scholarly journals Saga of Hunger in India- Challenges, Chances and Resolutions: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahoor A. Pampori
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Green Revolution ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Policy Framing ◽  
The People ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Nutrition Sensitive ◽  
The Impact

India became independent in 1947, when it was still reeling from the impact of the 1943 Bengal famine and world as a whole was experiencing the brunt of world war second. Thus India was born hungry in a hungry world. The country leaders were well aware of the challenge that India was expected to face in terms of food security and it was Jawaharlal Nehru who said everything can wait but not agriculture. The first president of India Rajendra Prasad after taking the chair, the first thing he did was to hoist the flag at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, declaring “India’s most pressing task would be to conquer the battle of hunger. The Indian population has increased tremendously from 376 million in 1950 to 1380 million in 2020 and it is agriculture and its allied sectors that sustained such a huge population. India still has a significant proportion of population 14% undernourished, 35% children stunted, 20% children underweight, 52% women of reproductive age anaemic. India could bring out green revolution, white revolution and blue revolution in order to provide food security to its people. India presently is not food deficient; it has attained self sufficiency in food production and stands exporters of food. However the irony is that India stands at place 102 in global hunger index with score of 30 that is a matter of concern (Global Hunger Index-GHI, 2019). The problem is in making this food available to the people or access to the food is ensured. India needs nutritional security rather than food security besides transformation in agriculture and allied sectors to become free from hunger. The task is tough and precipitated by Covid-19 pandemic, but not impossible. India has much strength but will need research, extension, implementation and policy framing to have sustainable, nutrition sensitive, climate resilient, integrated and smart agriculture to eliminate hunger.

scholarly journals Exploring the Impact of Crises on Food Security in Lebanon: Results from a National Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8753
Author(s):  
Maha Hoteit ◽  
Youssef Al-Atat ◽  
Hussein Joumaa ◽  
Suheir El Ghali ◽  
Rania Mansour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The People ◽  
Food Consumption Score ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

This study aims to explore the prevalence and correlates of food insecurity among Lebanese households since the ordeals of COVID-19, economic crisis, and Beirut port explosions. At the core of the study, a mobile application entitled Nutrition Assessment System (NAS) that simplified the data collection was used as toolkit and a technical test was carried out in all Lebanese governorates between November 2020 and March 2021. Findings show that food insecurity is an immediate problem for households in Beirut and in many governorates in Lebanon. Nine in every 16 households ate less than 2 meals per day and more than 70% of them skipped their meals to spare food. Even though half the population studied had a low food consumption score, 82.4% of the people were not relying on livelihood coping strategies. However, more than three out of ten of these households relied on at least three food-based coping strategies. In addition, as for the livelihoods, this assessment found that most Lebanese households reported a drop in income along with an expansion in debt incurrence in the last 24 months to be able to buy food. Improving food security in Lebanon requires effort not only on the part of the government, but through regional and international actions.

scholarly journals Assessing the Potential Contribution of Pfumvudza Towards Climate Smart Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Never Mujere
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Household Food ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
The Impact

Concerns of food and environmental security have increased enormously in recent years due to the vagaries of climate change and variability. Efforts to promote food security and environmental sustainability often reinforce each other and enable farmers to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change and other stresses. Some of these efforts are based on appropriate technologies and practices that restore natural ecosystems and improve the resilience of farming systems, thus enhancing food security. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) principles, for example, translate into a number of locally-devised and applied practices that work simultaneously through contextualised crop-soil-water-nutrient-pest-ecosystem management at a variety of scales. The purpose of this paper is to review concisely the current state-of-the-art literature and ascertain the potential of the Pfumvudza concept to enhance household food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation as it is promoted in Zimbabwe. The study relied heavily on data from print and electronic media. Datasets pertaining to carbon, nitrous oxide and methane storage in soils and crop yield under zero tillage and conventional tillage were compiled. Findings show that, compared to conventional farming, Pfumvudza has great potential to contribute towards household food security and reducing carbon emissions if implemented following the stipulated recommendations. These include among others, adequate land preparation and timely planting and acquiring inputs. However, nitrous oxide emissions tend to increase with reduced tillage and, the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides is environmentally unfriendly.

