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Who has the better story? On the narrative foundations of agricultural development dichotomies

F&BKP Office — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 13:56:37 +0000

This article (PDF) in World Development examines agricultural policy discourses in Senegal to address the use of language in agricultural policy discourses, in spite of increasing evidence that narratives matter for policy-making. There is consensus on the need to promote agricultural development in Africa, however, there is a debate on appropriate policies to achieve this goal. The past two decades there has been a revival of policies that support agriculture in Africa, especially in the form of input subsidies. Such policies have remained highly controversial, reflecting a long-standing dichotomy in agricultural development policy between those who consider subsidies as essential to increase agricultural productivity and those who criticize such state-focused policy instruments and favor market-oriented approaches. After in-depth interviews with policy stakeholders, two opposing advocacy coalitions were identified and labelled as “agricultural support coalition” and “agricultural support critique coalition”. Results show interesting differences: while the agricultural support coalition told a range of straight-forward stories that explain how government support, such as input subsidies, addresses the problem of low agricultural productivity, the opposing coalition formulated their stories mostly in the form of critiques rather than telling equally straight-forward counter-stories. This paper shows that reconciling perspectives on the dichotomies that prevail in agricultural development policy today have remained scarce. There is a need to develop a reconciling perspective on low agricultural productivity in Africa. The dichotomy regarding this problem has led to a deadlock: on the one hand, policy makers continue to implement input subsidy programs that have limited effect in increasing agricultural productivity, but are supported by a strong narrative. On the other hand, agricultural economists and members of international development organizations continue to criticize such input subsidy policies, but they have not succeeded in establishing a strong counter-story or a convincing meta-narrative on what should actually be done to increase agricultural productivity. Paying more attention to the narrative foundations of development dichotomies may help to overcome this deadlock.

Uniting equity and governance: An urgent agenda

F&BKP Office — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 10:28:08 +0000

This blog by Agriculture for Nutrition and Health examined how equity and governance have come together in research in the agriculture, nutrition and health (ANH) space over time. Governance is a key driver of agriculture and food systems, framig how they work and for whom, so a focus on equity in governance is crucial to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 and food justice. Inequality and inequity have been addressed both implicitly and explicitly over time. The ways poverty and gender, for instance, have shaped outcomes in this space has long been acknowledged. Moreover, academics have concerned themselves with policy and governance for nutrition, more recently looking at the issues of power or the enabling environment for nutrition and health outcomes. But what about looking at both of these issues together? After creating a list of words and synonyms, it was revealed that only nine papers have been published since 2008 that looked at ANH research and equity through some form of governance lens. These nine papers were very diverse, including diversity in governance topics and approaches. So, despite a history of both equity and governance work in ANH research, few studies tie these important issues together. This is therefore a critical research gap that must be filled: We need to know how different agriculture and food system governance issues affect nutrition and health outcomes differently for different groups and through different social and political pathways.

Towards concerted government efforts? Assessing nutrition policy integration in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 15:36:44 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Food Security journal uses a novel policy integration perspective to investigate the extent to which eight ministries in Uganda integrated nutrition concerns across their policy outputs between 2001 and 2017. To tackle malnutrition more effectively, Sub-Saharan African governments have developed overarching, integrative policy strategie. However, little is known about their follow-up and success (or failure). As well as on how nutrition concerns are explicitly addressed in policies of different ministries. 103 policy outputs were assessed for changes in subsystems involved, policy goals, and instruments used. Overall, the study found a shift towards increased integrated government action on nutrition over time. The 2011–2015 analysis period was a critical juncture where increased integration of nutrition was observed in all policy integration dimensions across all ministries. However, considerable variations in actor networks, goals, and instruments exist across sectors and over time. The sustainability of nutrition integration efforts remains contentious, so continuous monitoring will be essential. Implications for research are follow-up questions related to; what explains the findings? How do instruments within and across ministries interact with one another? And what are the interactions at governance level and how are integrated nutrition services delivered on the ground? Governance implications include: 1) Scaling up the tracking of nutrition policy across countries is an important step for domestic and international stakeholders. 2) More emphasis on aspects of nutrition that are under addressed, and get commitment of various ministries. 3) The continuity of nutrition integration will benefit from governments normalising it as part of sectors’ regular mandate. 4) The Ugandan government should consider expanding the types of instruments deployed for improving nutrition. 5) Improved nutrition governance in Uganda will rely on whether the government and international agencies manage to harness the current awareness of malnutrition across sectors. This requires scaled-up investments in a mix of instruments and the development of an integrated monitoring system to evaluate how interactions between interventions play out on the ground.

Putting indigenous foods and food systems at the heart of sustainable food and nutrition security in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 13:18:54 +0000

This paper (PDF) by Hivos and IIED documents the status and importance of indigenous foods and food systems in Uganda in order to inform policies, programmes and action at the local and national level. Uganda is rich in nutritious indigenous foods. This wealth needs to be conserved and used to promote indigenous foods across different population groups, given the population’s inadequate dietary intake. However, there is limited awareness of the potential of indigenous foods to address food and nutrition security, climate change and environmental challenges due to lack of investment to improve yields and markets, and the perceptions of it being a poor man’s food. Knowledge and information on the production constraints, processing and value addition of indigenous foods is either lacking or not widely available. Although some national policy documents mention the conservation, production or consumption of indigenous foods, in general this is not very pronounced. A policy brief (PDF) was created for special attention to the recommendations. These are: 1) On policy level: Creating a more enabling policy environment. The government needs to take a strong leadership role so that funding of such programmes becomes a priority. 2) On programme implementation: Enhancing capacity and knowledge among actors and sectors. Such as by initiating muli-actor/sector collaborations, strengthening the role of the private sector, investing in communities and youth capacity and invest in nutrient analysis. 3) At community level: Supporting bottom-up citizen action. Local partens can take action by encouraging and supporting community efforts, supporting communities to play a key role in sensitising, increasing the voice of women and youth, providing a key leadership role to community elders, promoting local, traditional and indigenousmethods of dood production, processing and preservation and ensuring recognition of the importance of indigenous peoples’ traditional cultures, food ways and knowledge.

This study is part of the Sustainable Diets for All programme.

Agri-food markets and trade policy in the time of COVID-19

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 May 2020 10:20:11 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by FAO examines different policy measures, with the aim to support informed policy decision-making during COVID-19. Policy makers are identifying the most appropriate measures to ensure that this pandemic does not translate into a food crisis. However, policy responses to deal with disease outbreaks can aggravate the situations and exacerbate their market impacts. While the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike any other crisis in recent history, the policy responses available to governments against actual or perceived disruptions in the agri-food markets are similar to those taken during previous crises. Policy measures should aim to address actual rather than perceived demand and supply disruptions; enhanced market transparency and coordination with all concerned actors are critical in this regard. Experiences from past crises have demonstrated that avoiding trade-restrictive measures can be equally important to direct forms of support to consumers and producers. Following international guidelines on safe travel and trade corridors can help keep agri-food supply chains alive, mitigate food supply disruptions, and promote food security. Concrete best practices include: 1) To ensure sufficient domestic food supplies policy should avoid export restrictions, particularly by major exporting countries, and pre-emptive expansion of stock procurement, particulary where stocks are already high. Thereby, international market transparency and governance mechanisms should be strengthened. 2) To ensure safety of food supply, blaket import restriction should be avoided. Instead safe travel and trade corridors should be enables. 3) To promote domestic production nd/or protect farmer incomes, careful design of programmes providing productive safety nets should be ensured. Moreover, direct benefit transfers to farmers should be provided where possible. 4) To contain rising consumer prices, there should be lower tariffs and taxes on imported food, but avoid stockpiling imported food, particularly where world stocks are high. Careful design of price control measures should be ensure, if used, in partnership with private sector.

Climate change, food and nutrition policies in Uganda: Are they gender- and nutrition-sensitive?

F&BKP Office — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 09:40:50 +0000

This brief (PDF) by CCAFS-CGIAR draws attention to some gaps in the mainstreaming of gender and nutrition in climate change, and food and nutrition policy documents, which may affect the effective implementation of nutrition-focused actions and the realization of improved nutrition outcomes. Over 70 percent of Uganda’s population depends on rain-fed agriculture, making it highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Global statistics reveal rising levels of hunger and undernourishment among Uganda’s population and increasing obesity among adults. Gender and nutrition perspectives are not consistently mainstreamed across critical sections of climate change, food and nutrition policy documents under Uganda’s multi-sectoral approach. Gaps exist in the hierarchy of guiding documents relating to climate change, food and nutrition. Relevant sectors should systematically develop policies, implementation strategies, guidelines, action plans and budgets to ensure effective implementation of interventions in these areas by actors at different levels of government. There is a need to mainstream gender and nutrition across all sections of climate change, food and nutrition policy documents (including situation analysis; setting of goals; implementation arrangements; and monitoring and evaluation sections) while ensuring alignment with the national vision, goals, objectives and targets. Under the multi-sectoral approach, regular joint sector performance reviews of climate change, food and nutrition actions should be undertaken to reduce duplication of efforts, strengthen cross-sectoral synergies and alignment to the national vision, goals and targets. The brief proposed three recommendations: 1) Relevant sectors should align their provisions for gender and nutrition integration in policy documents with the national objectives, goals and targets. 2) Sector ministries, departments and agencies should systemetically mainstream gender and nutritin throughout sections of the national guiding documents by stating explicit commitments that address gender and nutrition concerns. 3) The offices mandated with coordination, monitoring and evaluation of climate change and nutrition actions across sectors should regularly hold joint performance reviews.

A related blog of the study can be found here.

How COVID-19 may disrupt food supply chains in developing countries

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 10:22:06 +0000

This blog on the IFPRI website examines how COVID-19 will affect food supply chains (FSCs) in developing countries. The evidence suggests that the impacts will be felt widely, but unevenly. Farm operations may be spared the worst, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in urban areas will face significant problems. Governments will have to develop policies to respond to these varied impacts to avoid supply chain disruptions, higher food prices, and severe economic fallout for millions of employees. The authors come with seven hypotheses of what might happen to food supply chains: 1) Direct impact will overwhelmingly be felt post-farm; 2) The impacts are likely to be largest in dense urban and rural peri-urban areas; 3) Effect will be strongest in the downstream segments of retail and food service; 4) Retail and food service firms in modern FSCs face fewer problems; 5) Direct impacts on farm population and farm production will be much smaller; 6) COVID-19 is likely to increase food prices; 7) COVID-19 responses will create economic hardship. In the short term, millions of these businesses will face lower foot traffic, lower incomes, and substantial unemployment. In the medium term, COVID-19 impacts on these segments may induce rapid concentration, leading to the rise of large processing firms and supermarkets. Governments’ general strategy must be two-pronged: Implement robust public health measures and address food security impacts, particularly income and employment. Addressing the FSC issues will require three complementary policy paths: In the short run, implement new, broad safety nets for SMEs and workers in the midstream and downstream segments of FSCs. In the short and medium term, monitor and regulate wholesale markets, retail wet markets, and processing clusters more strictly, and redesign their sites for improved health practices. Finally, make long-term investments to help SMEs change hygiene practices and better site design that will help them remain competitive.

Rethinking trade policies to support healthier diets

F&BKP Office — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 10:12:32 +0000

This brief (PDF) by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition focuses on the potential to lever improvements in diets by trade policy, and how to address it. The primary focus is on cross-border flows of food and agricultural commodities, exploring the effects that trade can have on the supply and affordability of nutrient-rich foods. It also considers how trends in global trade affect diets, greenhouse gas emissions and the natural environment upon which food systems depend. Trade policy is not an easy route through which to improve diets and nutrition, given the rapid changes in food systems and the highly political nature of trade agendas. However, the brief provides policy actions and opportunities for leveraging trade to improve diets: 1) Be alert to effects of trade policies on importing of processed foods. 2) Specific traded foods should be viewed ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ based on individual’s diet. 3) Attention should be paid to policies that frame relative prices of foods. 4) High priority to trade policies that help incease availability, and therefore reduce the price, of nutrient-rich foods. 5) Food trade can be beneficial in managing price volatility and risks associated with climate change. 6) Export of high-nutrient foods should be considered in context of nutrient value and affordability of food imports. 7) Informal trade can lower the efficiency of policy measures, so should be particular focus. 8) Pay close attention to trade agreements which embody strong investor protections, they can be problematic. 9) Circumvent risks of trade agreements with strong investor protection by aligning nutrition-focused trade policies with WTO-rules. 10) Consideration needs to be paid to imports from countries which apply less stringent protection policies. 11) There is urgent need for policy measures that encompass international supply chains to promote the sustainable production of nutritious foods for high-quality diets.

From population to production: 50 years of scientific literature on how to feed the world

F&BKP Office — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 12:46:20 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Global Food Security journal analysed scientific literature on how to feed the world, distinguishing between a focus on three potential levers: total food production, per capita food demand, and population. The data are not able to identify the optimal balance between the three levers. However, the study highlights a strong imbalance in the scientific research in favour of the production lever. There is a strong and increasing focus on feeding the world through increasing food production via technology, while the focus on reducing food demand through less intensive dietary patterns has remained constant and low. The dominance of production-oriented studies may undermine achieving food security and other sustainability goals, missing the advantage of potential synergies between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Results suggest that increasing research focus on diets and population size is likely necessary to provide an adequate evidence-base for policy. Furthermore, the results suggest that very few studies address all three levers in an integrated way, which may be constraining the solution space for feeding the world and meeting other SDGs. To reverse this long-term trend whereby population, diet, and food production have been tackled in isolation, the article suggests strengthening inter-disciplinary research that jointly addresses these three leverage points.

Changing food systems: implications for DFID priorities

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 11:07:03 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by the Institute of Development Studies examines changes in food systems, including urbanisation, changing diets and free trade, the risks and opportunities of these changes and its implications for policy priorities. The changes in food systems create both systemic risks and transformational opportunities that demand a deeper understanding of food systems and how to ensure their long-term resilience, inclusiveness, and sustainability. Inclusive economic development in low and middle income countries is highly interconnected with the food economy. The brief comes with a number of key messages: 1) Most development challenges are interrelated with how food systems function at local, national, and global levels. 2) Food systems matter because the majority of people in developing countries are employed in the food and agriculture sectors, human health is profoundly influenced by what people eat, and the production and distribution of food is an important contributor to climate change. 3) Key indicators for food system outcomes are heading in the wrong direction, creating systemic risks that threaten development progress, peace, and security. 4) Historically, development programmes have compartmentalised interventions on nutrition, health, agriculture, environment, and climate, and not adequately considered the trade-offs and synergies across food systems. 5) Transforming food systems is key to tackling economic, social, and environmental issues, while creating economic opportunities for investment and job creation. 6) Country-level food system analysis on risks and opportunities is needed to underpin integrated and coordinated development interventions. These trends and changes result in opportunities and implications for policy development, including investing in enterprises that create employment and economic activity by providig added value to farm produce, in rural infrastructure and services, and in industrial clusters that improve efficiency in food value chains and knowledge transfers between actors. Thereby, access should be provided to education and training in agrifood sector, labour policies should be improved, as well as occupational and health safety standards across value chains.

Local to global policy as a catalyst for change: Key messages

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 10:24:13 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by CCAFS-CGIAR demonstrates the ways of catalysing transformation in food systems through policy change from local to global level. Feeding and nourishing a growing and changing global population in the face of rising numbers of chronically hungry people, slow progress on malnutrition, environmental degradation, systemic inequality, and the dire projections of climate change, demands a transformation in global food systems. As the need for transformation in food systems grows, so too must the realization that food systems policy will be imperative. The range of actors, activities, outcomes, and drivers that interact to shape food systems are myriad, complex, and at times contradictory. Food systems policy may not be easy but only through multi-sectoral and inclusive processes and policies can a true transformation be achieved. Policy change at multiple levels is critical for catalysing an inclusive and sustainable transformation in food systems; global and regional policy are transformative only insofar as they are translated into ambitious national action with adequate support, including both public and private investment. Three areas of policy change show potential to be catalytic: 1) reducing emissions and increasing resilience, 2) tackling food loss and waste, and 3) shifting diets to promote nutrition and sustainability. Trade-offs mean a multi-sectoral approach to policymaking is needed, while inequalities in food systems necessitate transparent, inclusive processes and results. Gender inequality, in particular, must be addressed. Transformation demands participation and action from all actors. Policy change can guide and catalyse that action but requires political and public will and a shift in mindsets toward a more collective and shared approach.

See this brief for an overview of the key messages of the working paper.

The agriculture-nutrition-income nexus in Fiji

F&BKP Office — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 13:27:26 +0000

This technical brief (PDF) by CTA describes the agricultural sector in Fiji and, to increase rural people’s access to nutritious and healthy food, they came up with several key recommendations: 1). Establish a cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder, gender-sensitive technical oversight committee to improve coherence in policy and decision-making for improved agriculture and agribusiness performance, economic empowerment and nutrition outcomes. 2). Develop and implement a monitoring and evaluation framework for tracking achievements against agreed targets across government ministries, working in partnership with producers, academia and the private sector including financial institutions. 3). Support and strengthen community-based organisations that are piloting innovative and effective solutions that contribute to women’s agricultural and economic transformation and particularly benefit rural households. 4). Conduct more scientific research on the nutrient content and health benefits of traditional Fijian crops and marine resources and support the development of new/improved/novel healthy Fijian food products. 5). Design and conduct more targeted education, communication and marketing campaigns to promote more diversified diets for good health. Align the agriculture and nutrition curricula from primary to tertiary level to increase awareness of the health and economic benefits of local nutrient-dense foods. 6). Increase access to affordable business, financial and technical services and mentorship support to enhance value chain performance. Train farmers, fisher folk and agribusinesses/small-medium enterprises on food safety, post-harvest handling and production/processing techniques.

