According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Agrifood systems encompass the entire range of actors, and their interlinked value-adding activities, engaged in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal and consumption of all food products including those of non-agricultural origin. Note that food systems fall within Agrifood systems.

Increasingly, food supply chains and the livelihoods of agrifood systems’ actors are disrupted by shocks – from droughts and floods to armed conflict and food price hikes – and long-term stresses, including climate change and environmental degradation. Risk and uncertainty are inherent in agrifood systems. (FAO, 2021)

Sustainability on the other hand refers to the long-term ability of food systems to provide food security and nutrition in a way that does not compromise the economic, social and environmental bases that can generate food security for future generations. Part of the challenge of making agrifood systems more sustainable is to reduce their inherent vulnerabilities and enhance their capacities to manage risks posed by multiple shocks and stresses. (FAO, 2021)