scholarly journals Employment and income implications of transitions towards more sustainable global diets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam M. Komarek ◽  
Nicola Cenacchi ◽  
Shahnila Dunston ◽  
Timothy B Sulser ◽  
Keith Wiebe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Food System ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Diet Shift ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Sustainable Diets ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Diet Shifts

The effect of global diet shifts on human health, the natural environment, and the financial cost of obtaining food has been extensively quantified. The current study complements these quantifications by examining the economy-wide consequences of global diet shifts. We used a computable general equilibrium model to quantify the changes in employment and income in all geographic regions of the globe in the year 2050 under a global shift towards more sustainable human diets. These more sustainable diets are lower in livestock-derived foods, higher in fruit and vegetables, and lower in refined sugar than diets under the current trajectory for food demand out to the year 2050. Our results show that transitioning towards more sustainable diets at the global scale in sub-Saharan Africa will decrease employment in the livestock sector and increase employment in the crop sector, with an overall reallocation of labor from the industry and services sectors to the agriculture sector. West Africa was the region of the globe that encountered the greatest decline in income of 14% as a result of the global diet shift, driven by the reallocation of labor into the lower value-added agriculture sector and driven by West Africa’s high share of total household expenditure spent on food. These findings have important implications for understanding trade-offs and developing strategies to equitably improve livelihoods within the broader context of food system transformation.

scholarly journals African agriculture in the context of COVID-19: Finding salvation in the devil

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-310
Author(s):  
Guy Blaise Nkamleu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Food System ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

The world is facing unprecedented challenges from COVID-19, which is disrupting lives and livelihoods. The pandemic could profoundly affect the African continent and wipe out hard-won development gains, as sub-Saharan Africa heads into its first recession in 25 years. Beyond the multispatial impact of the coronavirus in Africa, its effects on the agriculture and food system is of particular interest, as food security could be the most affected area and, at the same time, agriculture could be the sector that could help African economies recover quicker from the impact of COVID19. This paper supports the view that COVID-19, as devilish as it may be, offers an opportunity to revive interest in the agricultural sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed immense pressures on African countries to raise additional resources, and consequently Africa’s growing public debt is again coming back to the centre stage of the global debate. The conversation on African debt sustainability has begun to dominate the scene and will flood the debate in the near term. While the observed, growing calls for debt relief for African countries are legitimate, we support in this paper that one should not divert attention from the long-term solutions needed to strengthen Africa’s resilience. These long-term solutions lie where they always have: in agriculture. With COVID-19, shipping agricultural inputs and food products from other continents to Africa has become disrupted and is accelerating the trend towards shortening supply chains. This will leave a potential market for inputs and food produced on the continent. COVID-19, together with the launching of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), have aligned the stars in favour of a decisive transformation of the agriculture sector on the continent. Agriculturalists and development experts need to be aware of their responsibility at this time, as they need to advocate for the topic of agricultural development to return to the centre and the heart of the agenda of discussions on how to respond to the consequences of Covid-19 in Africa. In this sense, and unexpectedly, COVID-19 is an opportunity for the agricultural sector.

scholarly journals Urbanisation as driver of food system transformation and opportunities for rural livelihoods

Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie de Bruin ◽  
Just Dengerink ◽  
Jasper van Vliet
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Rural Livelihood ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractUrbanisation is changing food systems globally, and in particular in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This transformation can affect rural livelihoods in multiple ways. Evidence on what enabling conditions are needed to materialise the opportunities and limit risks is scattered. Here we review scientific literature to elaborate on how urbanisation affects food systems, and on the enabling conditions that subsequently shape opportunities for rural livelihoods. We find that urbanisation leads to a rising and changing food demand, both direct and indirect land use changes, and often to more complex market linkages. Evidence shows that a wide range of enabling conditions can contribute to the materialisation of opportunities for rural livelihoods in this context. Reviewed evidence suggests that the connectivity to urban centres is pivotal, as it provides access to finance, inputs, information, services, and off-farm employment. As a result, physical and communication infrastructure, the spatial pattern of urbanisation, and social networks connecting farmers to markets are identified as important enabling factors for the improvement of rural livelihood outcomes. Our findings suggest that coordinated and inclusive efforts are needed at different scales to make sure rural livelihoods benefit from urbanisation and food system transformation.