Food policy councils

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 14:30:19 +0000

This issue of the Urban Agriculture magazine (PDF) by RUAF explores the experiences of Food Policy Councils (FPCs) and similar entities, with a particular focus on their approach to inclusiveness, documented impacts, and challenges faced. The governance of food systems is changing. Where once food supply was a matter of top-down planning for national governments, often heavily influenced by market forces, today food systems governance at all levels – from the international to the local – is shifting to more participatory and inclusive forms. A growing number of cities and regions are forming Food Policy Councils (FPCs) and similar groups known by other names, such as multi-stakeholder food forums/platforms, food policy networks, food boards, food coalitions, food partnerships, and food labs. These groups bring stakeholders together to share perspectives on food systems challenges, to develop innovative solutions, and to influence food-related policy and planning. Most FPCs in this issue seek to include a spectrum of stakeholders from across the food system, such as farmers, distributors, processors and vendors. There are also often representatives from different municipal departments or programmes, and from different levels of government. Other non-governmental stakeholders are civil society organisations, NGOs, and citizen representatives, trade unions, research and academic institutes. Some FPCs are instigated by civil society groups that seek to engage local government actors; others are created through local government procedures. Sometimes, though, FPCs struggle to involve stakeholders whose presence would be helpful. A number of challenges faced are: 1) identifying the right moment to set up an FPC or to formalise an existing informal group; 2) determining the ideal structure and institutional home; 3) incorporating as a legal entity; 4) shifting the scale at which an FPC operates and; 5) promoting durability of the FPC over the long term. The experiences in this UA Magazine demonstrate that FPCs (and similar entities) everywhere have lessons to share – no matter whether they were founded 30 years ago or just last year, or what part of the world they are in.

The political economy of food

F&BKP Office — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 12:24:47 +0000

This issue (PDF) of the IDS Bulletin examines a range of perspectives on power in food systems, and the various active players, relationships, activities, and institutions that play a major role in shaping them. Any analysis of food systems needs to include power as an aspect of political economy, in order to understand how power relations develop over time and how they affect different food system actors. The issue notes the need for mainstream research and policy to grapple with power inequities in the food system, in order, for instance, to challenge the increase in private sector funding that is reshaping food systems. The power of dominant food system actors is often reinforced or overlooked, having negative consequences for those unable to access sufficient healthy food or to participate in decision-making about the food system. The issues begins with an introduction to how power is analysed from different political economy perspectives before moving on to articles focusing on four key themes: diversity and innovation, the food–health nexus, the politics of consumption, and agroecology and food sovereignty. In aiming to understand power in the food system, there are many different disciplinary, epistemological, and ideological entry points into the study of power, and seeking a single approach will likely limit the insights that different disciplines and research orientations can bring to the study of food systems. First, power must be better understood at its different levels, forms, and spaces, whereafter this understanding should be used in order to transform food systems via equitable processes which work towards the interests of all.

The Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor 2019

F&BKP Office — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 14:07:24 +0000

This report (PDF) by Regional Statistic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKKS), CTA, and the African Growth and Development Policy Modeling Consortium (AGRODEP), presents an examination of the recent trends, current status, and future outlook of African agriculture trade in global and regional markets. The report finds that while growth in Africa’s agricultural imports has continued to outpace export growth, the agricultural trade deficit has been on the decline since 2012. Meanwhile, Africa has continued to play a minimal role in global agriculture trade. Further, despite the strengthening of the continent’s comparative advantage in agricultural products in recent years, its advantage has largely been limited to unprocessed and semi-processed products, not in processed products. The report also finds that the main obstacle to improving Africa’s trade integration is non-tariff measures (NTMs), with an important role played by customs formalities. To a lesser extent, barriers are the lack of agricultural product diversification and high trading costs. The current trade conﬂict between major global trading blocs may create an opportunity for African countries to increase their exports, particularly to the United States and China; but Africa will register a net loss in exports if the global trade wars intensify. Informal cross-border trade is an important part of total trade and plays a critical role in poverty alleviation, food security, and household livelihoods in Africa. New regional integration initiatives, such as the continental free trade area, are interesting for several reasons. First, multilateral trade liberalization is at a standstill, and the gains for Africa from previous multilateral rounds are not obvious. Second, the creation of a large continental market could bring economic benefits. To achieve these objectives, however, the proposed regional integration initiatives must be successful. This would require not only eliminating tariffs on all continental trade, but also and above all tackling NTMs.

Exploring agriculture diversification in Zambia from different perspectives

F&BKP Office — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 08:03:49 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by Hivos and IIED explores the reasons for the lack of agricultural diversity from the perspectives of smallholder households, market actors and extension officers. Despite the Zambian Government’s intention to diversify agriculture, the country is still heavily reliant on a narrow range of crops; two-thirds of crop cultivation is devoted to maize. Consequently, the Zambian food system is not delivering enough affordable or nutritious foods for the majority of the population. Diversifying agricultural production has the potential to increase the availability, affordability and accessibility of diverse and nutritious food. The analysis shows that smallholder farmers understand the benefits of diversifying but find it difficult to implement. The key barriers are their limited access to land, lack of a diverse range of agricultural inputs, inadequate finance, lack of small-scale irrigation equipment and the inadequate access to and absorption capacity of markets for diverse and nutritious foods. These challenges are worse for women and youth. A specific issue is that neither the public or private sector have made deliberate efforts to increase fruit production, despite its nutritional and income-generating potential. The study reveals that diversifying agricultural production requires a holistic approach involving a range of stakeholders. Agro dealers are ready to support crop diversification, but their stock is driven by farmers’ demands and input supplies; whilst traders are risk-averse, preferring to trade in crops with a known profitability, which may reduce the incentive to trade in a wider range of crops. Extension officers face challenges in changing the mindset of farmers to increase diversity, and also lack transport and adequate training materials on diversification. Zambia’s diversification agenda should be based on the priorities and requirements of farming households. To succeed it will require the collective efforts of key players, and a range of co-ordinated policy changes. Recommendations include: 1) Convening a high-level policy process involving smallholders, consumers and civil society to bring about a sea change towards diversification; 2) Supporting market actors to pull towards more diverse agricultural production; 3) Stimulating demand for healthy and nutritious diets; and 4) Redirecting investments towards more diverse production and research and development that support agricultural diversification.

A related blog of the paper can be found here.

Position paper on water, energy, food and ecosystems (WEFE) nexus and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

F&BKP Office — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 10:11:08 +0000

This position paper (PDF) by Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, and Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) highlights the importance and advantages of the water, engergy, food and ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus as an approach and methodology in EU development cooperation. Natural resources are increasingly at risk due to factors such as climate change, demographic and economic growth, political instability and forced migration. Core threats to these resources are population growth, economic development, urbanisation development, lack of transboundary cooperation, pollution and climate change. In addressing these challenges, the WEFE Nexus is of importance. The Nexus corroborates the need to not view water, energy, food and ecosystems as being separate entities, but rather as being complex and inextricably entwined. Key principles of the Nexus are: 1) Understand the interdependence of resources within a system across space and time; 2) Recognize the interdependence between water, energy, food and ecosystems; 3) Identify integrated policy solutions to optimise trade-offs and maximise synergies across sectors; 4) Ensure coordination across sectors and stakeholders; 5) Value the natural capital of land, water, energy sources and ecosystems. A number of benefits arise from adapting these key principles, incuding the exploitation of co-benefits to improve overall performance, the streamlining of development and improving resilience, and stimulating policy coherence and multipurpose investments. Managing the WEFE Nexus is a consultative process with key stakeholders contributing and agreeing to responses to the challenges being faced. Relevant stakeholder engagement is particularly crucial when implementing the WEFE Nexus because of the need to collaborate across traditional thematic silos.

Farmers! Which farmers? – Strategies to differentiate categories of farmers as ‘target’ gruop of food security interventions

F&BKP Office — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 10:04:56 +0000

This insight paper (PDF) by AgriProFocus and Utrecht University aims to contribute to a better conceptualization of ‘farmers’ and to an improved understanding of ‘farmers’ who are currently targeted in food security interventions. The objective is to inform Dutch Food & Nutrition Security (FNS) Policy and provide recommendations on how to enhance the policy’s results for and with the target groups. In practice, a wide range of criteria and indicators are used to differentiate between farmers in agrofood development interventions or investments. The most commonly used criteria are farm size, market integration, labour input and income, while gender and age, the type of farming system, the capabilities of farmers and the level of organisation are other important aspects often considered. A common criticism regarding farmer categorisation is that many farming households have diverse livelihoods strategies, in which only part of the income is generated through farming. There is no evidence yet which agricultural interventions contribute to local food and nutrition security. Private sector led agricultural development contributes to income and productivity improvement, while there is no proven direct effect on enhanced food security. Women and vulnerable groups tend to be left out of private sector led interventions oftentimes because they do not fulfil selection criteria. The Dutch FNS policy and its implementation would gain clarity if it made use of clearer language and definitions of the farmer target groups it intends to reach. When defining a target group or assessing farmer targeted interventions, it is important to be aware of the diverse conceptualisations. For sustainable agricultural sector transformation, and food systems transitions, a local analysis of target groups and context is key as a basis. During strategic planning and programme/project design phases, a vision and strategy for targeting particular groups need to be made. A flexible, context-specific, and stakeholder-informed approach is key to prevent blueprints or classifications that disempower some farmers.

Global food policy report 2019

F&BKP Office — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:02:49 +0000

This global food policy report 2019 (PDF) of IFPRI provides a synthesis of all major developments regarding food policy in 2018. Reviewing the major food policy issues of 2018 reveals that despite strong economic growth in 2018, undernourishment rose for the third year in a row. These developments were rarely reflected in global policy dialogues and funding commitments. Initiatives that continue a shift toward transforming the whole food system is needed. The special focus of this year’s report is on rural revitalization. The SDGs 1 (end poverty) and SDG 2 (end hunger) seem distant, especiallly as political attention has shifted away from rural areas, where most of the world’s poor live. Rural areas lag behind in undernutrition in children, rural environments are under threat and there is a lack of rural infrastructure, services and economic opportunities. A systemwide transformation is needed to change this. Rural revitalization is a way of positively transforming rural areas. This includes creating opportunities for employment, forging links between rural and urban economies, investing in information and communication technologies (ICTs), education, governance, rural health and healthy environment. The further report focuses on the ‘building blocks of rural revitalization’: poverty, hunger and malnutrition; employment and livelihoods; gender equality; environment; renewable rural engergy; and rural governance. Looking ahead, 2019 might be another difficult year. Global economic growth is projected to slow over the next two years. This will undoubtedly affect rural areas most. Focusing on the needs or rural areas is one of the most practical ways to achieve the SDGs and address many of the roadblocks. Rural revitalization represents a systems approach to addressing poverty and food and nutrition security through its recognition of the intrinsic links among sectors that make up the entire food chain.

In addition, the report provides insights in food security development and rural revitalization around the globe on regional level.

A synopsis of the report as well as a supporting video are also available.

An Africa-Europe agenda for rural transformation

F&BKP Office — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 10:37:09 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Task Force Rural Africa proposes strategies and policies, harnessing cooperation between Africa and Europe, to enable the African agri-food and rural economy to respond to the challenge of generating sufficient jobs and incomes for the African workforce. Four strategic aresas of action are proposed: 1) A territorial approach for income and job creation. Look beyond the agricultural sector per se, unlock the potential of rural areas and secondary cities, strengthen the capacity of local people and empower local/regional/national institutions. 2) Sustainable land and natural resources management. Adopting a food systems approach to agri-food policies and investments allows targeting of economic, invironmental and social sustainability. 3) Sustainable transformation of African agriculture. Measures to achieve rapid inclusive agricultural growth, using and preserving the full potential of ecological resources to co-design with local actors. 4) Development of the African food industry and markets, via local and regional value chain development, better access to finance and the creating of an enabling environment. The combination of short and long term proposals represents a policy sequencing, with short term measures representing ‘early wins’ in terms of development outcomes, followed by sustainable gains from longer term investments of agricultural intensifcation, agro-industry, infrastructure, intra-regional trade and increased investments. Africa and Europe should implement and innovative partnership for the inclusive and sustainable development of Africa’s agri-food sector and rural economy, where African political and policy leadership should be a key element. It should operate at three levels: people-people, business-business and government-government. Another central message of the report is that there needs to be sustained and substantial investment in Africa’s people and the full growth potential of Africa’s agri-food and rural economy must be realised if the jobs challenge is to have any change of being met. For follow-up, first high lelvel political commitment to implement the recommendations is needed. Second, an implementation plan should be drawn.

Status of patenting plants in the Global South: Position paper and research report

F&BKP Office — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 15:07:37 +0000

This report (PDF) of Oxfam, comprising a position paper and research report, aims to contribute to awareness and understanding of the current status of patenting of plants in developing countries and emerging economies, to inform societal discussion and decision-making. According to the research report, patent law has gradually been extended to cover plants and their parts and components. Patents are granted in many jurisdictions on the basis of claims relating to phenotypics and/or genotypic characteristics. The granting of patents may have significant implications for access to and use of seeds and other propagating materials. The presence of a patented component in a plant may create a barrier for further research and breeding, as well as prevent farmers from saving and re-using seeds that incorporate that component. The facultative exclusion for ‘plants’ under the TRIPS Agreement gives WTO members the possibility of denying patent protection to any plant. The study shows that plants are excluded from patentability only 40% of the 126 developing countries and emerging economies. So, the majority have not used the TRIPS flexibility. Legal provisions prescribing the non-patentability of discoveries may prevent protection of unmodified plant materials. The application of patentability has often led to the rejection of patent applications relating to plants. Overall, there is considerable diversity in legal status regarding the patentability of plants in countries of the Global South. Countries with broad coverage of patents should be encouraged to review their legislation and learn from the example of countries that have appropriately narrowed down the scope of patentability in this field. In the position paper Oxfam states to be concerned that the growing number of patents on plants will threaten food and nutrition security by blocking the free availability of these materials. Oxfam therefore promotes the implementation of Farmers’ Rights to save, use, exchange, and sell farm-saved seed, and the considerate use of plant breeders’ rights as an alternative to patents.

The report is also available in French and Spanish

The recipe for success: How policy-makers can integrate water, sanitation and hygiene into actions to end malnutrition

F&BKP Office — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 13:00:53 +0000

This report (PDF) by WaterAid, Action Against Hunger and Share, aims to provide a toolkit to stimulate debate and discussion of the options and opportunities to bring together water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and nutrition policies and programmes. The report analyses the approaches governments and donors are taking to cross-integrate nutrition and WASH within their nutrition and WASH national policies and plans. Multi-sectoral interventions are essential to address each of the underlying determinants of malnutrition, including WASH. Comprehensive integration of different sectors under a multi-sectoral umbrella is not always possible, so ensuring key sectors are nutrition-sensitive is also crucial. Existing guidelines and practical tools are useful for integrating nutrition and WASH at programme and project levels. However, to transform these into large-scale investments and impact, governments must mainstream nutrition considerations into national policy frameworks and institutional structures. Likewise, inclusion of the right nutrition priorities and incentives in WASH policies will foster and support multiplication of nutrition-sensitive initiatives. National governments and donors, and both nutrition and WASH actors need to shift mindsets; develop ambitious policies and plans; create eﬀective coordination mechanisms and flexible funding; and share lessons and experiences globally. A key recommendation for national governments is to ensure policies and financing align with both the nutrition- and WASH-related SDGs and effective cross-ministerial coordination mechanisms should be established at the highest level by heads of state. Nutrition policy-makers and practitioners should prioritise nutrition-sensitive WASH interventions and include objectives to improve WASH within nutrition, while WASH policy-makers and practitioners should increase the nutrition-sensitivity of policies, including by targeting geographical areas where undernutrition is most prevalent. Donor agencies should promote and fund multi-sectoral approaches and prioritise flexible financing, capacity-building and convening power. Technical partners, civil society and global partnerships should support government-led efforts, policy formulation, budget allocation and strengthening of the accountability loop.

