scholarly journals The Future of Food Security, Nutrition and Health for Agri-food Systems Transformation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chin Yee Chan ◽  
Steven Prager ◽  
Jean Balie ◽  
Marta Kozicka ◽  
Guy Hareau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Nutrition And Health ◽  
Adverse Health Outcomes ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Multiple Risks ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition ◽  
Systems Transformation ◽  
Inform Decision Making

Global progress towards food security and nutrition has been slow in many places and even reversing in others. Against the background of changes in population, income, technology, climate, and other drivers, the pressures on food systems are daunting. When designing and rolling out future interventions towards these goals it is of vital importance to utilize foresight knowledge to anticipate, shape, and prepare for alternative possible futures. Overcoming current and emerging challenges but also seizing opportunities as they present themselves requires continued efforts to provide robust analysis to inform decision making. Here we collated the latest insights from foresight studies around three central aspects within the food system. First, consumer demand and the changes this is undergoing is a key aspect shaping the food system itself as well as nutritional and environmental outcomes. Second, distributional inequalities and trade-offs within the food system have further been identified as key challenges to tackling adverse health outcomes of the current food system. And third, amplified by the COVID crisis, enhancing the resilience of the food system that is increasingly under threat from multiple risks has risen to the top of the agenda.

scholarly journals Resilience of Community Food Systems (CFS): Co-Design as a Long-Term Viable Pathway to Face Crises in Neglected Territories?

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Dias Turetta ◽  
Michelle Bonatti ◽  
Stefan Sieber
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Community Food Systems ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a global crisis, with impacts an ongoing food security and nutrition, exposing the vulnerabilities of our society. However, it can be a time for reflection and an opportunity to propose and stimulate initiatives that are ready to facilitate resilience within the food system. The food to fork must be shortened and diversified where it is viable and feasible, while made affordable for all societal levels. To face these challengers, the community food systems (CFS) approach has a crucial role, since it copes with relevant principles, including the necessities of low-income societies from areas particularly marginalized from mainstream food systems, of which those land areas also can pose as additional insurance just in case of occurrence of whatever crises. Systematizing the components and contributions of CFS can facilitate the advance of strategies to better deal with crises and increase resilience. Therefore, in this paper, through key elements of CFS, we propose a theoretical framework that can be applied by decision makers as a conceptual guide for combating threats to food systems in neglected territories.

scholarly journals Towards food systems transformation—five paradigm shifts for healthy, inclusive and sustainable food systems

Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruerd Ruben ◽  
Romina Cavatassi ◽  
Leslie Lipper ◽  
Eric Smaling ◽  
Paul Winters
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Paradigm Shifts ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Participatory Institutions ◽  
Systems Transformation

AbstractFood systems must serve different societal, public health and individual nutrition, and environmental objectives and therefore face numerous challenges. Considering the integrated performances of food systems, this paper highlights five fundamental paradigm shifts that are required to overcome trade-offs and build synergies between health and nutrition, inclusive livelihoods, environmental sustainability and food system resilience. We focus on the challenges to raise policy ambitions, to harmonize production and consumption goals, to improve connectivity between them, to strengthen food system performance and to anchor the governance of food systems in inclusive policies and participatory institutions. Taken together, these shifts in paradigms shape a new discourse for food system transformation that will be capable to respond to current and future policy challenges.

scholarly journals Identifying Policy Best-Practices to Support the Contribution of Aquatic Foods to Food and Nutrition Security

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1589
Author(s):  
Anna K. Farmery ◽  
Amy White ◽  
Edward H. Allison
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Framing ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition ◽  
Governance Instruments

The relationship between aquatic foods and food nutrition and security is increasingly recognised in policy and practice, yet many governance instruments do not acknowledge or support this important connection. The most effective policy approaches to support the link between these sectors, or ‘best practices’ are currently unknown. We reviewed relevant governance instruments from multiple countries to identify how these instruments linked fisheries, aquaculture and food security and nutrition, including the policy framing and evidence of political commitment. Of the documents connecting the sectors (65%), the majority did so in the context of developing the fisheries/aquaculture sector to increase aquatic food availability and/or access (51%), followed by developing the fisheries/aquaculture sector as a livelihoods approach to indirectly improve food security (33%), for example, through income generation. Sectoral links established in the context of nutrition-sensitive approaches to fisheries and aquaculture were less common (5%). Almost one third (29%) of instruments supported the connection between aquatic foods and food security and nutrition across three or more different contexts relevant to food security or food systems, while 12% indicated a very high level of commitment. We recommend some key attributes for future policy development to help build coherence between sectors and to help frame coherent food system-based policies.

scholarly journals Enhancing the Glopan Food Systems Framework by Integrating Gender: Relevance for Women in African Agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8564
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Mkandawire ◽  
Melody Mentz-Coetzee ◽  
Margaret Najjingo Mangheni ◽  
Eleonora Barusi
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Gender Barriers ◽  
Nutrition Security ◽  
African Agriculture ◽  
Agriculture And Food ◽  
Systems Framework