scholarly journals Community-Level Impacts of Climate-Smart Agriculture Interventions on Food Security and Dietary Diversity in Climate-SMART VILLAGES in Myanmar

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Andrew Hanley ◽  
Galina Brychkova ◽  
Wilson John Barbon ◽  
Su Myat Noe ◽  
Chan Myae ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

Diversification of production to strengthen resilience is a key tenet of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), which can help to address the complex vulnerabilities of agriculture-dependent rural communities. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the promotion of different CSA practices across four climate-smart villages (CSVs) in Myanmar. To determine the impact of the CSA practices on livelihoods and health, survey data were collected from agricultural households (n = 527) over three years. Within the time period studied, the results indicate that some the CSA practices and technologies adopted were significantly associated with changes in household dietary diversity scores (HDDS), but, in the short-term, these were not associated with improvements in the households’ food insecurity scores (HFIAS). Based on the survey responses, we examined how pathways of CSA practice adoption tailored to different contexts of Myanmar’s four agroecologies could contribute to the observed changes, including possible resulting trade-offs. We highlight that understanding the impacts of CSA adoption on household food security in CSVs will require longer-term monitoring, as most CSA options are medium- to long-cycle interventions. Our further analysis of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) amongst the households indicated a poor understanding of the household knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to nutrition, food choices, food preparation, sanitation and hygiene. Our KAP findings indicate that current nutrition education interventions in the Myanmar CSVs are inadequate and will need further improvement for health and nutrition outcomes from the portfolio of CSA interventions.

Persistent Food Insecurity from Policy Failures in Pakistan

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (4II) ◽  
pp. 817-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakir Hussain ◽  
Waqar Akram
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Green Revolution ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Healthy Life ◽  
Food Grains ◽  
The People ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Policy Failures

Food security means, “All the people, all the time, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life” [FAO (1996)]. Three types of food insecurity generally exist in any country, which are: transitory food insecurity that is short time food insecurity occurs due to sporadic crises; chronic food insecurity that arises as a result of long term but not easily changed conditions; cyclic food insecurity that arises due to seasonal fluctuations. If cyclic food insecurity existed in any country for at least six months than it was called as chronic cyclic food insecurity and if it persisted less than six months than called as transitory cyclic food insecurity. Pakistan has made a lot of progress since independence in the field of agriculture in terms of production, yields, and growth in area under cultivation. Indus agriculture has experienced a Green Revolution and is striving for yellow and blue revolutions. However, it could have done far better. Though the overall growth of the Pakistan’s economy has largely been dependent upon the performance of agriculture, over the years, not much investment has been made for the development of this sector. Agriculture performance still depends upon, quite a lot, upon the weather conditions every year. The yields of most of crops are far below the levels achieved at the progressive farms (extension gap). From the Figure 1 it is evident that in the last decade (90s) food availability was increasing and then went down and formed the inverted u-shape. After that again fluctuating means there is no surety about food security. It is also comparable with agriculture growth rate. According to latest statistics in Pakistan as many as 50 million people are engaged in agriculture operations and produce only 25 million tons of food grains. As against this in India, 546 million people are engaged in agricultural operations and produce 176 million tons of food grains, in USA only 6 million people engaged in agriculture, produce 347 million of food grains.