Effective public investments to improve food security

F&BKP Office — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 14:41:18 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by IISD identifies the most effective and efficient ways to invest in improving food security. The world has made significant progress in reducing hunger over the past decade, but it remains a major challenge. In general, public investment has a positive impact on food security. However, a key message is that context matters. Where interventions had no or negative impacts on food security, the reason for failure was often the lack of consideration of broader community challenges, gender inequality and wealth inequality. Whereas successful interventions stressed the importance of prior analysis or a baseline assessment. Improved food security is often the result of multiple, well-designed interventions. The focus is less about finding the right interventions, and more about ensuring that interventions are designed and implemented with the particular context in mind. The most robust evidence comes from research on the effectiveness of input subsidies, value chain development and extension services. An important research gap exists regarding evidence on the efficiency of interventions relative to their costs. The article comes with four recommendations that can help future planning for public investment in food security: 1) Include direct food security indicators into the design, testing, implementation and evaluation of the interventions to enable better tracking of food security; 2) Conduct rigorous baseline assessments to understand the local context and uncover specific conditions that could have a significant impact on the success or failure of the planned interventions; 3) Improve the methodological approaches for evaluating impacts of interventions to ensure effective communication of lessons learned to enable continuous improvement; 4) Evaluations should include cost-benefit comparisons of interventions or other methods to assess efficiency.

Brokering and facilitating NL funded PPPs: Understanding the role of Dutch embassies and the challenges they face

F&BKP Office — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:13:41 +0000

This publication (PDF) by PPPLab explores Dutch embassies’ experiences in partnerships in food security and water with private sector involvement. Most embassies include several roles, most commonly brokering and facilitating. The intensity of embassy engagement varies widely, being most actively involved in the building phase of the partnership. The ‘from aid to trade agenda’ provokes a number of tensions for embassies: working directly with the private sector or via an NGO; the double role as funder and influencer of the partnership; ensuring local embeddedness with limited capacity; tension between flexibility while working within framework of public accountability. There are four lessons on partnering: (1) requires open dialogue between PPPs and embassies; (2) define what support is required and feasible from the embassy; (3) define when embassy involvement is most helpful and feasible; (4) creative partnering approaches are required. A case study (PDF) on this topic was set up in Kenya to explore the role of the Public P in PPPs. The main motivation for the ‘Food security via vertical integration of a new Kenyan potato chain’ PPP was to combine public sector expertise with innovative capacity of the private sector to come up with new solutions for food security issues and develop the agribusiness sector in Kenya. The most crucial challenge was the lack of capacity from one of the partners, which lead to delays. Also, the difference between the Kenyan public sector, wanting to minimize risk by adhering to strict certification protocols, and the private sector, wanting to maximize profits by strengthening the business case, was a burden on the partnering process. In order to work effectively, it is important to employ a repertoire of strategies for engagement, to be able to navigate the local political context, and to be willing to invest in the development of partnering capacities and trust within the PPPs. Most importantly, effective PPP partnering requires strategic choices on the why, how and what of working together with the Public P.

Policies that strengthen the nexus between food, health, ecology, livelihoods and identities

F&BKP Office — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:35:40 +0000

This article (PDF), by the Civil Society Reﬂection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explores the connection between food, health, ecology, livelihoods and identities and offers feasible pathways on how to place the virtuous interplay between sustainable and diversified local food systems and healthy diets at the core of the public policy agenda. The article argues that to address multiple intertwined challenges, the focus should be on ‘The Peasant Food Web’, made up of small-scale producers, often family or women-led. The Web is less wasteful, nurtures diversity, degrades environmental and social harm, compared to the Industrial Food Chain; the links running from production inputs to consumers. Furthermore, a paradigm shift towards diversified agroecological systems is needed, developed on the basis of peasants’ knowledge and experimentation, and through farmer-researcher participatory approaches. For this, institutional and policy barriers must be removed. The articles comes with 10 action pathways. One is to strengthen the role of producers’ organizations in policy-making and build inclusive, interdisciplinary, rights-based policy spaces with robust safeguards against conflicts of interest. Moreover, the rights to freely save, plant, exchange, sell and breed seeds and livestock and remove regulations blocking local markets and diversity should be restored. Unfortunately, there are three emerging obstacles to system change: dematerialization, digitalization and financialization of food systems. They are profoundly changing the nature of both tradable goods and the markets where these are exchanged. While technology and resources can definitely help, the fundamental challenge is one of devising policies and regulations that progressively but unambiguously reorient the production model and realign it with the imperatives of sustainable development. The redesign, or creation, of legitimate institutional policy spaces that can address the common roots of the different development challenges, rather than treating the symptoms of the problems in well-established silos is required

This article is part of the book ‘Spotlight on sustainable development 2018: Exploring new policy pathways‘ (PDF)

The state of food and agriculture 2018: Migration, agriculture and rural development

F&BKP Office — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 10:27:10 +0000

The key focus of this year’s ‘The state of food and agriculture’ report (PDF), by FAO, is rural migration, which constitutes a considerable portion of both internal and international migration flows. Migration is part and parcel of economic, social and human development and a means of reducing inequality both within and between countries. All countries will be areas of origin, transit or destination for international migration. Globally, international migration is smaller than internal migration. International and internal migration flows share some of the same drivers and constitute an integrated system. In developing regions with high urbanization rates, rural migration accounts for at least 50% of internal movements. Rural out-migration can be a means of income diversification and adaptation mechanism to slow-onset environmental stressors. However, it is not often an option for the poorest. Rural areas host large number of displaced populations during protracted crises, leading to further challenges. This burden can be alleviated through rural development policies that focus on economic and social integration of migrants, resulting in outcomes that benefit both displaced people and their host areas. In many developed countries immigrants can help fill labour shortages in high-value agriculture activities that are difficult to mechanize. Implementing and enforcing regulatory schemes and programmes to protect their labour rights can help improve their working conditions. Policy coherence between migration and agriculture and rural development policies essential to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration. Policies should not aim to reduce or accelerate migratory flows, but rather to maximize the economic and social benefits while minimizing the costs to migrants and societies. Policy priorities relating to rural migration depend on country contexts that are continuously evolving: these will be different for countries in protracted crisis situations, countries where rural youth employment is a challenge, countries in economic and demographic transition, and for developed countries in need of migrant workers.

The report can be found in brief here.

Transforming agriculture in Africa & Asia: What are the policy priorities?

F&BKP Office — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 10:33:58 +0000

This report (PDF), by IISD and IFPRI, summarizes government policies and public investments at country level that have driven agricultural transformation in Africa, Asia and Latin America over a 45-year period between 1970 and 2015. The report is the first attempt to map the agricultural transformation path of 117 countries using an analytical framework with a global cluster analysis. The report comes with a number of key findings. The first is that the availability and fertility of agricultural land, as well as population dynamics, are core to the role of agriculture in economic transformation. It often determines whether it should push the agricultural sector as the engine for growth, or rather pull people out of agriculture into other sectors of the economy. Second, price policies play a key role in agricultural transformation for all the transformed countries. Agricultural transformation takes off when countries remove price policies that penalize agriculture. Third, public investment in research, development and extension services, electricity and irrigation are important but not sufficient for succes. The quality of these services can matter more than the quality. Fourth, land reforms, research institutions and improving access to credit are also critical. Fifth, complementarity is essential. No country succeeds without a combination of policies and public investments that complemented each other at a given juncture. Moreover, the composition of public spending matters: some countries had very low levels of spending in research and extension and too much focus on input subsidies. Finally, land reform was key in countries with unequal land distribution. Gender inequality and discrimination remain persistent and have not been adequately addressed in any of the countries reviewed. Land reform and gender equality will be central in the ongoing transformation process. Countries that must still make additional efforts can learn from the experiences of those countries that succeeded.

The project website can be found here.

The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2018

F&BKP Office — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 10:19:29 +0000

This annual report (PDF) by FAO measures the progress of the world fisheries and aquaculture role in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and emphasizing its role in achieving them. There is great importance of fisheries and aquaculture in providing nutrition. But fish also contributes to food and nutrition security of poor households in developing countries through livelihood diversification, employment and income generation for millions for people, many of whom struggle to maintain reasonable livelihoods. Fish is an important, consistently affordable dietary component worldwide, albeit with large geographic variance. Total fish production reached an all-time high, of which 88 percent was utilized for direct human consumption, thanks to relatively stable capture fisheries production, reduced wastage and aquaculture growth. Since 1961 the annual global growth in fish consumption has been twice as high as population growth, demonstrating that the fisheries sector is crucial in reaching towards a world without hunger and malnutrition. It is desirable to increase the production and consumption of small fish and to find ways of transforming the non-consumed parts into nutritious products. A focus on the nutrient content of farmed aquatic foods is especially important where they have a key role in food-based approaches to food security and nutrition. Greater product assurance in fresh fish value chains is needed to safeguard food safety and ensure that nutrition benefits of fish are accessible to all. Predicted trends towards 2030 are that world fish production, consumption and trade will increase, with a growth rate slowing over time. Prices will increase in nominal terms while declining in real terms, although remaining high. Food fish supply will increase in all regions, while per capita fis consumption is expected to decline in Africa, which raises concerns in terms of food security. The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is increasingly relevant as the guiding framework for implementing the principles of sustainable development in fisheries and aquaculture.

A flyer and booklet of the report are also available.

Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor 2018

F&BKP Office — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 10:52:03 +0000

This report by Regional Statistic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKKS), the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) and the African Growth and Development Policy Modeling Consortium (AGRODEP), presents an examination of the recent trends, current status, and future outlook of African agricultural trade in global and regional markets. Although African exports have grown over time, imports have increased more rapidly betwen 1998-2013. Africa’s agricultural exports appear to have become moderately more diversified. Efforts to pursue increased economic integration led to significant increases in intra-regional trade. Intra-African trade expanded significantly during 1998-2013. In most regional economic communities (REcs), countries increased or maintained their competitiveness in global and regional markets. However, potential exists to expand exports by leveraging gains in competiteveness. Supply-side constraints in agricltural exports affect trade perfomarnce to a greater extent than do demand-side constraints. This suggests a focus on removing domestic constraints to increased trade. Emerging issues, like climate shock and increasing nontariff barriers to trade present threats to trade performance. The analyses presented in this report demonstrate undeniable improvements in Africa’s trade performance since the late 1990s. Nevertheless, progress has been uneven, with some regions and countries consistently underperforming others. Challenges remain in further enhancing Africa’s competitiveness in global markets and in increasing intra-regional trade, which remains below its potential despite significant recent improvements. The report suggest a series of recommendations for policymakers, including (1) efforts at country and regional levels to increase agricultural productivity along the value chain, improve market access, and improve the functioning of institutions; (2) regional actions to enhance economic integration and harmonize standards and procedures; and (3) Africa-wide efforts to promote trade facilitation in international negotiations. Policy actions such as these can influence the trends described in this report and accelerate improvements in Africa’s trade performance, thereby increasing incomes and improving food security across the continent.

Africa Agriculture Status Report 2018: Catalyzing government capacity to drive agricultural transformation

F&BKP Office — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 08:05:46 +0000

The Africa Agriculture Status Report of 2018 (PDF) by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) focusses on the role of state capacity and political will in achieving agricultural transformation in Africa. The role of the state in driving agricultural transformation is widely acknowledged across the world. However, progress has generally been slow despite the willingness to do what is right. One of the key findings of this report is that African countries understand what should be done to trigger transformation, but are faced with capacity constraints that limit their ability to design and implement a transformative agenda. Moreover, limited published information exists to guide countries and their partners on how to strengthen their capacity for implementation. Furthermore, the report clarifies that implementing an agricultural transformation would occur in many places, not only across different ministries and government agencies, but also at many points within private sector. The report also addresses how to strengthen government capacity to implement agricultural projects. It emphasizes mutual accountability, recognizing that holding all stakeholders including governments accountable to the progress of implementation and delivery is central to agriculture sector performance. The report finalizes with priority areas of implementation to strengthen government capacity to drive the agricultural transformation. Where a government is committed to agricultural transformation foreign aid should be much larger than to governments which are not committed – this provides incentive for commitment. Effective implementation of agricultural development and transformation plans requires a wide range of institutions, staffed with trained personnel. Initially, there must be a central agency devoted to overseeing implementation.

Building a resilient and sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 10:28:22 +0000

This book (PDF) by Springer is a collection of papers related to a better understanding of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and to the best policy options for enhancing its resilience and sustainability. It offers technical analyses, policy recommendations and an overview of success stories for agricultural sustainability. The first part of the book looks into issues of productivity, sometimes by gender, with a specific focus on modern inputs, including machinery, fertilizers and improved seed varieties. It also demonstrates that some crop adoption can reduce farmers’ income if not adequately planned or completed with other measures. The second part analyses climate change challenges in agriculture and its vulnerability to drought and declining soil fertility. Authors deal with soil and water conservation techniques, land tenure issues and weather index insurance. In the third part, authors consider the promotion of agro-industrialization. They review the contribution of agricultural activities to the development of the manufacturing sector, focus on the creation of special economic zones (SEZs) to transform agriculture and examine Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) integration in global value chains. Each paper provides insights for improved policy making and defines relevant strategic priorities on Africa’s sustainable transformation process. The book demonstrates the rationale of developing a competitive, inclusive and sustainable agribusiness sector for Africa’s food security and structural transformation. Policy recommendations are divided into five sections. One section is on improving policies and institutions in the agricultural sector. Property rights should be defined to ensure security of land tenure and enable land to be used as collateral. Land registration and legal recognition of customary rights and administrative issues are needed to promote more equitable land access and rights. Farmer support organizations are essential in acquiring, applying and disseminating knowledge and skills to farmers. Women empowerment is needed, as well as the implementation of gender-sensitive policy.

Opportunities and challenges for research on food and nutrition security and agriculture in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe

F&BKP Office — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 11:22:44 +0000

These four reports by the InterAcademy Partnership highlight opportunities and challenges for research on food and nutrition security and agriculture in Africa (PDF), Asia, the Americas (PDF) and Europe (PDF). An overarching lesson is that science, technology and innovation (STI) are key in agricultural development and food and nutrition security. In Africa, it is recognised that transformation of agriculture and food systems is needed. STI offer many opportunities for addressing the main constrains to embrace the transformation in Africa. Many existing, new and emerging technologies could support the diversification of African agriculture and food systems to increase efficiency of policies and programmes, agricultural systems, food systems and improve human nutrition and health. A key finding in the report of Asia is that there is an urgent need to form and fund inter-disciplinary cooperative research and education programmes, mustering the best talent and resources from across the region, to tackle targeted areas for knowledge development. In Asia, science and technology occupy centre stage ass well in addressing future food and nutrition security. Key findings in the Americas includes the key role STI play as well, in agricultural development, in the provision of nutritious foods and the guarantee of food security. Further, Americas face major challenges in environmental degradation. Addressing these will require STI investment. Finally, broader international cooperation is essential to achieve food and nutrition security in the Americas. In Europe overconsumption leading to overweight and obesity is the major public health problem. It is necessary to have diversity in food systems and dietary intakes. Taking account of accruing scientific evidence, changing dietary consumption could bring co-benefits to health and climate change. It is urgent to continue to build critical mass in research and innovation and to mobilise that resource in advising policymakers and other stakeholders.

Closing the potential-performance divide in Ugandan agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 09:13:08 +0000

This report (PDF) by the World Bank looks at what could explain the potential-performance divide in Uganda and comes with recommendations how to close this. In Uganda, agriculture accounts for 70% of employment and provides half of the exports and one quarter of GDP. However, the difference between aggregate output growth and the growth of all inputs and factors of production that produced it, has been negative for the last two decades in Ugandan agriculture. This suggests that on balance the country is now getting less for equal or greater effort. Food insecurity, poverty and nutritional quality remain major challenges in rural areas and the prevalence of national food imports has increased over the last decade. One-shot stimuli to growth have helped Ugandan agriculture and promoted significant poverty alleviation, but likely will not be able to provide the same level of continued stimulus for new growth. Under these circumstances, it is reasonable to worry whether agriculture can continue to drive future overall growth. The report shows that climate change can have severe consequences if proactive investments and policies are not put into place to promote greater resilience of rural livelihoods and agriculture systems. Furthermore, there is a lack of congruence between what is vital for growth and resilience, and what is being done. There are three main themes requiring action: 1) Strengthening public institutions and policies for agricultural productivity. Public funds should be re-purposed, institutions should work in a more coordinated fashion and regulatory reform is essential. 2) Promote commercialization of agriculture through private sector value-addition and trade. The private sector is central for taking agriculture forward in a market-led economy. There is a need to improve access to agricultural finance along the value chain and improve inclusion and access to market knowledge and skills. 3) Increase resilience in agroecosystems and rural livelihoods. Uganda is one of the least adapted agroeconomic systems. The breadth and urgency of the low resilience problem requires a much broader multi-stakeholder approach.

Transforming food and agriculture to achieve the SDGs: 20 interconnected actions to guide decision-makers

F&BKP Office — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:36:48 +0000

These guidelines (PDF) by FAO present a set of actions to speed up the transformation to sustainable food and agriculture that are based on evidence, experience, technical expertise and collective knowledge within FAO. Major improvements in agricultural productivity have been recorded over recent decades, but this progress has often come with social and environmental costs. The productive potential of our natural resources base has been damages. Overcoming world challenges requires transformative action, embracing principles of sustainability and tackling root causes of poverty and hunger. As the prime connection between people and planet, food and agriculture can help achieve multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable food and agriculture have great potential to revitalize the rural landscape, deliver inclusive growth to countries and drive positive change. Sustainable development integrates three dimensions: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. The approach to promote this is based on five principles: 1) Increased productivity, employment and value addition in food systems; 2) Protect and enhance natural resources; 3) Improve livelihoods and foster inclusive economic growth; 4) Enhance the resilience of people. communities and ecosystems; 4) Adapt governance to new challenges. Aligned to these principles, 2o guidelines have been outlined, whereby food and agriculture, people’s livelihoods and management of natural resources are addressed as one. These guidelines offer countries a thread that knits the many sectors of agriculture and rural development with a country’s broader development programme encompassing poverty eradication, job creation, national growth, urban regeneration and natural resource wealth. A fundamental premise for delivering sustainable food and agriculture is the creation of an enabling policy environment and the need for sectoral ministries to change the way they work and coordinate policies across government. Unlocking the potential of the private sector is fundamental to progress. The guidelines are all outlined in the document, being context-specific but universally relevant.