Globally, gender inequalities constrain food security, with women often disproportionately affected. Women play a fundamental role in household food and nutrition security. The multiple roles women play in various areas of the food system are not always recognised. This oversight emerges from an overemphasis on one aspect of the food system, without considering how this area might affect or be affected by another aspect. This study aimed to draw on international commitments and treaties using content analysis to enhance the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Security food systems framework by integrating a gender perspective. The study found that generally, there is a consensus on specific actions that can be taken to advance gender equality at specific stages of the food system. However, governance and social systems constraints that are not necessarily part of the food system, but have a significant bearing on men and women’s capacity to effectively participate in the food system, need to be addressed. While the proposed conceptual framework has some limitations, it offers a foundation on which researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders can begin conceptualising the interconnectedness of gender barriers in the food system.

scholarly journals Alternative Agri-Food Systems Under a Market Agencements Approach: The Case of Multifunctional Farming Activity in a Peri-Urban Area

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Maria Cecilia Mancini ◽  
Filippo Arfini ◽  
Federico Antonioli ◽  
Marianna Guareschi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Alternative Food Systems ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Trade Offs

(1) Background: A large body of literature is available on the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of alternative food systems, but not much of it is devoted to the dynamics underlying their design and implementation, more specifically the processes that make an alternative food system successful or not in terms of its sustainability aims. This gap seems to be particularly critical in studies concerning alternative food systems in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). This paper explores how the design and implementation of multifunctional farming activity in a peri-urban area surrounding the city of Reggio Emilia in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy impact the achievement of its sustainability aims. (2) Methods: The environmental, social, and economic components of this project are explored in light of the sociology of market agencements. This method brings up the motivations of the human entities involved in the project, the role played by nonhuman entities, and the technical devices used for the fulfillment of the project’s aims. (3) Results: The alternative food system under study lacked a robust design phase and a shared definition of the project aims among all the stakeholders involved. This ended in a substantial mismatch between project aims and consumer expectations. (4) Conclusions: When a comprehensive design stage is neglected, the threefold aim concerning sustainability might not be achievable. In particular, the design of alternative food systems must take into account the social environment where it is intended to be put in place, especially in UPA, where consumers often live in suburban neighborhoods wherein the sense of community is not strong, thus preventing them from getting involved in a community-based project. In such cases, hybridization can play a role in the sustainability of alternative food networks, provided that some trade-offs occur among the different components of sustainability—some components of sustainability will be fully achieved, while others will not.

scholarly journals Better together: improving food security and nutrition by linking market and food systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-205
Author(s):  
Martha Cruz Zuniga ◽  
Monty L. Lynn ◽  
Elly Kaganzi Mwesigwa ◽  
Dan Norell ◽  
Vidhya Sriram ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition

Agricultural and Food Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Abiodun Elijah Obayelu ◽  
Simeon Olusola Ayansina
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Policy Intervention ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Adequate Food ◽  
System Sustainability ◽  
Sustainable Food System

Policy plays significant role in defining the food system of any country, and a sustainable food system is necessary for food security. This chapter maps out the causal interactions between food systems, food security and policy, and the challenges in transition to a sustainable food system while respecting the rights of all people to have access to adequate food in Nigeria. Explicit, rigorous, and transparent literature search was undertaken and many articles were assessed and reviewed. Although the results established a mutual relationship between food system and food security, existing literature have widely failed to take interactions between food systems, food security and policy into account. While food production is used as an entry point to improving food system sustainability, the quest for food security are undermining transition towards sustainable food systems. It was found that without right policies in place, it may be difficult to have food systems that are sustainable and ensure food security. This chapter provides a useful contribution to policy, and research on transitions towards sustainable food system. Any policy intervention to address one part of the food systems will impact on other parts and will determine whether a country is food secure or not. Enabling policy environment is therefore essential in ensuring a sustainable food system and for the attainment of food security.

scholarly journals Healthy Diets and Reduced Land Pressure: Towards a Double Gain for Future Food Systems in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Smeets-Kristkova ◽  
Thom Achterbosch ◽  
Marijke Kuiper
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Leverage Points ◽  
Nutrition Security ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Healthy Diets ◽  
The Impact

Nigeria is one of the most dynamic economies in Africa. Strong GDP and population growth coupled with urbanization trends place tremendous pressures on natural resources and the food systems that are dependent on them. Understanding the impact of these “mega trends” is important to identify key leverage points for navigating towards improved nutrition and food security in Nigeria. This paper contributes to the Foresight Project of the Food Systems for Healthier Diets which aims to analyse how the food system in Nigeria is expected to transform in the next decades, and to identify the leverage points for making sure that the transformation contributes to balanced consumer diets. For the food systems foresight, a well-established global economy-wide model, MAGNET, is applied that enables to capture the interlinkages among different food industry players in one consistent framework. By linking MAGNET to the GENUS nutritional database, it is further possible to relate the developments occurring on a macro-level with detailed macro and micronutrient consumption. Model projections suggest that a process of intensification of agriculture in combination with land substitution appears critical for the evolution of food and nutrition security, and for shifts towards healthy diets for the population. Intensification results in greater diversity of the production systems, which in turn cascades into positive effects on the diversity in the food supply and better food security outcomes.

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