scholarly journals Coffee Agroforestry and the Food and Nutrition Security of Small Farmers of South-Western Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omarsherif Mohammed Jemal ◽  
Daniel Callo-Concha ◽  
Meine van Noordwijk

Agroforestry generally contributes to rural food and nutrition security (FNS). However, specialization on commodity-oriented agroforestry practices or management strategies can weaken local food sourcing when terms of trade fluctuate, as is the case of coffee in Ethiopia. Hence, this study assessed the trade-offs that smallholder farming households in south-western Ethiopia face between growing coffee in agroforestry systems and their food and nutrition security based on home production as well as markets. Data collected from 300 randomly selected households included: (i) attributes of agroforestry practices (AFP) and plants: structure, use type, edibility, marketability, nutritional traits, and (ii) the householders' FNS attributes: food security status, nutritional adequacy, and nutritional status. Data were collected both in food surplus and shortage seasons, during and after coffee harvesting. Within these data, the number of plant species and vegetation stories were significantly correlated with household food access security in both seasons and for all AFP identified, i.e., homegarden, multistorey-coffee-system, and multipurpose-trees-on-farmlands. The number of stories in homegardens and the richness of exotic species in multipurpose-trees-on-farmlands were significantly correlated with the biometric development of children below 5 years old during the shortage season. The richness of “actively-marketed” species in all AFP correlated with the food access security of the household, except in the multistorey-coffee-system, oriented to coffee production. Also, families that cultivate all three AFP showed significantly higher household diversity dietary during the shortage season. We conclude that no single AFP can secure FNS status of the households by itself, but the combination of all three can. Household and individual dietary scores were positively correlated with the AFP diversity-attributes, especially in the shortage season. Thus, the diversity of useful groups of plant species deserves to be promoted for instance by enriching AFP with edible and storable crops needed during the shortage season.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omarsherif Jemal ◽  
Daniel Callo-Concha ◽  
Meine van Noordwijk

Food and nutrition security (FNS) rests on five pillars: availability, access, utilization, stability, and sovereignty. We assessed the potentials of local agroforestry practices (AFPs) for enabling FNS for smallholders in the Yayu Biosphere Reserve (southwestern Ethiopia). Data was collected from 300 households in a stratified random sampling scheme through semi-structured interviews and farm inventory. Utility, edibility, and marketability value were the key parameters used to determine the potential of plants in the AFPs. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and correlation analysis were employed to determine the form, variation, and association of local AFP attributes. Homegarden, multistorey-coffee-system, and multipurpose-trees-on-farmlands are the predominant AFPs in Yayu. Multipurpose-trees-on-farmlands are used mainly for food production, multistorey-coffee-system for income-generation, and homegarden for both. The 127 useful plant species identified represent 10 major plant utility groups, with seven (food, fodder, fuel, coffee-shade, timber, non-timber-forest-products, and medicinal uses) found in all three AFPs. In total, 80 edible species were identified across all AFPs, with 55 being primarily cultivated for household food supply. Generally, household income emanates from four major sources, multistorey-coffee-system (60%), homegarden (18%), multipurpose-trees-on-farmlands (13%), and off-farm activities (11%). Given this variation in form, purpose, and extracted benefits, existing AFPs in Yayu support the FNS of smallholders in multiple ways.