Applying innovations and new technologies for international collaborative wheat improvement

2006 ◽  
Vol 144 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. REYNOLDS ◽  
N. E. BORLAUG
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Crop Improvement ◽  
Green Revolution ◽  
Crop Management ◽  
International Collaborative

Despite the successes of the Green Revolution, about a billion people are still undernourished and food security in the developing world faces new challenges in terms of population growth, reduced water resources, climate change and decreased public sector investment. It is also becoming widely recognized that poverty is a cause of environmental degradation, conflict and civil unrest. Internationally coordinated agricultural research can play a significant role in improving food security by deploying promising new technologies as well as adapting those with well-established impact.In addition to the genetic challenges of crop improvement, agriculturalists must also embrace the problems associated with a highly heterogeneous and unpredictable environment. Not only are new genetic tools becoming more accessible, but a new generation of quantitative tools are available to enable better definition of agro-ecosystems, of cultivar by environment interactions, and of socio-economic issues, while satellite imagery can help predict crop yields on large scales. Identifying areas of low genetic diversity – for example as found in large tracts of South Asia – is an important aspect of reducing vulnerability to disease epidemics. Global strategies for incorporating durable disease resistance genes into a wider genetic background, as well as participatory approaches that deliver a fuller range of options to farmers, are being implemented to increase cultivar diversity.The unpredictable effects of environment on productivity can be buffered somewhat by crop management practices that maintain healthy soils, while reversing the consequences of rapid agricultural intensification on soil degradation. Conservation agriculture is an alternative strategy that is especially pertinent for resource-poor farmers.The potential synergy between genetic improvement and innovative crop management practices has been referred to as the Doubly Green Revolution. The unique benefits and efficiency of the international collaborative platform are indisputable when considering the duplications that otherwise would have been required to achieve the same impacts through unilateral or even bilateral programmes. Furthermore, while the West takes for granted public support for crucial economic and social issues, this is not the case in a number of less-developed countries where the activities of International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) and other development assistance organizations can provide continuity in agricultural research and infrastructure.

scholarly journals The impact of climate smart agriculture on household welfare in smallholder integrated crop–livestock farming systems: evidence from Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeline Mujeyi ◽  
Maxwell Mudhara ◽  
Munyaradzi Mutenje
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Treatment Effects ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Average Treatment ◽  
Average Treatment Effects ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Agriculture contributes significantly to the welfare of smallholder farmers, but it has become highly susceptible to climate change, due to its reliance on the increasingly erratic rainfall patterns. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) offers important opportunities for enhancing food security and incomes through increased agriculture productivity. Technology evaluation through impact studies provides information on the effect of CSA on farmer welfare, thereby highlighting its potential in optimizing agriculture productivity. This paper analyses the impact of CSA adoption on food security and income of households, using cross-sectional survey data collected from 386 households across four districts in Zimbabwe. The analysis was done using the endogenous switching regression model which controls for selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity, a commonly used method in adoption impact analysis. Results The study found several agricultural and socio-economic factors which affect adoption and food security. The econometric results show that the status of soil fertility in fields, distance to input and output markets, ownership of communication assets, and Total Livestock Units (TLU) have a significant impact on the decision of farmers to adopt CSA. The Average Treatment Effects on the Treated (ATT) and Average Treatment Effects on the Untreated (ATU) were found to be positive and significant for adopters and non-adopters, indicating that CSA adoption has had a significantly positive impact on the welfare of the farmers. An analysis of the outcomes revealed that the characteristics of farmers and farms, as well as market factors, significantly affect the welfare of households. The household income, with reference to the adoption of CSA, was significantly affected by factors such as the education of household head, labour size, TLU, and asset index. Food security was influenced by factors such as the education of household head, TLU, access to sanitation, and arable land size. Conclusions The study concludes by giving policy recommendations centred on the access to inputs, sanitation, and encouraging investing in assets and TLU. The findings indicate that the adoption of CSA has a positive impact on the welfare of farmers. To exploit the full potential of these technologies, the study suggests that access to timely weather forecasts must be ensured, that sanitation must be promoted, and that incentives must be provided for agricultural input agro-dealers to decentralize to rural areas.