A related blog can be found here.

Agricultural policy incentives in sub-Saharan Africa in the last decade (2005–2016)

F&BKP Office — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 12:51:34 +0000

This synthesis study (PDF) by FAO summarizes policy monitoring indicators for 14 sub-Saharan African countries. These indicators are commonly used to assess the extent of policy support to agriculture, both in terms of price incentives for farmers in key commodity value chains, as well as level and composition of public expenditure in support of the agriculture sector. Results are very heterogeneous across countries and commodities, but indicate increasing support to farmers in the form of price incentives. Policies focused on sustaining domestic production, such as import tariffs and price support, gained momentum after the food price crises (2007-2011). This is driven by the favorable policy environment for food security crops, which was privileged overall by policy-makers in the most recent periods. Public expenditure indicators confirm that direct budget transfers in support of producers, mainly in the form of input subsidies, continue to represent the largest part of agriculture expenditure in most countries. Expenditures supporting other value chain agents as well as funding on research and knowledge dissemination are declining. Food crops continue to dominate public budgets while spending on cash crops or “innovative” products (e.g. horticulture) as well as on value chain integration and commercialization remains limited. Recent efforts to convert resources that were previously allocated to input subsidies towards investments in agricultural and rural infrastructure have not yet yielded the expected results.Overall, the results indicate little policy focus on value chain integration and commercialization. Market inefficiencies still persist as a source of price disincentives to farmers and a major constraint to agricultural development. Moreover, despite the recognition that a stable and predictable policy and price environment is crucial for economic growth, politically sensitive food security crops, like rice and maize, are still subject to discretionary market interventions by governments that tend to generate instability and unintended effects.

Improving policy coherence for food security and nutrition in South Africa: a qualitative policy analysis

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 09:23:41 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Food Security Journal analyses the coherence of food supply policy content with respect to nutrition and food security in South Africa. In the rise of the double burden of malnutrition, the supply-side policy interventions are a critical component of action. However, the food supply is governed by a number of different policy sectors, and policy incoherence can occur between government action to promote a healthy food supply and objectives for economic liberalization. Three coalitions of actors related to food security and nutrition in South Africa are identified: the Economic Growth coalition, the Food Security coalition and the Health coalition. The analysis indicates that the current reconsideration of economic policy agendas favouring liberalization in South Africa, including the termination of most bilateral investment treaties, may present an opportunity for increased recognition of food security and nutrition priorities in food supply policy making. A number of opportunities to strengthen policy coherence across the food supply for food security and nutrition are identified. Firstly, specific changes to economic policy relating to the food supply that achieve both food security/nutrition and economic objectives are needed. Furthermore, create links between producers and consumers through markets and fiscal incentives that make health and fresh foods more accessible and affordable. Formal avenues for engagement by civil society in nutrition and food security policy making should be increased. Finally, consideration of the nutritional quality of food supply in policy objectives across sectors should be increased, to create a framework for policy coherence across sectors relating to the food supply.

Land right as a critical factor in donor agricultural investments: Constraints and opportunities for YieldWise in Kenya’s mango value chain

F&BKP Office — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:24:16 +0000

This article (PDF) by Landesa provides an overview of the land tenure situation concerning Kenyan mango farmers. The two main issues raised are the risks born of the tenure insecure situations of women and youth. Because women and youth lack secure land and tree right, they are not able to fully engage in agricultural productivity and value chain enhancement projects. Women’s access to land may vary for instance based on marital status and family composition, which effects her ability to make decisions, confidence in long-term investments and ability to access credit. Youth likewise face constraints to engaging in agricultural interventions. Yet the youth are often the best candidates to uptake innovative new practices and support the long-term sustainability of interventions. Recommendation to engage women are to set guidelines for inclusion, enhance direct access of women to farmland through purchase or lease and increase efforts to ensure meaningful participation and benefit by women farmers through sensitization, training, and capacity building on women’s land rights. To engage youth, guidelines should be set as well. Youth should be assisted to purchase or lease-in land for farming outside of family land, expand youth engagement throughout the value chain and promote youth access to land and tree ownership through collaborative youth-oriented land rights advocacy and educational campaign. Another issue raised it that access to credit using land as collateral is not straightforward. It is recommended to work together with banks to design “alternative” lending products more suitable to smallholder farmers. Lending to groups of farmers could prove much safer then lending to individuals.

Reward food companies for improving nutrition

F&BKP Office — Mon, 28 May 2018 14:04:31 +0000

In this expert opinion in Nature, Lawerence Haddad – Executive Director of GAIN – argues that governments must provide incentives for businesses to fix the global food system, not just punish them for acting irresponsibly. It is a missed opportunity that private-sector businesses are not encouraged to do more good things for nutrition, according to Haddad. Businesses are main investors in the world’s food systems. Punitive policies and government guidelines on healthy eating are not enough to alter the food system. Giving incentives could make the main investors in the food system play a more positive part in improving nutrition. Public-private collaborations could improve nutrition in many ways, not just with the vast multinationals, but with national companies. With a mix of public- and private-sector technical and financial assistance, businesses in, e.g. horticulture and aquaculture could make their products more available, affordable, desirable and profitable. Haddad describes 5 steps to better food: 1) Support business that work with nutritious foods, for example with lower taxes or by creating financial instruments; 2) Government should take the lead in creating consumer demand for healthy food; 3) Create models to emulate. Government and business need evaluated examples of things they can do together that work; 4) Name and fame. A ranking scheme is needed to flag which governments and businesses are doing positive or harmful things for nutrition; and 5) Foster public–private engagement. More dialogue between people working on nutrition in the public and private sectors will catalyse all these other steps.

Aligning ARD and trade policies to improve sustainable development impact

F&BKP Office — Thu, 10 May 2018 13:30:51 +0000

This exploratory study (PDF) by ECDPM seeks to analyse the ongoing debate and cooperation between Agricultural and Rural Development (ARD) and trade, and aid for trade departments. Development partners are making efforts to strengthen coherence between their Trade and ARD policies and interventions. This is key to enhance synergies for sustainable development. It requires enhanced dialogue and cooperation between trade and ARD communities. The ARD and Trade community tend to agree on general objectives like food security and employment creation, but disagree on the ways to achieve them. This disagreement produces an ongoing debate: which trade is good for development and which is not? Under which conditions can investment have a positive impact? Even if some convergence is taking place, ARD for long focused mostly on the production and productivity side, while the trade community prioritized (external) markets and took the production side for granted. Suggestions are given for a more effective dialogue and cooperation. A practical approach is promoted, zooming in on the ARD and Trade nexus at the national, the inter-country and regional level. It helps putting into context different views and arguments, bringing together relevant actors. Once an overall objective is agreed, disputes over the different effects and expected outcomes of certain measures, regulations and agreements can be settled on the basis of concrete evidence. Only by moving away from a confrontational model, towards a true, pragmatic and concrete partnership between ARD and Trade communities, reaching the Sustainable Development Goals will be more effective.

Social protection, food security and asset formation

F&BKP Office — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:19:44 +0000

This article (PDF) in the World Development journal provides a meta-analysis on the impact of social protection, specifically its social assistance element, on household food security and asset formation. The meta-analysis finds that social protection programs improve both the quantity and quality of food consumed by beneficiaries. The magnitudes of these effect sizes are meaningful. The average social protection program increases the value of food consumed/expenditure by 13% and caloric acquisition by 8%. Food expenditure rises faster than caloric acquisition because households use transfers to improve the quality of their diet, most notably by increasing their consumption of calories from animal source foods. Since the consumption of animal source foods in these populations is low, and because there are significant nutritional benefits to increasing the consumption of these, this is a positive outcome. Also revealed is that social protection programs lead to increased asset holdings as measured by livestock, non-farm productive assets, farm productive assets, and savings. There is no impact on land holdings though the number of studies that assess these is small. These results lead to a number of policy implications. First, social protection interventions can contribute to global goals of ending hunger, but this impact diminishes as household food security (caloric intake) rises. Second, they can contribute to improving quality of diets. Third, the interventions appear to address the causes of poverty, and not simply its symptoms through their impact on asset holding. Sometimes it is claimed that the poor cannot be trusted to used transfers wisely, however, both the food security and asset results belie such views.

The bumpy road from food to nutrition security: Slow evolution of India’s food policy

F&BKP Office — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 09:15:23 +0000

This paper (PFD) in the Global Food Security journal provides a detailed review of the evolution of food policy in India and a way forward in the transition toward nutrition security. Due to the historic success of agricultural policy in ensuring adequate quantities of staples, the food security challenge has evolved towards enhancing food diversity to address malnutrition. However, agricultural policy is still biased towards improving staple productivity. Creating a “level policy playing field” that corrects this bias, would improve incentives for the diversification of production into non-staple foods. Promoting a diversified food system that improves the affordability of nutrient rich pulses, horticulture and livestock products ought to be a high priority for food policy. Enhancing farmers’ ability to diversify production systems requires public and private sector investment in transportation, storage, and market development. Moreover, investments are required to reduce transactions costs for smallholder integration into non-staple food markets. Furthermore, investments that can equip a diverse socioeconomic group of farmers to participate in relevant markets are essential, given the connection between market linkages, economic growth, and dietary diversity. Public policies aimed at creating an “enabling environment”, including encouraging private sector investment, leads to new market opportunities for farmers, thereby promoting diversification. Succeeded enabling environment may improve equity by including the rural poor who are less likely to have access to nonfarm employment in active markets and distribution chains. Policy and investments in market information technologies, product standardization, and food safety regulations can build consumer trust, identify new market demands, and provide meaningful opportunities for farmer response. Finally, food assistance programs need to move towards nutritional improvements, rather than focusing only on staple grain sufficiency as the desired outcome.

Global food policy report 2018

F&BKP Office — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 15:07:58 +0000

The global food policy report (PDF) of IFPRI is a reoccurring publication providing a synthesis of all major developments regarding food policy. The report begins with reviewing the major food policy issues, developments and decisions of 2017. Thereafter, the report presents a critical analysis on global food systems under current radical changes, thereby highlighting the themes: trade, investment, migration, knowledge and data, developed country policies, and global institutions, and how these are affecting food security and nutrition. A special focus throughout the report is on the impact of greater global integration and the threat of current antiglobalization pressure. Key findings concerning knowledge and data concern the fact that open data are critical for decision making from farm to retail level of food systems. Open data can improve food systems by increasing visibility and utility of research and allowing governments to make evidence-based policy decisions. However, inequality in data, and thus knowledge, accessibility are increasing. Therefore, commitment to open data and, more importantly, to action are needed from governments and international institutions.

Governance issues have become increasingly complex due to food and agricultural systems becoming increasingly globalized. The rapid pace of this globalization demands food systems to be able to innovate and adapt, which requires better coordination and integration of science into policy. Furthermore, inadequate responses to food crises reveal the need to strengthen global planning and coordination of policy on the food and agricultural system. Recommended is to redesign the global institutional architecture, which could create a governing platform to provide oversight for stakeholders. The platform could ensure the coordination needed to achieve the SDGs. An international panel comprising the global scientific community could complement the platform by supporting policy making based on scientific evidence.

In addition the report provides insights in food security development around the globe on regional level.

A synopsis of the report (PDF) as well as a supporting video (link) are also available.

The impact of remittances on household food security: A micro perspective from Tigray, Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 14:37:46 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by UNU-WIDER examines the impact of remittances on farm household’s food security status, using a sample of 301 farm households from two livelihood zones of the Tigray Regional State of Ethiopia. To investigate the impact of remittances, different indicators were used to measure food security : the coping strategy index (CSI) and the reduced coping strategy index (rCSI) tend to capture the element of quantity or sufficiency, the household food security access scale (HFIAS) captures a mix of sufficiency and physiological factors. Descriptive analysis indicates that remittance-receiving households are better of in terms of mean total CIS ,rCSI and HFIAS compared to non-receiving households. Results also show that remittances exert a positive and statistically significant effect on household food security indicators i.e. households with access to remittance have lower CSI, rCSI and HFIAS as compared to households without remittance income. So, the findings of the study suggest that remittances lower the frequency and severity of coping strategies. Furthermore, households with remittance have: 1) lower anxiety about not being able to procure sufficient food; 2) higher ability to secure adequate quality food; and 3) lower experience of insufficient quantity of food intake than those without remittance. These findings are generally consistent with the widely held view that remittance provides food security and poverty alleviation in rural areas of developing countries. Two policy recommendations have come out of this. First, the positive impact of remittance makes it imperative to include migration and remittances as important components of food security programs and food security policies in developing countries, such as Ethiopia. Second, governments should go beyond just food production measure, and include measures that help in generating adequate levels of effective demand via income growth or transfers policies.

What drives political commitment for nutrition? A review and framework synthesis to inform the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition

F&BKP Office — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 10:14:09 +0000

This article (PDF) in the BMJ Global Health journal examines what factors generate, sustain and constrain political commitment for nutrition, how and under what circumstances, to inform strategic ‘commitment-building’ actions. Overall, 18 factors were identified and organised into five categories: actors; institutions; political and societal contexts; knowledge, evidence and framing; and capacities and resources. Concerning knowledge, evidence and framing; credible indicators and data systems is critical to enabling commitment by informing problem identification. Further, evidence demonstrating the causes and consequences of malnutrition and the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of interventions in another factor. When the evidence was communicated via knowledge-brokers, it was more likely that effective advocacy and policy activities were supported. Processes driving commitment are multifactorial, dynamic and strongly context-dependent. Furthermore, commitment can be created and strengthened over time through strategic action. Many of the drivers of political commitment are similar irrespective of country-context or nutrition issue, but with some notable exception. Thus, effective commitment-building strategies are likely to involve a set of core actions with some context-dependent adaptation. The main core action is sustained commitment-building actions by cohesive, responsive and strongly led nutrition actor networks (NANs). Accelerating the development of these networks should be a core task for all actors involved. NANs should aim to enroll the support of political leaders, administrative elites and mobilise civil society coalitions. To sustain commitment, they must establish empowered institutions, develop organisational and strategic capacities, generate commitment among implementation partners at all levels and mobilise financial resources.

The impact of the homestead food garden programme on food security in South Africa

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 16:52:17 +0000

This paper in the journal Food Security evaluates the impact of the homestead food garden (HFG) programmes, implemented by the South African government and directed at enhancing food production in order to reduce food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty and hunger. The findings demonstrated that participation in an HFG programme could significantly enhance the food security status of participants by increasing household food supply and consumption as well as by income derived from selling any excess production from the garden. Specifically, the empirical findings showed that participation in the HFG programme significantly reduced food insecurity among rural households by as much as 41.5%. Therefore, the authors recommend that policy makers should encourage more rural households to participate in the programme in order to reduce their food insecurity. Facilitating easy access to credit, extension services, fertilizer, irrigation facilities and land are policy options needed to promote farmers participation in HFG programmes. Furthermore, the formation of farmer-based organizations and the building of positive perceptions about HFGs are some of the key policy options that can be employed to improve households’ participation in the programme. Promotion of education, participating in off-farm activities, access to market, irrigation, extension and credit, and adoption of fertilizer are some policy interventions that can reduce food insecurity among rural house holds whether or not they participate in the HFG programme.

From aid to trade: Enhancing effective & proactive partnerships in food value chain

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 14:27:53 +0000

This output report (PDF) documents the Food Security Partners’ Day themed “From Aid to Trade: Enhancing Effective and Proactive Partnerships in Food Production Value Chain”, which was organized on 24th October 2017 by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Nairobi. The topics covered were inclusivity and scalability. The ambition with the Aid to Trade agenda is that the Embassy will cease to directly manage development projects and focus on strengthening trade relations with Kenya. To sum up the day, seven key success factors of inclusivity and scalability were identified; 1) Inclusivity and scalability initiatives need solid and diverse partnerships from the design to implementation. 2) For change to happen in the value chains, all stakeholders must be able to benefit (financially or otherwise). 3) Innovation in the sector does not come free, hence the need for subsidy for the bottom of the pyramid. 4) There is need to fix the disconnect that exists in the various components and actors of the value chain as has been successfully implemented in countries such as the Netherlands through the Dutch Growth Diamond. 5) Self-regulation by farmers is important to ensure reinforcement of quality and standards. 6) Clustering of farmers, services and initiatives is important for scale. 7) In the design of projects, starting with the business perspective and then developing it further in the spirit of Aid to Trade is sustainable.

