: The paper analyses the food and nutrition security (FNS) governance in some net
food importing countries by looking at how the multidimensional nature of FNS challenges is
addressed in policy-making processes. Two countries are particularly studied, Burkina Faso
and Ethiopia, where the two authors work and where in-depth interviews have been
conducted. Complementary insights are given from Benin and Kenya to support our results.
The main argument developed is that FNS policies have a strong inertia around agricultural
production issues. Historical actors, mainly trained in agriculture, remain predominant in FNS
policy-making and tend to raise sectoral agricultural issues. The FNS institutional framework
is increasingly fragmented between agriculture, nutrition and social agendas instead of being
conducive to the debate of competing visions of FNS and to intersectoral coordination. To
some extent, recent changes in trade policies with the decrease of agricultural taxation and
strong producer support since the 2007/08 food crisis are now more coherent with productionoriented
FNS policies. Intersectoral initiatives are often the result of high-level commitments
and/or individual actors. Aid actors play a key role in those initiatives, especially through
innovation in their internal organisation to overcome the tendency to work in silos.