The Oxford Handbook of Food, Politics, and Society

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Agricultural Technologies ◽  
The North ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
Sub Saharan

This book explores the complex interrelationships between food and agriculture, politics, and society. More specifically, it considers the political aspects of three basic economic questions: what is to be produced? how is it to be produced? how it is to be distributed? It also outlines three unifying themes running through the politics of answering these societal questions with regard to food, namely: ecology, technology and property. Furthermore, the book examines the tendency to address the new organization of global civil society around food, its production, distribution, and consequences for the least powerful within the context of the North-South divide; the problems of malnutrition as opposed to poverty, food insecurity, and food shortages, as well as the widespread undernutrition in developing countries; and how biotechnology can be used to ensure a sustainable human future by addressing global problems such as human population growth, pollution, climate change, and limited access to clean water and other basic food production resources. The influence of science and politics on the framing of modern agricultural technologies is also discussed, along with the worsening food crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, food security and food safety, and the relationship between gender inequality and food security. Other chapters deal with the link between land and food and its implications for social justice; the "eco-shopping” perspective; the transformation of the agrifood industry in developing countries; the role of wild foods in food security; agroecological intensification of smallholder production systems; and the ethics of food production and consumption.

Food and Dependency: P.L. 480 Aid to Black Africa

1982 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Vengroff
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Production Technology ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Priority List ◽  
Adequate Supply ◽  
Black Africa ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
First World

In a recent study of 90 developing countries by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, 52 of them were found to have more than 15 per cent of their populations undernourished. This figure was determined using the F.A.O. minimum intake of 1,600 calories per day, only about half of that of the average diet of citizens in the ‘First World’. In Black Africa, 29 of the 33 independent nations included in the F.A.O. study fall into the category of undernourished. Contributions of aid in the form of food and food-production technology are therefore extremely important to this region. Obtaining an adequate supply of food for their people must be high on the priority list for governments in sub-Saharan Africa, and is the focus of this article.

scholarly journals Dilemma of nitrogen management for future food security in sub-Saharan Africa – a review

Soil Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cargele Masso ◽  
Fredrick Baijukya ◽  
Peter Ebanyat ◽  
Sifi Bouaziz ◽  
John Wendt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
N Recovery ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Other World ◽  
N Use

Food security entails having sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet dietary needs. The need to optimise nitrogen (N) use for nutrition security while minimising environmental risks in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is overdue. Challenges related to managing N use in SSA can be associated with both insufficient use and excessive loss, and thus the continent must address the ‘too little’ and ‘too much’ paradox. Too little N is used in food production (80% of countries have N deficiencies), which has led to chronic food insecurity and malnutrition. Conversely, too much N load in water bodies due mainly to soil erosion, leaching, limited N recovery from wastewater, and atmospheric deposition contributes to eutrophication (152 Gg N year–1 in Lake Victoria, East Africa). Limited research has been conducted to improve N use for food production and adoption remains low, mainly because farming is generally practiced by resource-poor smallholder farmers. In addition, little has been done to effectively address the ‘too much’ issues, as a consequence of limited research capacity. This research gap must be addressed, and supportive policies operationalised, to maximise N benefits, while also minimising pollution. Innovation platforms involving key stakeholders are required to address N use efficiency along the food supply chain in SSA, as well as other world regions with similar challenges.

scholarly journals Optimizing cropland cover for stable food production in Sub-Saharan Africa using simulated yield and Modern Portfolio Theory

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1571-1606 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Bodin ◽  
S. Olin ◽  
T. A. M. Pugh ◽  
A. Arneth
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Portfolio Theory ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Modern Portfolio Theory ◽  
Local Food Production ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Access To Food

Abstract. Food security can be defined as stable access to food of good nutritional quality. In Sub Saharan Africa access to food is strongly linked to local food production and the capacity to generate enough calories to sustain the local population. Therefore it is important in these regions to generate not only sufficiently high yields but also to reduce interannual variability in food production. Traditionally, climate impact simulation studies have focused on factors that underlie maximum productivity ignoring the variability in yield. By using Modern Portfolio Theory, a method stemming from economics, we here calculate optimum current and future crop selection that maintain current yield while minimizing variance, vs. maintaining variance while maximizing yield. Based on simulated yield using the LPJ-GUESS dynamic vegetation model, the results show that current cropland distribution for many crops is close to these optimum distributions. Even so, the optimizations displayed substantial potential to either increase food production and/or to decrease its variance regionally. Our approach can also be seen as a method to create future scenarios for the sown areas of crops in regions where local food production is important for food security.