EU policies and global food security

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 13:01:24 +0000

This paper in the journal Global Food Security reviews evidence on the impact of EU policies on global food security, focusing on several EU policy areas: agriculture, bioenergy, food standards, trade, and development (food aid). Old concerns were related to the detrimental impact of EU farm subsidies, food aid and tariffs on poor countries’ food security. New concerns relate to impacts of EU food standards and bioenergy policies. The EU policies which created the largest distortions on global markets have been substantially reformed over the past decades. Overall, the review explains that in many areas the impact of EU policies on global food security is less obvious and more complex than often argued. That said, there are still causes for concern. First, when the EU adjusts its tariffs downwards to protect its livestock producers in case of high feedstock prices, it contributes to rising world prices and price fluctuations. Second, while the EU biofuel policy may enhance income and reduce malnutrition, there remains concern about the impact of the expansion of palm plantations. Third, EU food standards have a major impact on trade and global value chains. At the same time they create obstacles and opportunities for developing countries to benefit from access to EU consumer markets. It is necessary that local actions be considered with their global impact. For that purpose, economic modeling of EU agricultural, environmental and trade policies is required in order to complement traditional sustainability impact assessments by assessment of global economic effects. The working paper can be found here.

Food from the oceans

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 13:17:24 +0000

This report (PDF) by the High Level Group of the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) gives scientific advice on how more food and biomass can be obtained from the oceans in a way that does not deprive future generations of their benefits. The advice centers on five sets of recommendations. The first calls for mainstreaming a “food from the ocean” paradigm based on responsible culture and capture, into a broad food systems policy framework, as well as into other relevant EU and global systems-level policy agendas. Reflecting the fact that scientific evidence points to mariculture (marine aquaculture) as having the biggest potential to increase food from the ocean, the second set pertains to the development of mariculture globally. As far as Europe’s part in this is concerned, this would require raising the strategic priority of mariculture and bringing all available means to bear on facilitating its development. The importance of the continued development of responsible fisheries management and maintaining marine ecosystems is reflected in a set of recommendations aimed at sustaining wild-capture. A fourth set aims at facilitating policy change by optimizing the use of instruments such as the Open Method of Coordination as well as the forthcoming Blue Bioeconomy Forum. The final set targets future-proofing policy by recommending further development of the Common Fisheries Policy science advice system and actions to fill key knowledge gaps such as scientifically-motivated pilot fishing of as-yet unexploited lower trophic-level species.

Sowing the seeds of peace for food security: Disentangling the nexus between conflict, food security and peace

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 13:15:06 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) tries to gain a deep insight into the nature of the presumed relationships between conflict, food security and peace. It was developed to provide background analysis for the purposes of the thematic part of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017. The nature of conflict has changed, and this matters for food security. By far, most of today’s conflicts take the form of intrastate civil wars (with or without state involvement), with consequences that spill over borders as they disrupt livelihoods and force people to flee. Today’s conflicts also have a more localized nature, which implies that the impacts on food security and nutrition also tend to be more localized. Without peace, the dream of a world without hunger may prove elusive. While each context presents its own challenges, in all conflict-ridden contexts it is fundamental to follow conflict-sensitive, rights-based and gender-sensitive approaches, guided by sufficient conflict analysis, in order to improve food security and nutrition. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the importance of peace for food security, and of improving food security as a means to prevent conflict. Pursuing these goals is not easy in practice, especially in conflict-ridden contexts. It requires concerted efforts by many stakeholders across many areas of intervention

Ending rural hunger: highlighting the particular food and nutrition security challenges faced by African nations

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 15:21:38 +0000

This blog series by the Brookings Institution highlights the particular food and nutrition security (FNS) challenges faced by African nations, policies in place and recommendations to improve the country strategy towards hunger eradication. This is done through six case studies in the Global Ending Rural Hunger project. Given the nutritional gaps in Senegal, efforts should focus especially on fighting anemia and reducing the high prevalence of underweight children. The government must redesign its FNS policies and better target its beneficiaries to increase efficiency. Two policy areas where attention is needed are: 1) increasing agricultural productivity through reallocating resources towards more targeted investments in infrastructure, research, and human capital, and 2) reducing the high volatility of food production and vulnerability to environmental shocks. Uganda made progress toward improving its FNS status. However, inequalities still exist with respect to type of residence (rural-urban), geographic location, and gender. Uganda should address three areas: 1) stimulate improved agricultural productivity through increased access to productivity-enhancing inputs, 2) design and implement interventions that foster resilience in households and communities to income and consumption shocks, and 3) develop strategies for building a sustainable resource base to finance FNS interventions. While Ghana performs better than the African average on undernourishment, stunting, and wasting, concentrated pockets of these still exist in Northern Ghana. Ghana faces a new challenge: it must find innovative sources of finance to help support FNS programs as becoming a LMIC decreases its access to donor-funded programs. Additionally attention should be payed to managing phasing out while sustaining previously obtained gains.

The other blogs in this series cover case studies of Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia (not published yet).

Donor open data policy and practice: An analysis of five agriculture programmes

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 13:57:30 +0000

This report (PDF) by Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN) shows results of a review of policy and data quality in five jointly funded agriculture programs in order to identify the opportunities for agriculture donors to align their approaches. This research was commissioned by a group of donors to understand the opportunities for donors to make open data implementation more efficient and streamlined for their implementing research partners. As a first step, donors should share existing tools and data standards that support good open data practice. The second key area where donors can make a difference is around shared commitments towards shifting
the culture of data sharing, publication and use across the agriculture sector. Therefore the donors are called upon to: 1) Join a global funder dialogue with other donors, researchers, and research institutions. 2) Support and adopt common policy principles. 3) Share approaches towards dealing with ethical considerations. 4) Promote good open data practice among those receiving funding by regularly monitoring compliance and articulating clear expectations regarding budget allocations to ensure open data. 5) Increase engagement and introduce practical projects to promote data reuse and innovation. 6) Collect data use stories to demonstrate value and impacts of research data. 7) Support the capacity of implementing research partners to improve data availability, accessibility, discoverability and quality. 8) Adopt shared guidelines, tools and templates aimed at reducing the time and cost of policy compliance. 9) Incentivize researchers to publish by rewarding good quality data production. 10) Sustainably resource data publication and management.

Large-scale food fortification: An overview of trends and challenges in low- and middle-income countries in 2017

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 14:07:14 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Micronutrient Forum provides an overview of the state of large-scale food fortification in the world. It has an emphasis on gaps and challenges to the scaling-up of the fortification of staple foods to populations that would benefit. Fortification of staples adds to the nutrient intakes of nearly everyone in a population and remains a critical and necessarily ongoing public health nutrition intervention in all countries. Currently, 86 countries have legislation to mandate fortification of at least one industrially milled fortified grain (85 countries plus the Punjab for wheat flour; 16 for maize; 6 for rice). Whereas 84 countries mandate both iron and folic acid, Australia does not include iron and five countries do not include folic acid. Such programs have resulted in the fortification of 30% of the world’s industrially-milled wheat flour, 48% of maize flour and 1% of rice. Five critical areas of action are: 1) Modest but new investment is essential. 2) A major effort is needed to improve oversight and enforcement of food fortification standards and regulations; poor compliance with laws and regulations limits potential for impact and undermines effectiveness. 3) More evidence must be generated to guide fortification policy and program design, to continually improve programs and demonstrate impact. 4) Progress requires more transparent accountability and global reporting. The authors support the call for a global observatory or annual report of the state of fortification. 5) Continuing advocacy is a high priority for all stakeholders such as the SUN movement and African Union to advocate for greater attention by governments.

Global food security index 2017: Measuring food security and the impact of resource risks

Ati van der Honing — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 15:19:49 +0000

This report (PDF) by The Economist provides a worldwide perspective on which countries are most and least vulnerable to food insecurity and how resource risks increase vulnerability. Given the growing threats to food security posed by climate change and natural resource depletion, the 2017 iteration of the index includes a new category that seeks to understand the impact that these risks will have on global food security. More specifically, the category looks at a country’s exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to climate-related risks and the risks facing a country’s key natural assets. The category was built into the index as an adjustment factor to demonstrate how overall food security changes when climate-related and natural resource risks are taken into account. The Global Food Security Index (GFSI) has recorded a slippage in global food security over the past year, after four years of consecutive food security gains. The report shows that national nutrition monitoring provides an avenue for governments to assess and address malnutrition problems across populations. Economic recovery and double digit growth in personal incomes across lower- and middle-income countries are helping with food affordability, but more efficient and innovative food production and sustainable supply chains are needed to support shifting food preferences and growing demand. Disaster and crisis related hunger will continue to increase populations’ dependency on food safety net programs unless emphasis is placed on adaptation and building resilience.

Please find the Global Food Security Index 2016 here.

Nourishing diversity: A five-point plan to enrich our food systems

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 14:00:51 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by Hivos and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) provides an overview of why agricultural biodiversity and dietary diversity are important and what can be done to foster them. Maintaining agricultural biodiversity is vital for food security and nutrition, and to cope with the challenge of climate change. Recommendations include reorienting food and agricultural policies; using markets to support diversity in production and consumption; promoting local crop varieties, animal breeds and under-utilized crops; nurturing biocultural heritage and traditional knowledge; and increasing awareness and catalyzing change through innovative multi-stakeholder platforms like food labs. Reviving and maintaining diversity on the farm and on the plate requires action on multiple fronts and at multiple scales. At a macro level, promoting diversity entails a gradual but definitive shift from industrial agriculture (relying on monocultures and an unsustainably small number of crops, crop varieties and animal breeds) to diversified sustainable farming systems. At a national and local scale, it entails raising awareness and stimulating demand for diverse and healthy foods, as markets for diverse crops and animal products need to be supported and expanded. Multi-stakeholder approaches can help to achieve all of these ends, particularly by using and building upon citizen’s knowledge and practices to re-shape food systems.

Related to this is their short film “Life beyond maize”, which highlights the need for more diversification in Zambian food production as well as consumption.

Robust policy needed to counter growing inequality and malnutrition across the globe

Nynke — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 15:21:07 +0000

This article by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) argues that governments must formulate sharper and more robust policy to counter inequality and climate change and to ensure global food supply into the future. From the knowledge gathered during a large-scale research program the FOODSECURE Navigator was created. This online toolbox deciphers the indicators and causes of food insecurity and demonstrates how policies can influence this complex dynamic. Policymakers can use FOODSECURE to learn which policy areas require action to get to a desired situation or development path. Additionally, four future scenarios were developed of potential global developments until 2050, for which inequality and sustainability form the framework. This demonstrates that failure to act is likely to lead to increased inequality, malnutrition and instability caused by worsening climate issues. Therefore more forceful policy must be introduced to counter climate change and inequality. There needs to be more guidance, not only from a government level, but also companies and consumers can influence the route we take. In the current situation many policy areas with various aims threaten to compromise each other and lead to trade-offs. However, ensuring synergy between policy measures is no easy task. A recommendation from the research is to strengthen the exchange between science and politics by establishing a new intergovernmental panel on food and nutrition security. Another recommendation is to ensure the EU focuses more on the health factor in aid for food security, and to effectively evaluate the results.

The human factor in development cooperation: An effective way to deal with unintended effects

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 14:45:08 +0000

This article by Melle Leenstra in the journal Evaluation and Program Planning argues that following the human stories in development policy and implementation can offer surprising insights into why at times policies may work or not work. Development policy and implementation are a human endeavor. Too often, however, the human factor is relegated to an input or an externality in a quasi-technical process for transforming public funds into measurable results. Within the Weberian rational-legal order, policies and bureaucracies are impersonal and objective. Policy objectives tend to get depersonalized and the human stories get filtered out of impact evaluations. The article explores how the idiosyncrasies of individuals’ agency impacts on achievement of policy outcomes and what the unintended effects are. Additionally, it focuses in part on development intermediaries, and explore the broader impact that they may have in the long term to societal transformation. Several brief case descriptions, which show unintended outcomes are highlighted. The author describes how the human factor can give rise to beneficial unplanned, unforeseeable, and thus unintended policy outcomes. Leenstra argues that, instead of negating this, policy makers ought to embrace the human factor of development cooperation.

Nourished: How Africa can build a future free from hunger and malnutrition

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 13:42:57 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Malabo Montpellier Panel identifies interventions that work and recommends options for policies and programs to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in all its forms. African governments can successfully reduce malnutrition, as illustrated by the seven case studies presented in this report. These countries have all been able to carry out successful interventions at the political, institutional, and programmatic level. What is required are policies and interventions that go beyond just increasing agricultural production to making actual improvements in the provision and quality of diets, leveraging the potential of the agriculture sector, and in other rural services such as health, water, sanitation, and hygiene. Only then will it be possible to deliver on the African Union’s aspiration of “a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development” and, in particular, its Malabo Declaration commitment on nutrition. Much progress has been made across the continent, but climate change and protracted crises, coupled with urbanization and a growing double burden of obesity and undernutrition, are threatening to undermine these achievements. Concerted efforts for peace and security are a precondition for nutritional improvement in parts of Africa. There is now a window of opportunity with renewed interest of governments and development partners in nutrition to help deliver on national, continental, and international obligations and targets. Nutrition needs to be prioritized and be at the heart of all efforts.

Food transitions 2030

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 13:57:25 +0000

This policy document (PDF), by Wageningen University and Research (WUR), provides a vision on the required transition from the current unsustainable food system to a healthy, circular and resource-efficient paradigm. This is a hugely complex transition since the multiple aspects of food production and consumption are closely interconnected and changing one aspect can easily have major unintended consequences. Therefore an integrated vision is proposed characterized by four objectives, which are to be pursued through eight scientific approaches combined within a matrix, always aiming for societal acceptance and citizen appreciation. The four challenges that need to be solved to secure a sustainable, high-quality food production system are: 1) nutrition for sustainable and healthy diets, 2) climate smart and environmentally sustainable food systems, 3) circularity and resource efficiency of food systems and 4) innovation and empowerment of communities. There are eight developments in modern science that are particularly relevant to addressing the objectives: Smart animal and plant breeding; next-level agriculture; blue growth; protein transitions; innovations in post-harvest food production and processing; digital societies; food practice; and public and global one health and well-being. More than ever, agriculture and food cannot be perceived as isolated sectors that require separate policies. Only a large-scale cooperation between private partners, knowledge partners, consumer organisations, NGOs, investors and governments can generate the momentum required to shift the paradigms and develop components of the system to new states.

Policy support for sustainable crop intensification in Eastern Africa

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 13:25:50 +0000

This article in the Journal of Rural Studies looks at the level of policy support for Sustainable Crop Intensification (SCI) in Eastern Africa. Designing and implementing policies that address the bottlenecks to SCI interventions is pertinent to address low crop productivity. However, little attention is geared towards analyzing the existing policies and examining their provision in addressing the key challenges. Therefore, this analysis of policy documents and perception of key policy actors in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda was performed. Results indicate that lack of incentives to invest in SCI, and poor capacity of agricultural extension system in technology development and dissemination constrain implementation of policies supporting SCI. Additionally, mistrust among policy actors over ‘hidden’ interest of international donors in Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and failure to have open discussion to clarify the involvement of multinational companies in regional trade hamper the implementation. Policies lack emphasis on protecting farmers rights’ over land tenure and local varieties, posing a challenge to policy harmonization and regional trade. Therefore, developing incentive mechanisms for SCI, and strengthening the capacity of agricultural extension system to meet the requirements of SCI are needed. Encouraging public dialogue on GMOs could enhance the acceptability of the policies supporting SCI. Strengthening farmer groups at different levels could also play an important role in protecting farmers’ rights in regional trade.

Forestry for food security and nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 12:57:50 +0000

This position paper (PDF) by the International Agri-Food Network provides policy recommendations to safeguard and improve the contributions of the forestry sector to food security and nutrition. Despite the value of forests for food security and nutrition, the relative neglect of the forestry sector compared with other forms of agriculture by policymakers, means that the potential for the sector to play a greater role in securing the food security of a growing population remains great. One of the first challenges the sector must overcome to realize that potential is therefore to raise awareness of it among policymakers. There is a need to invest in forestry research. Establishing and promoting best practices with regards to forestry and agroforestry will depend upon the availability of a solid knowledge base. The next recommendation is to improve provision of technical support and training. It is important that science-based technical support and extension services are available to those working in this sector, particularly smallholders and other vulnerable groups. Moreover, financial support and access to markets for forestry products should be improved. Additionally, tensions and trade-offs with regards to resource use, including land and water use, should be addressed. This could for example be achieved by providing training on agro-forestry and crop-livestock-forestry integration. Lastly, forestry sustainability programs could be integrated into food security and nutrition frameworks.

Agricultural transformation in Africa? Assessing the evidence in Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 12:07:36 +0000

This article in the journal World Development explores the rapid change in the agriculture sector of Ethiopia during 2004-14. Despite significant efforts, Africa has struggled to imitate the rapid agricultural growth that took place in Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. As a rare but important exception, Ethiopia’s agriculture sector recorded remarkable rapid growth during 2004–14. The evidence on agricultural growth is reviewed and the contributions of modern inputs to growth decomposed using an adjusted Solow decomposition model. The authors highlight the key pathways Ethiopia followed to achieve its agricultural growth. Results show that land and labor use expanded significantly and total factor productivity grew by about 2.3% per year over the study period. Moreover, modern input use more than doubled, explaining some of this growth. The expansion in modern input use appears to have been driven by high government expenditures on the agriculture sector, including agricultural extension, but also by an improved road network, higher rural education levels, and favorable international and local price incentives.

