022).

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

UN Sustainable Development Goals Report (2022). Zero Hunger.

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/

Dietrich, T., Hurley, E., Kassirer, J., Rundle-Thiele, S., Palmatier, R. W., Merritt, R., & Lee, N.

(2022). 50 years of Social Marketing: Seeding Solutions for the Future. European

Journal of Marketing, (ahead-of-print).

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