Fintech as a Catalyst for Sustainable Development in Food Systems

Abstract

As global food systems face increasing pressures from climate change, resource scarcity, and financial exclusion, fintech has emerged as a transformative force with the potential to drive sustainable development. Production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food have become increasingly unsustainable, with severe environmental, social, and economic implications. This threatens the fulfillment of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the ambitious target of ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030. Current trajectories reveal the urgency with which we need to address emerging and existing challenges, such as climate change, inefficiencies that lead to the wastage of nearly one-third of all food produced, and problems that perpetuate deep-rooted inequalities, leaving billions without access to adequate nutrition. This paper adopts a narrative review approach, synthesizing existing literature and case studies to explore the role of financial technologies (fintech) in addressing challenges within global food systems in improving supply chain transparency and strengthening the resilience of smallholders and agribusinesses. By bridging gaps in credit, risk management, and market connectivity, fintech offers innovative pathways to support inclusive, efficient, and climate-resilient food systems. By combining an analysis of fintech’s current applications with a call for greater awareness and action, this review underscores the critical role of financial innovation in building sustainable food systems and achieving the SDGs by 2030.

Received: 12 July 2025 | Revised: 12 September 2025 | Accepted: 23 October 2025

Conflicts of Interest

The author declares that she has no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study

Author Contribution Statement

Shoba Suri: Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.