The policy landscape for infant and young child feeding in South Asia

F&BKP Office — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 14:45:49 +0000

This edition of BMC Public Health in cooperation with the South Asian Infant Feeding Research Network (SAIFRN) focuses on how an improved policy landscape can improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in South Asia. Enabling policy environments for nutrition requires evidence to support best practice and engagement with political and policy contexts, as well as leadership, resourcing, advocacy, and technical support. However, research on nutrition policy contexts is limited. The papers in this special edition makes a valuable contribution to understanding the policy landscape and political dynamics in the region and the global literature. Studies included analyze policy content and stakeholder influence on IYCF in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and assess the role of advocacy in addressing multiple elements of the policy environment. These analyses highlight opportunities to harmonize and manage the demands and interests of multiple actors while strengthening policy to strategically support optimal IYCF as the ultimate goal. They also provide robust examples of research on policy environments and policy change. Further investments in research on policy contexts for nutrition can help to understand and support continued progress towards improved actions for nutrition.

Making governance work for water–energy–food nexus approaches

Nynke — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 09:07:01 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) elaborates on the importance and challenges regarding governance for water-energy-food nexus approaches. The concept of the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has become widely used to help understand interdependencies among the three systems, and how they can be managed sustainably to meet growing demand. However, governance in the WEF nexus has not received much attention in the literature, particularly the institutions and politics governing the WEF sectors. This paper synthesises findings from CDKN-supported research that has sought to improve understanding of how governance affects the effectiveness of nexus approaches – that is, approaches that understand the links between sectors, recognize these in decision-making and promote integrated policy-making. The paper draws from findings in Indonesia and Kenya to show that the effectiveness of the horizontal (cross-sectoral) and vertical (between levels of government) coordination that is essential for a nexus approach is determined by institutional relationships, which can be influenced by political economy factors. The capacity of governing organisations to understand nexus links and to collaborate with each other is also critical. The paper suggests that aiming for the ideal of comprehensiveness and integration in a nexus approach may be costly and impractical. Nevertheless, horizontal and vertical coordination are essential. Local-level decision-making will determine how trade-offs and synergies in the WEF nexus are implemented. The capacities of local government organisations and decision-makers need to be strengthened to enhance their capacity to adopt nexus approaches and coordinate vertically.

Agronomy for development: The politics of knowledge in agricultural research

F&BKP Office — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 07:41:11 +0000

This book published by Routledge and edited by James Sumberg, analyzes the knowledge politics of agronomy and sheds new lights on current debates about agricultural development and food security. Over the last decade there has been renewed interest in food security and the state of the global food system. Population growth, climate change and food price spikes have combined to focus new attention on the technologies and institutions that underpin the production and consumption of food that is varied, nutritious and safe. Knowledge politics within development-oriented agronomy set the stage for some models of agricultural development to be favored over others, with very real implications for the food security and well-being of many millions of people. Using bio-physical and social sciences perspectives to address the political economy of the production and use of knowledge in development, this edited collection reflects on the changing politics of knowledge within the field of agronomy and the ways in which these politics feed and reflect the interests of a broad set of actors.

The power of multi-sectoral governance to address malnutrition

Nynke — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 08:12:21 +0000

This technical brief (PDF) from SNV, Center of Development Innovation of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), shares learning on the importance of multi-sectoral governance to address malnutrition and scale-up projects. The brief presents results from the Sustainable Nutrition for All (SN4A) model in Uganda and Zambia. This new and innovative model aims to empower communities to reduce the causes of malnutrition themselves and ensure dietary diversity and overall nutrition goals are improved. Communities are supported to understand what they can do to improve the situation and formulate their own locally available solutions.To ensure sustainability and scalability of the approach, SN4A works with local and district level authorities, building their capacity to plan and implement nutrition sensitive strategies. A central pillar of the programme is to support the national, multi-sectoral policies by developing and strengthening district and sub-district nutrition coordination committees. Experiences and learning from this pillar show the need for capacity building at district and sub-district level, the need for district level nutrition plans, and strong leadership. Challenges identified were coverage of nutrition services, limited non-donor finance for implementer of nutrition activities, and limited involvement of financial officers and departments, and limited data availability and collection.

This is the first in a series of policy and technical briefs from SN4A.

Social Games: An innovative way of engaging with sustainable diets research

Nynke — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 14:53:03 +0000

This case study report (PDF) from ANH Academy Working Group on Sustainable Diets elaborates on a novel method, e.g. the “Diet Dimensions” policy game, to engage researchers, policymakers and key stakeholders to generate and inform policies for healthier and more sustainable food systems and diets. The game is a new way of interacting with sustainable diets research. Current food systems are unsustainable. At the same time, the world’s population has been rapidly growing over the past decades, and, consequently, food systems face massive, multi-dimensional challenges that require systematic and coordinated global efforts. Sustainable diets research presents an opportunity to address these challenges by bringing together multiple sectors, disciplines and expertise to guide the development of local, national, regional and global policies. The game facilitates this and also ensures critically engagement with issues such as measurement and implementation. The case study report provides an introduction to the social game that can help illustrate key issues and challenges around sustainable food systems. Live multi-player games can also be a great way for participants to make new connections across institutions and disciplines. Thus the game is seen as an effective tool for encouraging people from various backgrounds to talk, interact and brainstorm projects to improve food system sustainability and provides a novel way of exploring different strategies and their complex impacts.

Agriculture, food systems, diets and nutrition in Zambia

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 11:43:46 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by Hivos and IIED describes the potential of agriculture and food systems in Zambia to contribute to improving food and nutrition security. Zambian agricultural production is focused on maize. Maize also makes up the major part of the national diet, while nutrient-rich foods are eaten in small quantities. Many Zambians live with food insecurity and malnutrition as a result of poor diets. National nutrition and agricultural policy in Zambia recognizes the need to increase and diversify the production of nutritious foods to tackle hunger and improve diets. However, in practice, most government agricultural funding is still spent promoting maize production, despite repeated findings that this does not reduce food insecurity in the most vulnerable farming households. There are strong arguments for improving diversity in both food production and consumption, with multiple routes to achieve this at different scales and timescales. Recommendations include investments in research and development, agricultural extension and seed system services; improving diet and nutrition considerations in existing food security programmes, and making sure they target those households most vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition; increasing consumer demand for diverse nutritious foods; and collecting data on Zambian diets and food procurement strategies to better frame future responses.

This paper is produced in the project on Sustainable diets for all, aiming to promote diverse, greener, healthier, fairer and more sustainable diets through citizen action.

From coherence towards commitment: Changes and challenges in Zambia’s nutrition policy environment

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 13:48:17 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Global Food Security Journal investigates changes in nutrition policy and action over time in Zambia. An enabling environment for malnutrition reduction includes creating policy and political momentum, and converting momentum to implementation and impact. There now exists coherent policy covering key nutrition issues from several sectors, and multisectoral coordination structures at national level and in pilot districts. However, converting momentum into action faces challenges of limited national political and funding commitment, with increased donor resources currently bridging the gap, and reach into communities is still limited. Another article (PDF) of this edition of the Global Food Security journal describes more positive experiences in setting-up national nutrition policy and programs in Senegal. In the past 15 years, Senegal has made considerable progress in the fight against child undernutrition. The article explores the commitment of actors and coherence between and within sectors. This was linked to changes in nutrition services experienced by communities. The key theme that emerged was the critical role of increased political commitment, materialized and maintained by a high-level national coordinating body for nutrition. The body actively facilitates multisectoral coherence in action for nutrition, overseeing the implementation of a national nutrition program, the effects of which are seen at the community level.

Agriculture and rural development in a globalizing world: Challenges and opportunities

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 18 May 2017 07:35:51 +0000

This book published by Routledge addresses the challenges of reorienting agriculture and rural development in an environment of rapid structural transformation, globalization and urbanization. It provides a comprehensive review and assessment of the multi-faceted nature of agriculture and rural development, particularly in the developing world. The book is designed around five thematic parts. The first theme, Agricultural Intensification and Technical Change, examines reasons for low adoption of modern productivity-enhancing inputs in Africa; the relation between farm size and productivity; the options for enabling smallholders to gain access to yet unexploited lands; and the efficiency of subsistence farmers. This is followed by the part focusing on agricultural policies and investments, and how they are related to observed patterns of agricultural and economic development. This includes chapters on sectoral structure of African economies; the predictions and policy relevance of agricultural evolution theory; policies on land tenure and land markets; food price policies; and institutional constraints with respect to technology research, development and dissemination. The third part discusses community and rural institutions, like index-based insurance; voluntary water trading; and community-driven development approach. In addition, the linkages between agriculture, health and nutrition are discussed with an example of India. The last part of the book discusses the developmental impact and future prospects of two global institutions: CGIAR and the World Bank.

Reaping richer returns: Public spending priorities for African agriculture productivity growth

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 09 May 2017 10:12:18 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the World Bank explores how effective, efficient and climate resilient public spending in and for agriculture can be the foundation for transformation and reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan African countries. According to the authors enhancing the productivity of agriculture is vital for Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic future and is one of the most important tools to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in the region. How governments elect to spend public resources has significant development impact in this regard. According to the study, the challenge is not only that agricultural public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind other developing regions but its impact is made ineffective by programs and transfers that tend to benefit the better off, with insignificant gains for agriculture, or for the poor. Improvements in the policy environment, better institutions, and investments in rural public goods positively affect agricultural productivity. These, combined with smarter use of public funds, have helped lay the foundations for agricultural productivity growth around the world, resulting in a wealth of important lessons from which African policy makers and development practitioners can draw. The study recommends areas where African governments can prioritize spending to reap richer returns, including implementing smart subsidies, boosting spending on research and development and eliminating barriers that impede rapid uptake of new technologies, and investing in market access and land governance. In addition to increased financial support for the agricultural sector, to maximize impact governments should ensure that public spending is combined with efficient implementation.

Study on small-scale family farming in the Near East and North Africa region.

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 12:58:50 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), and The Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM-IAMM) provides an overview of a study conducted in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region in 2015-2016 focusing on the features and characteristics of small-scale family farming. In the six countries under review (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan and Tunisia) agriculture is carried out primarily by small-scale family farmers. The majority of whom run the risk of falling into the poverty trap largely due to the continuous fragmentation of inherited landholdings. Defining policies to support small-scale family farming by fighting poverty in agricultural households cannot be reduced to intensifying farming or stock-breeding practices. Policies should also focus on: (i) access to resources; (ii) sector organization, in order for a substantial portion of added value to remain with the small-farmers; (iii) collective organization of small-scale family farmers through cooperatives, informal groups and the like, to enable them to access economies of scale for some of their activities and to participate in social and political dialogue. Such policies should also be diversified to include social policies, support for value systems like gender equality and regional development policies. Effective targeting of these area-specific policies requires better information collection on the diversity of small-scale family farms, their sources of income, their performance and the strategies they develop.

Understanding recent challenges and new food policy in China

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 07:33:57 +0000

This article in the Global Food Security Journal reviews China’s agricultural and food policy with specific focus on recent challenges, initial policy responses and their consequences, and re-adjusting policies. Despite remarkable achievements in the past, China is facing several major challenges, in particular on ensuring sustainable agricultural growth, improving food security, and increasing farmers’ income. The results show that the policy responses to the challenges of sustainable agriculture are strong and encouraging. Adjusting the national food security target in response to sustainable agriculture and major efforts to improve food security are significant. To increase farmer’s income, China shifted its policy regime from taxing to subsidizing and protecting agriculture. Even though these price interventions increased farmers’ income, they also resulted in several serious problems. One negative effect of the interventions together with the falling international prices was the increased price gaps of major agricultural commodities between China and international markets. This increased imports of agricultural products, resulting in massive rise of government grain stock. Good news is that some new efforts to solve these problems, like efforts to separate income support from maize pricing policy and the target price policy, may bring China’s market reform back to the right track though they still need to be evaluated. The paper concludes that China’s experiences are useful lessons not only for China’s way forward to its agricultural and food policy, but also to many developing countries.

The water-energy-food nexus: Is the increasing attention warranted, from either a research or policy perspective?

Nynke — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 12:22:20 +0000

This article in Environmental Science & Policy criticizes the water-energy-food nexus as a new or innovative concept and argues enhancing research integration and achieving policy coherence is not always optimal. In recent years, the notion of a nexus involving water, energy, and food has been gaining attention in the scholarly literature and popular press, partly due to the increasing interest among researchers and public officials in determining the investments and policies needed to achieve and sustain water, energy, and food security. While the notion of such a nexus is compelling to some observers, interactions involving water, energy, and food have been known and studied for many years by scientists and policy analysts. The conceptual basis for including water, energy, and food in the “nexus,” to the exclusion of other resources and inputs is not evident. In many cases, the information excluded from studies claiming to implement a nexus approach might be of greater importance to science and policy than the information included in the analysis. This paper reviews earlier attempts to enhance integration and policy coherence, and to promote systems analysis. The challenges observed in implementing programs of integrated natural resources management and integrated water resources management, in particular, suggest that efforts to implement a water-energy-food nexus approach will not enhance the policy process in all settings. In sum, it is not clear that the increasing attention given to studies claiming to implement a nexus approach is warranted.

Nutrition and economic development: Exploring Egypt’s exceptionalism and the role of food subsidies

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 07:59:54 +0000

This book (PDF) by IFPRI examines the two nutritional challenges which Egypt faces in depth and their relationship to public policy. The first challenge is the “growth-nutrition disconnect.” High economic growth has not been accompanied by reduction in chronic child malnutrition. Instead, the prevalence of child stunting increased during this decade—an atypical trend for a country outside wartime. The second challenge is the simultaneous presence of chronic undernutrition and overnutrition. This “double burden of malnutrition” exists not only at the national level but also within families and even individual children. Both challenges are exceptionally pronounced in Egypt compared to other developing countries. The authors examine four key drivers of Egypt’s two nutritional challenges. These, working in combination, are (1) the nutrition transition, (2) economic crises and rising poverty, (3) insufficient nutrition-sensitive investment, and (4) the food subsidy system. Their main hypothesis is that Egypt’s large food subsidy system (as in place until May 2014) has been ineffective in reducing child and maternal undernutrition. In fact, this system may have contributed to sustaining and even aggravating both nutritional challenges. The findings of this book consistently suggest that—in addition to the economic rationale for reforming the Egyptian food subsidy system—there are strong reasons to reform food subsidies due to nutrition and public health concerns. Therefore, future food subsidy reform steps should consider nutritional implications from the onset.

Recurring storms: food insecurity, political instability, and conflict

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 18:31:06 +0000

This report (PDF) by CSIS reviews the prospects for increasing food security and links this to the issues of polictical stability and conflict situations. Changes in global weather patterns are now projected to have potentially devastating impacts on agriculture in the coming years and decades. The rising “double burden” of malnutrition already threatens to dampen global progress toward better health. Demographic change—a bulging population of youth in Africa and rapid urbanization—is creating opportunities for an economic growth spurt that will affect food demand and organized protests when food security is endangered. Food safety issues, economic and social inequities, and food price volatility are seen as persistent disrupters of food systems and food security. Renewed and expanded international collaboration to anticipate and prepare for recurring storms of food insecurity is essential. Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Syria are examples that vividly underscore the explosiveness of situations in which people find themselves unable to get the food they want and need. The experiences of post-conflict countries highlight some critical issues that need to be prioritized in order to regain sustainable food security. Averting future storms will require the recognition that food security challenges will extend long beyond 2030, political leadership must be visibly committed to these issues, and actions to reduce fragmentation of effort will be critical.

Strengthening and harmonizing food policy systems to achieve food security

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 08:42:46 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by IFPRI studies the factors contributing to the effectiveness of policy systems. In this paper, a conceptual framework is developed to understand the policy and institutional architecture of food and agriculture policy systems, aiming to improve the coordination and harmonization of the roles of policy actors and players. Poor coordination and harmonization of assistance among various actors within the country often results in undermining the very policy systems they try to strengthen. This is typical in the African agricultural development process. In the paper Ghana is used as a case study where the developed framework is applied and the organizational contributions of various actors and their characteristics are mapped and analyzed. The case study provides several lessons for the strengthening of the food policy system. There is a need for strengthening the knowledge management systems to share the evidence. Besides this, there is an urgent need to enable a culture of mutual accountability and nurturing to improve the efficiency of the food policy system. Finally, strategic efforts are needed to strengthen the institutional and organizational capacity of the actors and players in the policy system and increase their effectiveness within the policy system. Also private sector, NGOs, and farmer based organizations should be included in the policy process. Addressing these challenges require country specific interventions as part of the broader policy processes.

