scholarly journals A Framework for Assessing Food System Governance in Six Urban and Peri-Urban Regions in Sub-saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuzhen Chen ◽  
Karlheinz Knickel ◽  
Mehreteab Tesfai ◽  
John Sumelius ◽  
Alice Turinawe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Chain ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Urban Regions ◽  
Healthy Nutrition ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Sub Saharan

An important goal across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and globally, is to foster a healthy nutrition. A strengthening of the diversity, sustainability, resilience and connectivity of food systems is increasingly seen as a key leverage point. Governance arrangements play a central role in connecting sustainable, resilient farming with healthy nutrition. In this article, we elaborate a framework for assessing, monitoring and improving the governance of food systems. Our focus is on food chains in six peri-urban and urban regions in SSA. A literature review on food chain governance and a mapping of current agri-food chains in the six regions provide the basis for the elaboration of an indicator-based assessment framework. The framework is adapted to the specific conditions of SSA and related goals. The assessment framework is then used to identify the challenges and opportunities in food chain governance in the six regions. The first testing of the framework indicates that the approach can help to identify disconnects, conflicting goals and tensions in food systems, and to formulate strategies for empowering agri-food chain actors in transitioning toward more efficient, equitable and sustainable agri-food systems. The article is concluded with a brief reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of the framework and suggests further testing and refinement.

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 Prioritizing Achievable Goals for Food Security in the Developing World

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-25
Author(s):  
Sanjaya Rajaram ◽  
Maarten van Ginkel
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Rapid Responses ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Impact

Many solutions have been proposed to address food security. We present here a prioritized set of actions achievable within the next 2–10 years. By taking a systems approach we follow the impact pathway backwards starting from the needs and desires of the end-users to eventually define the research agenda that will exactly address those targeted solutions with positive impacts. The following actions emerge as high-priority and achievable in the near future: new research tools to study food systems; dis-aggregated intra-household surveys to reveal within-family inequalities in food access; increased scientific consensus on climate change impacts in sub-Saharan Africa; rapid response measures to address sudden emergencies, such as capturing excess rainfall water; financial tools to enable rapid responses with recovery measures afterwards; consideration of restrictions that excess heat and humidity impose on human productivity; secure land ownership and tenure rights to encourage long-term agricultural investment; mechanization at all stages along the food system.

scholarly journals Experimenting with RRI tools to Drive Sustainable Agri-Food Research: The SASS Case Study from Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Tricarico ◽  
Andrea Galimberti ◽  
Ausilia Campanaro ◽  
Chiara Magoni ◽  
Massimo Labra
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Innovation Development ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Food Research ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Responsible Research

The need to develop experimental tools for a responsible research and innovation (RRI) framework is relevant for managing research agendas and policy making that seriously take into account the complex conditions of innovation development (linked to multidisciplinarity and interaction processes) between the researchers and their fieldwork activities. The adoption of an RRI framework is even more important for multidisciplinary and complex issues, such as the agri-food system. In this context, the SASS (Sustainable Agri-food Systems for Sustainable Development (SASS) project represents a good example for verifying the application of the RRI strategy in a varied research group committed to the development of sustainable agri-food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project, which involves more than 50 researchers from different fields of knowledge and theoretical backgrounds, showed the importance of the processes of reflection, re-driving, and convergence in the definition of research objectives and strategies. This process started by experimenting with new dedicated RRI tools in order to allow interactions between the researchers, including exchanging their experience in data collection and theoretical reflection development. With respect to this analysis, it was interesting to analyze how the RRI tools and strategies have been activated between researchers and different stakeholders, generating reflections capable of re-adapting the results towards shared and accessible innovation for the extended society. Following the discussion based on the description of the SASS-RRI agenda tools and following an internal verification given from an RRI-based web survey, this contribution provides new insights, in terms of tools and strategies, to promote and refine RRI approaches. This work underlines how RRI methods have promoted internal and external interactions to connect the research objectives towards a model of open innovation.

scholarly journals Immediate impacts of COVID-19 measures on bean production, distribution, and food security in Eastern Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Eileen Nchanji ◽  
Cosmas Lutomia ◽  
David Karanja
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Pests And Diseases ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Bean Research

The outbreak of coronavirus was expected to adversely affect African countries more than any other region in the world. This assertion was based on the existing conditions in sub-Saharan Africa that exposed the region to the dire consequences of the pandemic. Previously existing underlying conditions that affected the food system include a high dependence on trade for inputs supply, the adverse effects of climate change, crop pests and diseases, poverty, low input use, weak institutions and ineffective poli¬cies, and insecurity and conflicts. We collected data from farmers, aggregators, bean research coordina¬tors, and urban and peri-urban consumers in five Eastern African countries in order to describe the immediate impacts of the pandemic on the bean value chain. Access to seed and labor appear to be the most critical impacts of the pandemic on bean production. There are observable differences in patterns and frequency of bean consumption in these regions, suggesting that the effect of the pandemic depends on the level of implementation of containment measures and pre–COVID-19 underlying conditions that affect the food systems. In the mid to long-term, the pandemic may disrupt food systems, resulting in hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity. Thus, governments should support farmers and businesses in becoming resilient to exogenous shocks through increased efficiency in supply chains, capacity building, and the adoption of modern digital technology.

