With the world's population growing at an ever-increasing rate, the fears of a widening gap between people's needs and food production are once more coming to the fore. In tropical countries the primary concern has traditionally been to increase production, and the food sector has long been regarded as being less important a field of research than agriculture. Its importance in agricultural development tends to be better understood these days, however, and many research institutions and development agencies have increased their investment over the last few years. The first part of this paper shows how the the development of food sector can contribute to meet new challenges triggered off by unprecedented socioeconomic changes in the countries of the south and the international environment. Key-words in today's debate are urbanization and demographic growth, globalization, disparity and poverty, health risks, sustainability and long-term planning, social control of technology, identity, and ethics. The second part of the paper describes an outline history of food research and development in tropical countries. This appraisal serves as a background against which to examine new directions that need to be explored, which is the subject of the third and last section of the paper.