Food security mediates the decrease in women’s depressive symptoms in a participatory nutrition-sensitive agroecology intervention in rural Tanzania

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Hollyn M. Cetrone ◽  
Marianne V. Santoso ◽  
Rachel Bezner Kerr ◽  
Lucia Petito ◽  
Lauren Blacker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Women Farmers ◽  
Rural Tanzania ◽  
Cluster Randomized ◽  
Nutrition Sensitive ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Probable Depression

Abstract Objective: To investigate if food security mediated the impact of a nutrition-sensitive agroecology intervention on women’s depressive symptoms. Design: We used annual longitudinal data (4 time points) from a cluster-randomized effectiveness trial of a participatory nutrition-sensitive agroecology intervention, the Singida Nutrition and Agroecology Project (SNAP-Tz). Structural equation modelling estimation of total, natural direct, and natural indirect effects was used to investigate food security’s role in the intervention’s impact on women’s risk of probable depression (CES-D > 17) across three years. Setting: Rural Singida, Tanzania. Participants: 548 food insecure, married, smallholder women farmers with children < 1-year-old at baseline. Results: At baseline, one third of the women in each group had probable depression (Control: 32.0%, Intervention: 31.9%, p difference=0.97). The intervention lowered odds of probable depression by 43% (OR=0.57, 95% CI: 0.43-0.70). Differences in food insecurity explained approximately 10 percentage points of the effects of the intervention on odds of probable depression (OR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.83-0.95). Conclusions: This is the first evidence of the strong, positive effect that lowering food insecurity has on reducing women’s depressive symptoms. Nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions can have broader impacts than previously demonstrated, i.e., improvements in mental health, and changes in food security play an important causal role in this pathway. As such, these data suggest participatory nutrition-sensitive agroecology interventions have the potential to be an accessible method of improving women’s wellbeing in farming communities.

scholarly journals Facilitating Change for Climate-Smart Agriculture through Science-Policy Engagement

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhanush Dinesh ◽  
Robert Zougmore ◽  
Joost Vervoort ◽  
Edmond Totin ◽  
Phillip Thornton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
International Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Program Theory ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Policy Engagement

Climate change impacts on agriculture have become evident, and threaten the achievement of global food security. On the other hand, the agricultural sector itself is a cause of climate change, and if actions are not taken, the sector might impede the achievement of global climate goals. Science-policy engagement efforts are crucial to ensure that scientific findings from agricultural research for development inform actions of governments, private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international development partners, accelerating progress toward global goals. However, knowledge gaps on what works limit progress. In this paper, we analyzed 34 case studies of science-policy engagement efforts, drawn from six years of agricultural research for development efforts around climate-smart agriculture by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Based on lessons derived from these case studies, we critically assessed and refined the program theory of the CCAFS program, leading to a revised and improved program theory for science-policy engagement for agriculture research for development under climate change. This program theory offers a pragmatic pathway to enhance credibility, salience and legitimacy of research, which relies on engagement (participatory and demand-driven research processes), evidence (building scientific credibility while adopting an opportunistic and flexible approach) and outreach (effective communication and capacity building).

scholarly journals Mainstreaming Nutrition into Agricultural Extension: Two Projects that Integrated Agricultural Intervention

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manika Saha
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Agricultural Extension ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Poultry Production ◽  
Integrated Agriculture ◽  
Nutrition Sensitive ◽  
Agriculture Extension ◽  
The Impact