‘COVID-19/Food Insecurity Syndemic’: Navigating the Realities of Food Security Imperatives of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Ezirigwe ◽  
Chinelo Ojike ◽  
Emeka Amechi ◽  
Adebambo Adewopo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Food System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThe current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is impacting on food systems and has exposed the poor state of food security and lack of food system infrastructures. Consequently, sub-Saharan Africa countries face the compounded risk of COVID-19 and hunger. The syndemic will pose serious challenges for achieving food security imperatives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This article discusses the dynamics of food security imperatives brought about by COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the mitigating efforts of sub-Saharan African governments in addressing COVID-19 and how this effort impacts the attainment of SDGs One, Two, Three and 12. It finds that while the pandemic provides an opportunity for governments to strengthen their commitments, it raises questions on the ambitious global efforts to deliver SDGs by 2030. It recommends that African governments need to maximize intra-African trade with investments in agricultural biotechnological infrastructure in order to close the gap between the targets and the realities, in the efforts towards achieving the SDGs.

scholarly journals An Integrated Approach to a Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) Indicator for the Food Production–Consumption Chain

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Erisman ◽  
Allison Leach ◽  
Albert Bleeker ◽  
Brooke Atwell ◽  
Lia Cattaneo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Chain ◽  
Nitrogen Use Efficiency ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Nitrogen Use ◽  
Use Efficiency

Reducing nitrogen pollution across the food chain requires the use of clear and comprehensive indicators to track and manage losses. The challenge is to derive an easy-to-use robust nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) indicator for entire food systems to help support policy development, monitor progress and inform consumers. Based on a comparison of four approaches to NUE (life cycle analysis, nitrogen footprint, nitrogen budget, and environmental impact assessment), we propose an indicator for broader application at the national scale: The whole food chain (NUEFC), which is defined as the ratio of the protein (expressed as nitrogen) available for human consumption to the (newly fixed and imported) nitrogen input to the food system. The NUEFC was calculated for a set of European countries between 1980 and 2011. A large variation in NUEFC was observed within countries in Europe, ranging from 10% in Ireland to 40% in Italy in 2008. The NUEFC can be used to identify factors that influence it (e.g., the share of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in new nitrogen, the imported and exported products and the consumption), which can be used to propose potential improvements on the national scale.

The Urban Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

10.1068/c3p ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Kessides
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
National Development ◽  
Favourable Outcome ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Urban Transition ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Sub Saharan

In this paper I ask how the ongoing processes of urban and local government development in Sub-Saharan Africa can and should benefit the countries, and what conditions must be met to achieve this favourable outcome. The region faces close to a doubling of the urban population in fifteen years. This urban transition poses an opportunity as well as a management challenge. Urban areas represent underutilised resources that concentrate much of the countries' physical, financial, and intellectual capital. Therefore it is critical to understand how they can better serve the national growth and poverty reduction agendas. The paper challenges several common ‘myths’ that cloud discourse about urban development in Africa. I also take a hard look at what the urban transition can offer national development, and what support cities and local governments require to achieve these results. I argue that, rather than devoting more attention to debating the urban contribution to development in Africa, real energy needs to be spent unblocking it.

Extension education strategy for minimizing aflatoxin impact on sub-Saharan African agriculture and food systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ayeni
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Aflatoxin Contamination ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Extension Education ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Extension Services ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sub Saharan

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the most vulnerable region of the world to all aflatoxin-related problems including food insecurity, ill health and reduced foreign exchange earnings. Aflatoxin-contaminated maize, groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum and other crops reduce human access to adequate calories from these staples; consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated foods results in severe health conditions, including liver cancer, that deny the region a significant amount of otherwise productive man-hours; while the reduction of grain quality below the international standards due to aflatoxin contamination drastically reduces income in foreign exchange earnings. Scientific knowledge of the causes of aflatoxins in agricultural systems and their mitigation abounds in research institutions in SSA and internationally, but most of this knowledge is unavailable to farmers, food consumers and policy makers in useful form due to poor extension education and ineffective extension services. A paradigm shift in the approach to extension in SSA is proposed, one driven by a sustainable mechanism that is sensitive to the needs of the people and proactive (rather than reactive) in providing solutions to aflatoxin-related problems the local community and policy makers have to deal with. This paper argues that such sustainable mechanism may only be found in a University-based and University-run ‘land grant’ type extension services adapted appropriately to SSA conditions.

scholarly journals Opportunities and Challenges in Realizing Universal Access to Obstetric Ultrasound in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. E52-E59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sikolia Wanyonyi ◽  
Charles Mariara ◽  
Sudhir Vinayak ◽  
William Stones
Keyword(s):  
Universal Access ◽  
Perinatal Outcomes ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Obstetric Ultrasound ◽  
Integral Component ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThe potential benefits of obstetric ultrasound have yet to be fully realized in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), despite the region bearing the greatest burden of poor perinatal outcomes. We reviewed the literature for challenges and opportunities of universal access to obstetric ultrasound and explored what is needed to make such access an integral component of maternity care in order to address the massive burden of perinatal morbidity and mortality in SSA. Original peer-reviewed literature was searched in various electronic databases using a ‘realist’ approach. While the available data were inconclusive, they identify many opportunities for potential future research on the subject within the region that can help build a strong case to justify the provision of universal access to ultrasound as an integral component of comprehensive antenatal care.

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