scholarly journals Direction of Causality Between Financial Development and Economic Growth. Evidence for Developing Countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sorin Nicolae Borlea ◽  
Codruta Mare ◽  
Monica Violeta Achim ◽  
Adriana Puscas
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Financial Indicator ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract The results of extensive studies that analyzed the existence and meaning of correlations between the economic growth and the financial market development lead us to a more thorough study of these correlations. Therefore, we performed a broad study of the developing countries from around the world (the developing part of each region constructed by the World Bank through its Statistics Bureau). The regions taken into analysis were: Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, the Arab world, Latin America & and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. For comparison purposes, we have also included in the sample the North American countries, the Euro Area and the European Union as a whole, because these last three areas are the main benchmarks of the financial markets. The results are consistent with those from previous studies on the subject and vary depending on region and financial indicator considered.

Agroecology, Information and Communications Technology, and Smallholders’ Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 1194-1208
Author(s):  
Cheng Wei
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Rural Populations ◽  
Communications Technology ◽  
Sustainable Rural Development ◽  
Sub Saharan

As a bottom-up, grassroots paradigm for sustainable rural development, agroecology is particularly promising for smallholders in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, by adopting agroecology, smallholders will be challenged to take on new perspectives and compile and integrate different sourced information to innovate. Today’s fast evolving information and communications technology in sub-Saharan Africa represents great opportunities for rural populations to enhance the adoption and success of agroecology and to address their daunting challenges simultaneously while conserving, protecting and enhancing natural resources. Agroecology combined with information and communications technology will probably be smallholders’ “precision agriculture” in many developing countries to enhance their food security and livelihood.

scholarly journals Food Security and Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
Chase McGowan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Detrimental Impact

Climate change is predicted to have a detrimental impact on food security throughout the world, but the poorest regions are likely to be the most affected. The Food and Agriculture Organization identifies four aspects of food security: availability, access, stability and utilization. This literature review examines the predicted impacts of climate change on food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. First, an analysis of the scientific literature was undertaken to investigate the potential impact of climate change on each of these four aspects. Second, policies relating to food security and climate change of key UN bodies, international non-profit organizations, and national governments in Sub-Saharan Africa were examined. Overall, there is extensive evidence that climate change will negatively impact each of the four aspects of food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Until now, international organizations and national governments have failed to adopt comprehensive policies to adapt to climate change. To be effective, efforts to address the problem should combine social and development aspects.

CURRENT SITUATION AND TRENDS FOR FOOD SECURITY IN ANGOLA

2020 ◽  
Vol Vol. 36 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 91-99
Author(s):  
Tiago Manuel
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Food Security ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Social Disparities ◽  
Regional Inequalities ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Access To Food

For many people the access to food ensuring enough calories, dietary diversity, continuity and good quality is still an everyday challenge. After three decades of civil war, Angola is one of the fastest growing economies of Sub-Saharan Africa, which is world leader in undernourishment and child mortality. The aim of the survey was to summarize recent findings of various international organizations monitoring food security mainly in developing countries. The author shows definitions regarding food security, gives details of the methodology highlighting the complexity of factors required to measure hunger. The overall trend over the last decade shows improvement, which is promising. However, malnutrition rates in the population remain high, in spite of the ongoing boost of various sectors of the economy. Huge regional inequalities point out the importance of rural development promotion programs, and the need of immediate action to reduce social disparities. The results demonstrate the need of focused approach in order to promote the improvement of the current situation. Resolving food-related problems should be a priority.

Livestock and water in developing countries with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa

2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 265-265
Author(s):  
DG Peden
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
British Society ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sub Saharan

Projected increased demand for food in developing countries over the next 30 years implies a correspondingly great need for additional agricultural water unless integrated research and development can achieve much higher water-use efficiencies. Without appropriate innovations in water management, poor access, quality and supply will continue to constrain food production. A global consortium recently completed the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management and Agriculture (CA 2007) and identified many options for overcoming water-related constraints to sustainable food production in developing countries. Historically, research and development of water resources has neglected the potential benefits and impacts of livestock. Apart from drinking water, livestock professionals have not given adequate attention to the use of and impact of domestic animals on water and related environmental health. In the absence of good science, popular literature is often highly critical of livestock production because of its perceived excess depletion of vital water resources. The CA uniquely attempted to address this issue (Peden 2007). This paper summarizes the CA’s findings about livestock for the benefit of the British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) and the wider livestock research community.

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