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 Tapping Into the Environmental Co-benefits of Improved Tropical Forages for an Agroecological Transformation of Livestock Production Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
An M. O. Notenbaert ◽  
Sabine Douxchamps ◽  
Daniel M. Villegas ◽  
Jacobo Arango ◽  
Birthe K. Paul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Global South ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Livestock Systems

Livestock are critical for incomes, livelihoods, nutrition and ecosystems management throughout the global South. Livestock production and the consumption of livestock-based foods such as meat, cheese, and milk is, however, under global scrutiny for its contribution to global warming, deforestation, biodiversity loss, water use, pollution, and land/soil degradation. This paper argues that, although the environmental footprint of livestock production presents a real threat to planetary sustainability, also in the global south, this is highly contextual. Under certain context-specific management regimes livestock can deliver multiple benefits for people and planet. We provide evidence that a move toward sustainable intensification of livestock production is possible and could mitigate negative environmental impacts and even provide critical ecosystem services, such as improved soil health, carbon sequestration, and enhanced biodiversity on farms. The use of cultivated forages, many improved through selection or breeding and including grasses, legumes and trees, in integrated crop-tree-livestock systems is proposed as a stepping stone toward agroecological transformation. We introduce cultivated forages, explain their multi-functionality and provide an overview of where and to what extent the forages have been applied and how this has benefited people and the planet alike. We then examine their potential to contribute to the 13 principles of agroecology and find that integrating cultivated forages in mixed crop-tree-livestock systems follows a wide range of agroecological principles and increases the sustainability of livestock production across the globe. More research is, however, needed at the food system scale to fully understand the role of forages in the sociological and process aspects of agroecology. We make the case for further genetic improvement of cultivated forages and strong multi-disciplinary systems research to strengthen our understanding of the multidimensional impacts of forages and for managing agro-environmental trade-offs. We finish with a call for action, for the agroecological and livestock research and development communities to improve communication and join hands for a sustainable agri-food system transformation.

Fulfilling the Right to Food for South Africa: Justice, Security, Sovereignty and the Politics of Malnutrition

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 112-152
Author(s):  
Busiso Helard Moyo ◽  
Anne Marie Thompson Thow
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Right To Food ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Despite South Africa’s celebrated constitutional commitments that have expanded and deepened South Africa’s commitment to realise socio-economic rights, limited progress in implementing right to food policies stands to compromise the country’s developmental path. If not a deliberate policy choice, the persistence of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms is a deep policy failure.  Food system transformation in South Africa requires addressing wider issues of who controls the food supply, thus influencing the food chain and the food choices of the individual and communities. This paper examines three global rights-based paradigms – ‘food justice’, ‘food security’ and ‘food sovereignty’ – that inform activism on the right to food globally and their relevance to food system change in South Africa; for both fulfilling the right to food and addressing all forms of malnutrition. We conclude that the emerging concept of food sovereignty has important yet largely unexplored possibilities for democratically managing food systems for better health outcomes.

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 A SAM-Based Analysis of the Economic Impact of Frauds in the Italian Wine Value Chain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donato Romano ◽  
Benedetto Rocchi ◽  
Ahmad Sadiddin ◽  
Gianluca Stefani ◽  
Raffaella Zucaro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Food System ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Italian Economy ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
Italian Wine ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe objective of this paper is twofold: firstly, it analyzes the evolution of frauds in the Italian wine value chain over the period 2007–2015, and then, using a properly disaggregated social accounting matrix (SAM) of the Italian economy, it simulates the impact of wine frauds on the national economy in terms of growth, employment, value added and income. The wine industry is the sector most exposed to frauds within the Italian agro-food system accounting for 88% of total value of seized agro-food outputs. Most irregularities (95%) are made by only three agents, specifically individual wineries, bottlers-wholesalers and retailers. We estimated industry-specific SAM multipliers to assess the share of the Italian economy depending on irregular wine production. These activities account for 11.5% of specialized permanent crop farms output and over 25% of wine industry output. This is a sign of vulnerability of the wine industry: should a food scandal/scare determine a drop in consumers’ demand, the negative effect on production activities of these sectors may be large. The SAM was also used to perform an impact analysis adopting a counterfactual approach. Results show a slightly positive increase of value added (6 million euro) along with an overall decrease in the activity level (an output loss of 406 million euro and more than six thousand full time jobs lost). This contractionary effect can be explained with fraud rents. Indeed, the extra-profits from frauds do not activate the economy circular flow as most of them leak out to exogenous accounts such as the public administration and the rest of the world.

scholarly journals Public food procurement as a game changer for food system transformation

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. e495-e496
Author(s):  
Luana F J Swensson ◽  
Danny Hunter ◽  
Sergio Schneider ◽  
Florence Tartanac
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Game Changer
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