scholarly journals Adaptive Governance and Market Heterogeneity: An Institutional Analysis of an Urban Food System in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Blekking ◽  
Cascade Tuholske ◽  
Tom Evans
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Adaptive Governance ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Molecular Mechanisms and Biochemical Pathways for Micronutrient Acquisition and Storage in Legumes to Support Biofortification for Nutritional Security

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manish Roorkiwal ◽  
Sarita Pandey ◽  
Dil Thavarajah ◽  
R. Hemalatha ◽  
Rajeev K. Varshney
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Food System ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Nutrient Deficiency ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Nutritional Security ◽  
Legume Crops ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Poor Nutrition

The world faces a grave situation of nutrient deficiency as a consequence of increased uptake of calorie-rich food that threaten nutritional security. More than half the world’s population is affected by different forms of malnutrition. Unhealthy diets associated with poor nutrition carry a significant risk of developing non-communicable diseases, leading to a high mortality rate. Although considerable efforts have been made in agriculture to increase nutrient content in cereals, the successes are insufficient. The number of people affected by different forms of malnutrition has not decreased much in the recent past. While legumes are an integral part of the food system and widely grown in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, only limited efforts have been made to increase their nutrient content in these regions. Genetic variation for a majority of nutritional traits that ensure nutritional security in adverse conditions exists in the germplasm pool of legume crops. This diversity can be utilized by selective breeding for increased nutrients in seeds. The targeted identification of precise factors related to nutritional traits and their utilization in a breeding program can help mitigate malnutrition. The principal objective of this review is to present the molecular mechanisms of nutrient acquisition, transport and metabolism to support a biofortification strategy in legume crops to contribute to addressing malnutrition.

scholarly journals Food system consequences of a fungal disease epidemic in a major crop

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1709) ◽  
pp. 20150467 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Charles J. Godfray ◽  
Daniel Mason-D'Croz ◽  
Sherman Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Health Food ◽  
Global Food System ◽  
Rice Prices ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Equilibrium Economic ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Global Food

Fungal diseases are major threats to the most important crops upon which humanity depends. Were there to be a major epidemic that severely reduced yields, its effects would spread throughout the globalized food system. To explore these ramifications, we use a partial equilibrium economic model of the global food system (IMPACT) to study a hypothetical severe but short-lived epidemic that reduces rice yields in the countries affected by 80%. We modelled a succession of epidemic scenarios of increasing severity, starting with the disease in a single country in southeast Asia and ending with the pathogen present in most of eastern Asia. The epidemic and subsequent crop losses led to substantially increased global rice prices. However, as long as global commodity trade was unrestricted and able to respond fast enough, the effects on individual calorie consumption were, to a large part, mitigated. Some of the worse effects were projected to be experienced by poor net-rice importing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which were not affected directly by the disease but suffered because of higher rice prices. We critique the assumptions of our models and explore political economic pressures to restrict trade at times of crisis. We finish by arguing for the importance of ‘stress-testing’ the resilience of the global food system to crop disease and other shocks. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience’.

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.

Challenges and innovations in achieving zero hunger and environmental sustainability through the lens of sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 003072702097577
Author(s):  
Moses Okello ◽  
Jimmy Lamo ◽  
Mildred Ochwo-Ssemakula ◽  
Francis Onyilo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Food System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Weather Extremes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Zero Hunger

Achieving zero hunger by 2030 often raises the issue of environmental protection or sustainable social development among policy makers due to the environmental footprint of intensifying agricultural production across the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has one of the fastgrowing populations with more than half of the global growth between now and 2050. The challenge now lies in feeding the ever-growing population that is exerting pressure on the limited available resources. Doubling the agricultural productivity of small-scale farmers by 2030 (SDG 2.3) remains a daunting task for researcher and policy makers to address on the continent that now relies much on imports of food. Exploitation of the untapped massive land resources for agricultural production poses threats to sustainability. However, the challenges of global warming cannot be left out of this discussion since it has direct impact on future productivity on the continent. Climate change that has been projected to mostly affect the poorer countries also present trials to the food system through increased diseases and weather extremes of floods and droughts. Questions are yet to be answered on which tradeoffs and synergies if any need to be made to achieve zero hunger in Africa by 2030. This synopsis critically breaks down the conflicts, tradeoffs and synergies of how a continent with such massive agricultural production potential can navigate sustainably to achieve zero hunger, self-sufficiency and exports prospects while conserving the environment and natural resources. Evident deployment of new and improved technologies especially advanced biotechnology tools will be critical in achieving zero hunger by 2030. The adaptation needs of the continent are broad including institutional, social, physical and infrastructural needs, ecosystem services and environmental needs, and financial and capacity uncertain impacts.

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.

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