The future of food and agriculture: Trends and challenges

Nynke — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:10:29 +0000

This report (PDF) from FAO lays out and analyses 15 key global trends that are influencing and will influence food and agriculture in the coming decades, and comments on the associated 10 challenges ahead. Several trends that will impact agriculture and food systems are: global population growth is slowing, but Africa and Asia will still see a large population expansion; economic growth is leading to dietary transition, e.g. demand for food is changing towards higher consumption of meat and dairy products and other more resource-intensive food items; climate change affects disproportionately food-insecure regions, jeopardizing crop and livestock production, fish stocks and fisheries; critical parts of food systems are becoming more capital-intensive, vertically integrated and concentrated in fewer hands; conflicts, crises and natural disasters are increasing in number and intensity. What emerges is that “business as usual” is no longer an option but calls for major transformations in agricultural systems, in rural economies and in how we manage our natural resources are needed. The major challenges are: to reduce inequalities through pro-poor strategies, going beyond agriculture, by involving both rural and urban areas and supporting job creation and income diversification; to include all countries to create a sustainable food systems and to abandon the developed/developing countries divide. While vertically coordinated, more organized food systems offer standardized food for urban areas and formal employment opportunities, they need to be accompanied by responsible investments and concern for smallholder livelihoods, the environmental footprint of lengthening food supply chains, and impacts on biodiversity. Also find the summary, infographic, and a presentation on the report.

Effect of non-farm work on agricultural productivity: Empirical evidence from northern Ghana

Nynke — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 09:43:57 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from UNU-WIDER investigates the factors influencing participation in non-farm work and the effect of participation on farmers’ productivity, using survey data from 300 smallholder farm households in northern Ghana. The study employs an endogenous switching regression model to address selection into non-farm work, and a treatment effects model to measure the effect of participation on productivity. Factors determining participation in off-farm activity include the head of household’s gender and years of formal education, the location of the farm, ownership of cattle, and the dependency ratio. Factors affecting productivity include gender, years of formal education, farm size, location of the farm, access to credit, herd ownership, and degree of specialization in rice production. Results from a treatment effects model indicate a positively significant effect of non-farm employment participation on farm productivity. Income diversification therefore remains an important livelihood strategy among smallholders, and earnings from off-farm work enable smallholders to improve their yields.

Achieving water, energy and food security in Indonesia

F&BKP Office — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 11:57:50 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) was conducted by the Global Canopy Programme in partnership with WCS Indonesia Program, and funded by The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). It draws on a series of studies, multi- stakeholder meetings and group discussions that explored the challenges facing Indonesia’s national and provincial governments in achieving both development and environmental goals. The analysis is informed by a water-energy-food (WEF) nexus framework that has emerged as an important concept for addressing resource trade-offs. The report firstly highlights trade-offs and synergies in existing development plans that undermine efforts towards a holistic sustainable development agenda. Secondly, it identifies coordination gaps, priorities and entry points to improve resource use governance within three key policy frameworks: (a) spatial planning (b) development planning and (c) climate mitigation and adaptation planning. These recommendations aim to inform ongoing policy development including the next mid-term development plan (RPJMN 2020-2025) and the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was recently ratified by the Indonesian Government through its NDC as well as its Sustainable Development Goal commitments. The policy coherence analysis identifies several strategies that could realise potential synergies between different sector targets, including the prioritization of degraded land for agricultural expansion, increases in agricultural productivity, and investment in forest conservation as ‘natural’ infrastructure for improving downstream water supply for agriculture and energy production, generating co-benefits such as emissions reductions, biodiversity and forest-based employment and livelihoods. This policy brief demonstrates the value of a WEF nexus framework to identify and discuss the interdependencies between different sectoral policies and assess how cumulatively they can work towards achieving Indonesia’s development and climate goals.

The number, size, and distribution of farms, smallholder farms, and family farms worldwide

Nynke — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 08:40:15 +0000

This article (PDF) in World Development scrutinizes the link between farm size and farmland distribution and its contribution to food security, reduction of poverty and decreasing inequality. Many advocates emphasize the importance of “smallholder farming” or “family farming”, claiming that smallholders or family farms produce a large share of the world’s food or that the food consumed in Africa and Asia is mainly produced by regional smallholders. However, there is a lack of data on the number of farms, farm size and farmland distribution. This article uses agricultural census data to conclude that there are 570 million farms worldwide, most of which are small and family-operated. Small farms (less than 2 ha) operate about 12% and family farms about 75% of the world’s agricultural land. In addition, average farm size decreased in most low- and lower-middle-income countries, whereas average farm sizes increased in some upper-middle-income countries and in nearly all high-income countries. These estimates of farm distribution provide insights into the share of the world’s food that is produced by either of the two groups. With family farms operating 75% of the world’s agricultural land, it follows that they are likely responsible for the majority of the world’s food and agricultural production. It is implausible that with only 12% of the world’s land, small farms are able to produce a large share of the world’s food, and claims that they do remain unsubstantiated.

What are the challenges and opportunities for multi-level advocacy for nutrition?

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 08:09:59 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by IDS gives an overview on the challenges and opportunities for multi-level advocacy. Over the last decade, policy advocacy has made critical contributions towards the development of nutrition policies, laws and strategies in many countries with high burdens of malnutrition. Translating and safeguarding these policy achievements into results on the ground requires nutrition advocacy to be pursued across administrative levels and throughout the policy cycle. However, such multi-level advocacy is often limited and poorly documented. In order to strengthen and support multi-level advocacy for nutrition, the challenges and opportunities must be understood. Opportunities and constraints for MLA can be understood by looking at three factors and their interactions: 1) The nature of the policy environment; 2) Features of networks and actors operating in these; 3) Characteristics of nutrition as a policy issue. Positive results for nutrition are driven by a wealth of factors including food availability, access and diets, sanitation, caring practices, access to health services, education, female empowerment, etc. This diversity raises problems and challenges for nutrition advocates. Cross-departmental policy coordination is often a key challenge. Further research on empirical cases of multi-level advocacy is required to better understand its opportunities and constraints.

The impact of taxes and subsidies on crop yields: Agricultural price distortions in Africa

Nynke — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 15:07:55 +0000

This report (PDF) by The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) elaborates on the impact of agricultural taxes and subsidies on crop yields in Africa. The key finding presented is that both taxes and subsidies wield a negative influence on crop yields. Clearly, levying taxes and subsidies have their merit, for raising public finances and providing rural income support respectively, but neither leads to a more intensified agriculture. A more explicit incorporation of the objectives of agricultural intensification, sustainable and efficient land use in the design of fiscal measures is thus desired. The analysis is based on data on subsidies, taxes and crop yields between 1961 and 2010 from 22 African countries. It includes the largest African economies and the most important commodities. The authors argue that a strong increase in agricultural intensification across Africa is needed in order to meet Africa’s growing demand for food and to safeguard the remaining pristine ecosystems. Altogether, these findings thus call for enhanced commitment to improve the fiscal capacity of African nations. A key aim should be to identify alternative solutions to raise taxes and distribute subsidies, without direct negative impacts on agricultural intensification.

Sustainable food security and nutrition: Demystifying conventional beliefs

Nynke — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 15:26:31 +0000

This article in the journal Global Food Security explores the myths and realities surrounding the relationship between environmental sustainability, food security, and nutrition. According to the authors, policymakers and researchers alike often make inaccurate assumptions about technological innovations, gender, biofuels, and smallholder farming. Such sustainable food security and nutrition “myths” pose a significant challenge to the effective design and promotion of more environmentally-friendly agricultural and food systems. For example, often it is argued that trade-offs are inevitable between environmental sustainability and nutrition. However, sustainable intensification could avoid sacrificing the environment for food security and nutrition. This means increased food production is accompanied by more efficient use of natural resource inputs and reducing the environmental impact, through for example no-till farming, nitrogen-use efficiency, drip irrigation etc.. However, while technological innovations are vital to eliminate trade-offs, another myth is that there are silver-bullet solutions while they always rely on effective policies, institutions and infrastructure. Another myth is the positive link between economic growth and reductions in hunger and nutrition. The authors argue that impact varies depending on the country’s economic structure and that pro-poor policies are needed for a positive outcome. Also optimal farm-size should be a dynamic concept, depending on a country’s overall growth path and the relative size of its non-agricultural sector and urban population. Overall, the authors call for a “business as unusual” approach that is smarter more innovative, better focused and cost-effective.

Fixing food: Towards a more sustainable food system

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 05:45:22 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Economist Intelligence Unit discusses the sustainability of the global food system with regard to agriculture, nutrition, and food loss and waste. The world’s food system is facing unprecedented challenges. One is the double nutritional challenge: hunger and nutrient deficiencies, along with unhealthy diets and obesity. The international community must also reduce the environmental damage caused by agriculture, in terms of emissions, ground pollution and deforestation, and tackle food loss and waste. Alongside the report the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) was published. This index ranks 25 countries on food system sustainability and is a quantitative and qualitative bench-marking model. It is constructed from 58 indicators which measure the sustainability of food systems across three pillars: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture and nutritional challenges. The index has three key performance indicator: environmental, societal and economic. The report, drawing from expert interviews and the findings of the Food Sustainability Index, has outlined a number of priority areas for policy makers, companies, and civilians. These include fighting food waste and food loss, promoting knowledge and technology sharing practices for agricultural producers, investing in farm-to-market infrastructures in developing countries, and advancing research and development into new techniques and technologies to improve yield and lower environmental impact.

OECD-FAO agricultural outlook 2016-2025

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 10:02:05 +0000

This report (PDF) by OECD and FAO brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations and input from collaborating member countries to provide an assessment of medium-term prospects of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets. The Outlook provides supply, demand, trade and price estimates of major agricultural commodities for 41 countries and 12 geographical regions. The special theme chapter of this year’s edition focusses on the prospects and challenges of the agricultural sector in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over the ten year Outlook period slowing demand growth will be matched by efficiency gains in production, implying relatively flat real agricultural prices. However, market and policy uncertainties imply a risk of resurgent volatility. The outlook for agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is for rising food availability, which will support a declining incidence of undernourishment. The sector’s prospects could be much improved by more stable policies across the region, by strategic public and private investments, notably in infrastructure, and by suitably adapted research and extension.

Is African agriculture sustainable enough to support an agro-allied industrial development strategy? Evidence from Ghana and Nigeria

Nynke — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 09:50:04 +0000

This paper (PDF) published by Allegheny College provides an overview of the meaning and conditions under which an agro-allied industrial development strategy in Africa could work. The notion of an agro-allied industrial development strategy in Africa presupposes the existence of a vibrant and sustainable agricultural sector. The authors suggest that this assumption may be too heroic and unrealistic. Although agricultural production on the continent rose by an annual average of 2% between 1965 and 1980 and has continued to increase by 1.8% annually since, population growth of 2.9% per year has resulted in a per capita decline in agricultural production. From self-sufficiency in food production before the 1960s, many African countries have become net food importers, with a handful of them facing severe food shortages arising from drought, desertification, climate change and wars. The authors argue that soil conditions, climate change, and population growth, in combination with ineffective economic policies, have contributed immensely to the sordid state of agriculture in Africa. Historical and contemporary evidence from Ghana and Nigeria are used to show how economic policies have interacted with biophysical and environmental factors to generate an unsustainable use of land, agricultural labor, and natural resources. Based on this the authors propose an “agro-entrepreneurial” model of agriculture that combines sustainable farming practices with entrepreneurship. This model enables farmers to take advantage of emerging markets in the food value chain, as well as enhance their living standards and self-esteem.

Also see this blog published on capacity4dev.eu about the paper.

Territorial food systems: Protecting the rural and localizing human rights accountability

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 09:45:38 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the Global Network for the right to food and nurition argues that we need to react against the urbanization of the development agenda, and the long-held dichotomy of rural and urban spaces. It addresses ongoing discussions in preparation of Habitat III, the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development. The terms ‘rural-urban linkages’, ‘city-region food systems’, and ‘territorial food systems’ are often used interchangeably in international policy fora, academia, and other discussions on how rural and urban spaces relate to each other in food systems. However, the issue of what can be considered ‘uniquely rural’, and the rights of rural communities tend to be omitted. The long-held urban-rural dichotomy reinforces an inequitable development model, which puts industrial and ‘urban growth’ pressure on rural areas and on small-scale food producers to feed increasingly urban populations. The development model itself, however, is not questioned. The Habitat III process is emblematic of global policy shifts across the UN system and at the national level, as human rights have been largely dropped from policy documents and discussions. Member states and UN institutions continue to reinforce weakened language and commitments, and increasingly push responsibility onto the corporate sector via language that uses ‘inclusion’, ‘access’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘social responsibility’ in lieu of the human rights obligations of states.

The economic advantage assessing the value of climate-change actions in agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 10:02:00 +0000

This report (PDF) by IFAD contributes arguments and information on economic assessment for agriculture under climate change. It is aimed at readers who seek to build economic evidence in support of the inclusion of actions on agriculture in climate change plans and programmes. The focus is particularly on the national level under the umbrella of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the December 2015 Paris agreement, which aims to restrict a rise in global temperatures and manage risks. Agriculture is a sector especially sensitive to climate change. It also accounts for significant emissions and is, therefore, a priority for both adaptation and mitigation plans and actions at global, national and local levels. The majority of NDCs to the Paris Agreement express national-level intentions for action on adaptation and mitigation in agriculture. However, the authors state that economic assessment and financial analysis of agriculture in NDCs, and in related plans like national adaptation plans, are weakly developed to date. The authors conclude that credible economic and financial proposals with a high likelihood of delivering meaningful returns are needed to unleash large-scale public and private investment in agriculture under climate change.

Trade, food security, and the 2030 Agenda

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 11:31:37 +0000

This report (PDF) by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) explores the contribution that trade and trade policy could make to the hunger and malnutrition objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The paper looks at past progress and projected trends, and examines options for government action in the years ahead. Trade policy and rules can help governments to achieve the 2030 agenda targets, such as doubling productivity and incomes for small producers by improving access to markets and opportunities for value addition, and creating rural jobs. The new goals say explicitly that tackling trade restrictions and distortions in global agricultural markets could help. Actions to implement the new commitments that affect non-agricultural markets could be just as important for food and nutrition security—such as ending poverty, ensuring equitable access to sustainable energy, or adopting sustainable production and consumption patterns. Projections indicate that governments must now go beyond a “business as usual” approach if the new hunger and nutrition goals are to be achieved. According to the authors, recent steps forward on agricultural export subsidies suggest that incremental progress is feasible and realistic.

Under what policy and market conditions will Malawi’s smallholder farmers switch from tobacco to soyabean?

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 09:51:53 +0000

This policy note (PDF) by the IFPRI Malawi Strategy Support Program (MaSSP) explores key findings from a farm-level analysis of smallholders’ crop choice under different policy and risk scenarios. Smallholder farmers planting decisions are examined for five major crops – maize, tobacco, common bean, groundnut, and soyabean – using a farm-level risk model. The policy scenarios include: (a) reducing the volatility of farm gate soyabean prices by 25 percent; and (b) introducing a loan package for soyabean inputs. These simulations were conducted both without and in the presence of a loan package for tobacco inputs. Malawi has the potential to reorient its smallholder agriculture away from being primarily directed towards assuring household subsistence and self-sufficiency to increased commercial production, including of soybean. This study shows how this shift would reduce the country’s reliance on tobacco and diversify its agricultural production and exports. As a legume, furthermore, soybean would also have the additional benefit of improving soil health, through biological nitrogen fixation and crop rotations, and child nutrition, if the nutritious soybean is consumed at home or increased income from soybean sales is used to provide children with more diverse and healthier diets. But this reorientation will require that government creates the conditions for private sector to invest in the increased production of soyabean, both through the support of input loan packages and a more stable marketing environment for the crop.

Food and nutrition security: towards the full realisation of human rights

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 09:31:32 +0000

This issue of Policy in Focus (PDF) by the International Policy Centre for inclusive growth (IPC) sought to present readers with a selection
of contributing authors and articles that share a holistic interpretation of the human right to adequate food and nutrition. This interpretation reaffirms that its true realisation goes far beyond the mere fulfilment of basic food and nutritional needs but, rather, must incorporate multiple dimensions. These dimensions include: 1) the self-determination and sovereignty of people; 2) social participation in the elaboration, implementation and monitoring of policies oriented towards food and nutrition security; 3) the guarantee of physical and economic access to a diverse, healthy and nutritionally balanced diet, free from contamination, which is culturally adequate and locally and regionally produced by smallholder farmers, according to agro ecological principle; 4) the guarantee that every human being may reach their full potential, following the attainment of nutritional well-being, such as a well-functioning immune system, the potential to grow and develop fully, the potential to learn and access the accumulated, collective human knowledge, the potential to reach emotional maturity and to reaffirm their social and cultural identities. The contributing authors featured in this issue present critical analyses of some of the most relevant public policy strategies aiming to overcome challenges towards the realization of these dimensions.

The informal sector’s role in food security: A missing link in policy debates?

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 10:29:15 +0000

This paper (PDF) by PLAAS, UWC and the Centre of Excellence on Food Security reviews what is currently known about the role played by the informal sector in general and informal retailers in particular, with regard to the accessibility of food in South Africa. The review seeks to identify policy relevant research gaps. Drawing on Statistics South Africa data, the authors show that the informal sector is an important source of employment, dominated by informal trade of which the sale of food is a significant subsector. Although the focus is on South Africa, the authors say that in general, the informal sector needs to be viewed as more than just an economic activity. They argue that the informal sector enables food access, and having access to affordable and reliable food further contributes to the utilisation dimension of the FAO food security definition. The authors conclude their study with critique on the policy environment. They highlight a production and rural bias in the food security agenda and argue that the policy environment for informal operators is at best benign neglect and at worse actively destructive, with serious food security implications.