Author(s):  
A. Amarender Reddy ◽  
Ch. Radhika Rani ◽  
Timothy Cadman ◽  
Soora Naresh Kumar ◽  
Anugula N Reddy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure performance of India in food and nutrition security relative to other Asian countries like Bangladesh, China, Africa and also developed countries from 1991 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on FAO food security indicators under four dimensions, namely, food availability, access, stability and utilization. These indicators are further categorized into determinants and outcome indicators of food security. A comprehensive fifteen indicators are examined in depth. Findings – Food availability in terms of dietary calories and protein per capita was less in India compared to even Africa and Bangladesh. However, food access indicators like road density is better, food prices remain low and stable, which improved food access and stability. However, in utilization indicators, access to water and sanitation remained low, anaemia among pregnant women and undernourishment was relatively higher when even compared to least developed countries like Africa and Bangladesh. Depth of food deficit (an indicator of severity of food deficit) was higher in India except Africa. Research limitations/implications – Future research should focus on policies for decreasing undernourishment and anaemia and severity in depth of food deficit with focus on India. Practical implications – The results highlight the severity of food deficit and anaemia among women, undernourishment and provide benchmark to monitor sustainable development goals in zero hunger goal. Originality/value – This study examined the relative performance of India in various food and nutrition security indicators in comparison to other countries.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim Marivoet ◽  
John M. Ulimwengu ◽  
Leysa Maty Sall

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L Escobar-Alegria ◽  
Edward A Frongillo ◽  
Christine E Blake

ABSTRACT Background Presidents with no possibility of re-election overvalue far-future rewards and succumb to terminal logic behavior (TLB), responding to end-of-tenure legacy concerns despite political context. Government authorities perceiving the outgoing government is losing power at the end of term behave under the logic of strategic defection (SD), dissociating from the outgoing government once it is perceived powerless. In countries where re-election is impossible and government turnover and inconstant political parties are concerns, governmental officials at all levels may show TLB and SD during transitions that affect policy sustainability. Objectives This study aimed to understand the context during presidential transitions that makes TLB and SD relevant, whether TLB and SD affect sustainability of food and nutrition security policy (FNSP), and the tactics for navigating transitions that favor sustainability. Methods A case-study design was used with semi-structured qualitative interviews and document review of news articles in Guatemala. Purposeful criteria and snowball sampling were used to recruit 52 policy actors implementing an FNSP across 2 transitions; 252 news articles from the referenced period covering topics on policy programmatic areas were purposefully sampled. Interviews were analyzed using coding and thematic analyses. News articles were analyzed using a priori thematic coding for verifying themes in interviews and data triangulation. Results Governmental officials were replaced by others during transitions; political parties were perceived as inconstant. TLB and SD occurred at all levels and had consequences for sustainability of FNSP: implementation slow-down, dysfunctional collaboration, inefficient use of resources, benefits not reaching targeted groups, and loss of momentum. These occurred through individual, institutional, and political mechanisms. Civil society, international organizations, and government adopted tactics for maximizing sustainability. Conclusions Understanding governmental officials’ experiences and the extent to which TLB and SD occur and affect sustainability could be advantageous to develop compensatory actions for reaching long-term FNSP goals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Zurek ◽  
Aniek Hebinck ◽  
Adrian Leip ◽  
Joost Vervoort ◽  
Marijke Kuiper ◽  
...  

Steering the EU food system towards a sustainability transformation requires a vast and actionable knowledge base available to a range of public and private actors. Few have captured this complexity by assessing food systems from a multi-dimensional and multi-level perspective, which would include (1) nutrition and diet, environmental and economic outcomes together with social equity dimensions and (2) system interactions across country, EU and global scales. This paper addresses this gap in food systems research and science communication by providing an integrated analytical approach and new ways to communicate this complexity outside science. Based on a transdisciplinary science approach with continuous stakeholder input, the EU Horizon2020 project ‘Metrics, Models and Foresight for European SUStainable Food And Nutrition Security’ (SUSFANS) developed a five-step process: Creating a participatory space; designing a conceptual framework of the EU food system; developing food system performance metrics; designing a modelling toolbox and developing a visualization tool. The Sustainable Food and Nutrition-Visualizer, designed to communicate complex policy change-impacts and trade-off questions, enables an informed debate about trade-offs associated with options for change among food system actors as well as in the policy making arena. The discussion highlights points for further research related to indicator development, reach of assessment models, participatory processes and obstacles in science communication.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. e0204817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Mubaiwa ◽  
Vincenzo Fogliano ◽  
Cathrine Chidewe ◽  
Evert Jan Bakker ◽  
Anita R. Linnemann

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