This objective of this study, conducted from February to May 2016, was to document lessons learned from two food security projects implemented in Bangladesh since 2013. The two projects are the “Integrated Agriculture and Health Based Interventions” (IAHBI3) project and the “Improving Food Security of Women and Children by Enhancing Backyard and Small Scale Poultry Production in Southern Delta Region” (referred to in this text as simply the “poultry project”). Both projects are particular examples where governmental, i.e., public instead of private or nongovernmental organization (NGO) run, agriculture extension programs are purposefully integrating nutrition into their services. The study addressed questions such as how these two projects integrate nutrition into AES, what approach was used (e.g., Farmer Field School (FFS)), what were the main nutrition-sensitive interventions, what capacity building/development and training was carried out, and what the perceptions about the impact of the project are among staff and beneficiaries. Exploring these questions helped identify lessons learned from the projects, what constraints had to be overcome and what gaps may still exist, as well as recommendations for future implementation and scaling up of similar interventions. Note that this study is neither an assessment nor an evaluation of either project. Formal end line surveys have been completed and the findings are expected to be published by August 2016 (FAO Bangladesh, 2016a and 2016b).This report is intended for a broad audience interested in practical tips on how to integrate nutrition into agricultural extension. It provides access to information from projects internal reports that are otherwise not available to the public at large. The lessons learned and recommendations made are indicative and really intended to stimulate discussion among organizations tasked with pursuing similar aims as the projects presented here. The lessons learned and recommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) or of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Bangladesh. Many statements reflect the comments made by key informants and by farmers themselves. The reader may or may not agree with them but the points made merit further discussion. The objectives of this assignment were to: 1. Document the nutrition-sensitive interventions those were implemented; 2. Explain how nutrition was integrated into the Agriculture Extension Services (AES); 3. Assess perceptions, challenges, identify opportunities for strengthening these services and obtain recommendations from relevant selected government officials, beneficiaries, and former project’s implementers on how to integrate nutrition into (AES); 4. Develop lessons learned to inform future programme and policy development.

scholarly journals Leveraging Endogenous Research and Innovation for Sustainable Livestock Production, National Food Security and Poverty Alleviation In Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 232-251
Author(s):  
Valentine A. Aletor
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
National Development ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Experimental Development ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
National Food Security

In this treatise, a quick look is taken at the spectrum (range) of research from pure basic, strategic basic, applied, experimental development or research and development (R&D) to endogenous research and innovation (ER&I). It also defines development, innovation, food security, poverty; and discusses some contemporary theories of innovation within the context of organizational/national development. This was followed by an overview of global and Nigerian livestock, Food Security and Poverty situations; and the characterization of the Nigerian agriculture. It emphasizes the strong link between poverty and low agricultural productivity and chronicles the impact of some generated technologies by the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) on food production. The trends and patterns of Industry-Government-University research relationships in Nigeria are examined and some illustrations given to show in concrete terms, with examples of the “Asian Tigers” and the BRICS nations, how socio-economic development and human development indices (HDI)have become Research and Innovation-driven.Among the identified constraints to the attainment of food and nutrition security and the curtailment of deepening poverty despite Nigeria's huge agricultural resource endowments include: high cost of agricultural inputs; incessant power outages; chronic under-funding of agricultural research by government and the society, including industries; poor market outlets; huge post-harvest losses due, largely, to the decay of research infrastructure needed for value-addition; low value accorded University-Industry R&I partnerships; lack of political will to make existing National Agricultural policies achieve set targets; information dearth and/or low diffusion of the available significant local agricultural R&I outcomes. Others were poor food distribution networks and very limited ACCESS to food and means of food production – land, water, animals, seeds, fertilizers, extension education, technology etcConsequent on the structural issues involved in food security: ie, the scientific challenge of enhanced productivity; the logistical and political questions of distribution; and socio-economic issues of access, robust mitigation paradigms are proposed. First, is to give full and true autonomy to Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria to effectively harness the synergies of the Universities, NARS, Research Institutes and Industries with regard to competencies, endowments (both material & intellectual) to pursue National Food Security programme without undue interference from a supervisory ministry. Also proposed, for poverty mitigation, is a Value Chain model which entails the active promotion of local content policy by government which strategically links ER& I with MSMEs for the manufacture of strategic basic agricultural equipment, foods, animal feeds, drugs/vaccines, goods and supplies with incentives such as tax holiday, low interest rates etc, provided such firms by government; substantial improvement in the power and transportation sectors, among others.

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