Achieving food security: the role of the public and private investments

F&BKP Office — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:27:45 +0000

To implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, developing countries will have to increasingly rely on domestic finance for investment in agriculture. As public funding for agriculture decreases, the role of private investment and, in particular, smallholder farmers, needs to be scaled up to achieve sustainable food security. To stimulate this process, governments focus more on fostering an enabling environment for responsible private investment. Greater attention must be placed on the quality of agricultural investment preparation and implementation, as well as on policies and instruments to lower risk and strengthen the confidence of investors in the long term, according to Rimma Dankova, Senior Adviser with the FAO Investment Centre. In this expert opinion published on The Broker, Danko elaborates on the changing landscape of investing in food security and agriculture.

Growth and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: the role of agricultural development

F&BKP Office — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 09:18:40 +0000

This book by UNU-WIDER comprehensively evaluates trends in living conditions in 16 major sub-Saharan African countries, corresponding to nearly 75% of the total population. A striking diversity of experience emerges. While monetary indicators improved in many countries, others are yet to succeed in channeling the benefits of economic growth into the pockets of the poor. Some countries experienced little economic growth, and saw little material progress for the poor. At the same time, the large majority of countries have made impressive progress in key non-monetary indicators of wellbeing. An important message from ten of the countries they looked at is that there are potentially high returns to policies that take agriculture seriously. Countries that place a particular emphasis on upgrading the capabilities of small-scale farmers are more likely to achieve broad-based development objectives. And failure to take agriculture seriously, particularly smallholder agriculture, will leave people behind according to their research. It will also drive up food prices and imports, and dim growth prospects. In Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda they found an extended period of broad-based, and sometimes rapid, agricultural growth had been a substantial driver of growth and poverty reduction. The case of Ethiopia is particularly interesting. It has explicitly pursued agricultural development-led industrialisation and shows very strong efforts by the government to stimulate agriculture. In the cases of Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania – those with relatively rapid growth and limited poverty reduction – weak agricultural productivity growth is identified as an underlying factor to the relative stagnation of monetary poverty rates. The authors conclude that agricultural productivity growth remains a powerful lever for achieving poverty reduction. This applies especially where large parts of the population are mired in low productivity subsistence agriculture. Prolonged and rapid growth in the sector, driven by increases in productivity, should be seen as critical to the industrialisation aspirations of the sub-continent.

Brazil–Africa knowledge-sharing on social protection and food and nutrition security

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 09:53:17 +0000

This paper (PDF) was published by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) and is an analysis on how knowledge-sharing between Brazil and several sub-Saharan countries, in the fields of social protection and food and nutrition security policies and programmes has influenced the African policies and programmes. According to the research, experiences that were shared about programs like Bolsa Familia, Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar and the Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos were the inspiration for the creation of similar tools in African countries and had a positive impact. Several successes of this South – South cooperation are presented, like the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) program in Ghana. But also the Kenyan National Social Protection Scheme (NSPS) is a clear success of South-South exchange. Two of the most successful social protection programs are the school feeding systems in Brazil and Mexico. Due to knowledge sharing activities these programs got several spin-offs in African countries. Next to the successes also the challenges of the cooperation are analysed. For example, the pros and cons of ad-hoc and different initiatives and learning exchanges, instead of a structured plan of action that could ensure more coherence. A lack of data makes it difficult to draw conclusions on what should work best.

Extension in motion

Ati van der Honing — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 09:25:01 +0000

This paper by KIT is about the role that agricultural extension can play to rural development. KIT asked eight renowned experts in the field of extension to guide the reader on a narrative journey through the intricacies of agricultural extension. Agricultural extension has a significant role to play in rural development. Yet, ‘extension’ itself is also developing and so is its role in development. How extension is understood, coordinated, financed and implemented has evolved over time. While agricultural extension used to be almost exclusively publicly funded and implemented in a top-down manner to increase productivity and transfer new technologies to small-scale farmers, since the late 1980s and 1990s the private sector has gradually become engaged in different ways and extension has evolved to being more participatory and holistic, at least in rhetoric. Many observers now prefer to speak of ‘advisory services’ rather than extension to allude to the broadened scope of services that farmers need as agriculture is becoming increasingly knowledge-intensive. The authors conclude that extension in isolation is often very ineffective but if it is combined with other instruments that focus on creating an enabling environment, if services are more demand-driven and responsive to the dynamics and diversity of rural farming systems extension is in motion and can set rural development in motion.

Public policies for rural development and combating poverty in rural areas

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 11:01:00 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) present an evaluation of the public policies in Brazil that are aimed at promoting family farming. Starting with their recent performance in terms of resources and beneficiaries, going through an identification of coverage indicators, and, finally, recovering studies and analyses that assess these policies. Brazil has become a good example of public policies aimed at combating poverty and fostering rural development, or, in other words, promoting family farming. The country has even ‘exported’ some of its policies, notably the Programa Bolsa Família and the Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA—Food Acquisition Programme). The narratives of the Brazilian success are based, on the one hand, on the performance of such policies, especially when it is estimated from the volume of resources and beneficiaries they encompass. On the other hand, these narratives are also based on the significant improvements in poverty, income and inequality indicators in rural areas of Brazil not to mention the abating of rural–urban migration. Although welfare and social security policies have managed to reduce poverty to some extent, it remains imperatively valid that small farmers need to have their freedoms expanded so that they can go beyond the ‘inevitability’ of urban migration and/or income protection policies.

Farmers’ crop varieties and farmers’ rights: Challenges in taxonomy and law

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 11:42:05 +0000

This book (PDF), published by Routledge, examines policies that aim to increase the share of benefits that farmers receive when others use the crop varieties that they have developed and managed, i.e., ‘farmers’ varieties’. In so doing, the book addresses two fundamental questions. The first question is ‘how do farmer management practices – along with other factors such as environment and the breeding systems of plants – affect the evolution and maintenance of discrete farmers’ varieties?’ The second question is ‘how can policies that depend on being able to identify discrete plant varieties accommodate the agricultural realities associated with the generation, use and maintenance of farmers’ varieties?’ This focus on discreteness is topical because there are no fixed, internationally recognized taxonomic or legal definitions of farmers’ varieties. And that presents a challenge when developing policies that involve making specific, discrete farmers’ varieties the subject of legal rights or privileges. The book includes case studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe where, in response to a diversity of contributing factors, there have been efforts to develop policies that provide incentives or rewards to farmers as stewards of farmers’ varieties in ways that are sensitive to the cultural, taxonomic and legal complexities involved. The book situates these initiatives in the context of the evolving discourse and definition of ‘farmers’ rights’, presenting insights for future policy initiatives.

Global food security index 2016

Nynke — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 14:20:15 +0000

This report (PDF) on the Global Food Security Index developed by The Economist presents the key findings of the new index. The index considers the core issues of affordability, availability, and quality across a set of 113 countries. The index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model, constructed from 28 unique indicators, that measures these drivers of food security across both developing and developed countries. The study looks beyond hunger to the underlying factors affecting food insecurity. The report shows that between 2015 and 2016, more countries experienced declines in their scores for national nutritional standards than improvements. It also showed that developing economies that prioritise investment in agricultural storage and transport infrastructure increase their capacity to ensure food security for burgeoning populations. In addition, political instability was shown to exacerbate food insecurity. To increase the ongoing relevance of the study, the index will employ a quarterly adjustment factor for food price fluctuations to examine the risk countries face throughout the course of the year.

Explore the countries within the index here.

The unholy alliance, five western donors shape a pro-corporate agenda for African agriculture

F&BKP Office — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 15:57:26 +0000

This report (PDF) from the Oakland Institute exposes how a coalition of four donor countries and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is shaping a pro-business environment in the agricultural sector of developing countries, especially in Africa. The report focuses on the Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project, implemented by the World Bank. The EBA’s goal is to help create “policies that facilitate doing business in agriculture and increase the investment attractiveness and competitiveness of countries.” To achieve this, the EBA benchmarks areas including seeds, fertilizers, markets, transport, machinery, and finance, to determine whether or not countries’ laws facilitate doing business in agriculture. The EBA exemplifies a growing trend in international donors’ aid programs, which have become powerful instruments to impose a market-based, pro-private sector vision of agriculture. The authors of the report are questioning the possible impact of the project, such as rising pressure on land and natural resources; dependence on expensive and polluting agricultural inputs; increased vulnerability to climate shocks; criminalization of seed saving and exchange practices; and weakened government ability to support national agriculture. The authors fear that this approach fails to acknowledge the complexity of food
security and the root causes of hunger on the continent. Far beyond a problem of food scarcity, the problem of hunger encompasses a range of issues related to power dynamics, economic policy, poverty, conflicts, and much more. The authors argue for the need of strong national policies and country-owned strategies to support sustainable production by smallholder farmers.

Assuring safe food systems: Policy options for a healthier food supply

Nynke — Tue, 10 May 2016 07:48:53 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) from GLOPAN reviews food safety issues that are critical to poor and vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries, with a particular focus on their impact on healthy diets. With growing international concern over unsafe food, it is important that policies in agriculture and the food system are designed to ensure both the nutritional quality and the safety of the foods we eat. While food safety has traditionally been a health or medical matter, it is increasingly recognized as an important issue for agriculture and food systems since it influences trade, rural incomes, and purchasing power and workers productivity. There exist strong direct and indirect links between food safety and nutrition, since infections caused by food-borne pathogens can result in poor absorption of nutrients, diarrhea or impaired immune responses. In addition, malnutrition and food-born disease reinforce each other, since people who are malnourished are susceptible to infections. The policy paper concludes that an integrated set of policy actions, including regulation, surveillance, and training of individuals and organisations involved all along the food chain, is required to assure the safety of food systems and to support a healthier food supply. Clear recommendations are provided for policymakers on actions that should be taken to promote food safety, dietary quality and good nutrition simultaneously.

The global food policy report

Nynke — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 12:49:22 +0000

The Global Food Policy Report (PDF) is IFPRI’s flagship publication and provides a synthesis of all major developments of today’s food policy concerns. It also offers some concrete future orientations for further action. The annual report examines major food policy issues, global and regional developments, and commitments made in 2015, and presents data on key food policy indicators. The report proposes key policy options for 2016 and beyond to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the global community made major commitments on sustainable development and climate change. The global food system lies at the heart of these commitments—and we will only be able to meet the new goals if we work to transform our food system to be more inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly. The report takes a look at the latest research on opportunities and challenges the world will face in achieving multiple SDGs. The report includes chapters on climate change and smallholder farmers, sustainable diets, food loss and waste, and water management.

Alternative futures for global food and agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 06:39:34 +0000

This report (PDF) by OECD aims to provide insights into the possible futures, challenges and opportunities facing the food and agriculture systems. Three alternative scenarios are presented, depicting alternative pathways in the period leading up to 2050. The three scenarios “Individual, fossil fuel-driven growth”, “citizen-driven, sustainable growth” and “fast, globally-driven growth” differ in the amount of co-operation between countries; the focus on economic, environmental or social issues; and technological developments in different domains. Each scenario features its own priority challenges, nevertheless, all three futures see the environment being placed under increasing strain, although to varying extents. Farmers incomes are expected to increase due to increasing food prices, however, agricultural sector contribution to GDP and employment will fall. The increase in world meat production could slow in the Sustainable scenario. While cereal production growth may accelerate in the Individual and Fast scenarios due to large productivity gains and strong population growth. The scenarios highlight the fundamental uncertainties surrounding forward-oriented decision making, and point to the crucial importance of international co-operation across multiple policy areas by both governments and private actors. The report outlines five key strategy areas for policy, industry and society: 1) accelerated movement towards more sustainable lifestyles and consumption patterns, 2) increased coherence of food market regulations, 3) sustainable productivity growth and climate resilience, 4) strengthened infrastructure and 5) improved and broadened risk management systems.

Public policies for improving food and nutrition security at different scales

Nynke — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 11:49:28 +0000

This paper in Food Security assesses which policy approaches are most effective to achieve zero hunger in the world by 2050. Three different kind of policies were analysed: policies related to influencing demand, policies targeting consumer access to food and policies targeted at influencing producer supply. Policies that target consumer demand for food, include instruments which influence employment and incomes, food preferences and consumer knowledge, health services and food safety. Policies which influence consumer access to food depend on functional value chains, equitable market environments, infrastructure, and creating enabling environments for business investment and engagement through incentives and regulations. Policies that influence producer supply could assist in enhancing food production through rural infrastructure development, agricultural research and development, resource management, farm inputs and produce pricing. The authors considered a range of diverse policy approaches targeted at demand, access and supply that directly affect food and nutrition security with a view to better understanding which are most effective. The authors conclude that the effectiveness of food security policies is determined by selecting the best bundle of policy instruments for the specific context and country and that trade-offs between policy instruments should be well-understood, in order to achieve the right goals and avoid perverse outcomes.

Governing food and nutrition security in food-importing and aid-recipient countries: Burkina Faso and Ethiopia

Nynke — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 11:53:34 +0000

This FoodSecure working paper (PDF) analyses to what extend development partners contribute to change in food and nutrition security policies in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. The analysis of some policy-decisions shows the complexity of relations between aid and national the actors. The authors analyse how the multidimensional nature of food and nutrition security (FNS) challenges is addressed in policy-making processes. The authors discovered that often FNS policies and institutional frameworks remain predominantly agricultural production-oriented. They argue that policies have a strong inertia around agricultural production issues since predominant actors are mainly trained in agriculture and tend to focus on sectoral agricultural issues. The institutional framework is increasingly fragmented between agriculture, nutrition and social agendas, instead of being conducive to the debate of competing visions and intersectoral coordination. Intersectoral initiatives are often the result of high-level commitments and/or individual actors. In these initiatives, aid actors play a key role, especially through innovation in their internal organisation to overcome the tendency to work in silos. Burkina Faso and Ethiopia are the most prominent casestudies, and complementary insights are given from Benin and Kenya to support the results.

Also have a look at this blogpost from Sara Gustafson (IFPRI) that reflects on the report.

Enhancing rural labour productivity: Reaching the rural poor

Nynke — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 15:05:39 +0000

This working paper (PDF) of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and SNV scrutinizes to what extend agricultural development interventions have had a sustainable impact on the poorest rural households. The paper argues that conventional agronomic interventions, focused on raising land productivity through intensification, often exclude the poorest households. The authors describe five factors that play a key role in allowing the rural poor to escape poverty. Among these factors are: agronomic interventions focused on household consumption to improve food resilience and household nutrition, opportunities for diversification, promoting off-farm employment, and better labor conditions for the rural poor. Since the rural poor depend economically on the demand for their labor, strategies should focus on optimizing labor productivity. Several interventions to achieve this are pinpointed, like: promoting food and nutrition security through diversification and nutritious food crops; stimulating non-farm economies to increase regional labor demand; promoting vocational training to enhance skills; and advocating for better wage and labor conditions for the rural poor. The paper also lists seven lessons learned from interventions of KIT, SNV, and VECO on labor productivity in agriculture.

Mapping the Vulnerability of Mountain Peoples to Food Insecurity

Nynke — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 15:24:08 +0000

This report (PDF) from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) presents an updated geographic and demographic picture of the world’s mountain areas and assesses the vulnerability to food insecurity of mountain dwellers in developing countries. The report is a follow-up on the 2003 report (PDF). Both reports singel out mountain people, since they experience harsh climates; live on difficult, often inaccessible terrain; and are often political and social marginalized. This makes them extremely vulnerable to food shortages. One in three mountain people in developing countries is facing hunger and malnutrition. The final section of the report presents an alternative and complementary approach to assessing hunger by analyzing household surveys. This approach includes other factors impacting food security, such as water quality, sanitation facilities and road networks, in addition to crop and livestock activities, to ensure a holistic approach. The authors apply this methodology in two pilot cases in Malawi and Ecuador. The results show that the living conditions of mountain dwellers have continued to deteriorate in the last decade. A 30% increase in the number of vulnerable mountain people between 2000-2012. The publication encourages policy-makers to include mountain development in their agendas as well as specific measures and investments that could break the cycle of poverty and hunger of mountain communities and slow out-migration from mountain areas.

Agriculture and food security: New challenges and options for international policy

Nynke — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 10:00:46 +0000

This Policy Option Paper (PDF) from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and World Economic Forum (WEF) identifies options for policies and international trade rules to respond to current challenges. The new challenges identified are change in the supply-demand balance in global food and agriculture markets; large-scale use of agricultural commodities as feedstock for biofuel production; heightened market volatility; the impacts of climate change and government response; and important changes in agricultural policy regimes in major producer countries. Against this background, the paper recommends trade policy options in two areas: adapting the WTO Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; and adapt more general WTO rules that are importance for food and agriculture, especially with regards to environmental measures. It also puts forward options targeted at international cooperation to improve food security and foster agricultural productivity.

New tool tracks food and agriculture policies

Nynke — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 10:29:43 +0000

This article elaborates on the functions of the FAO’s Food and Agriculture Policy Decisions Analysis Tool (Fapda). The web-based tool includes more than 6,000 policy decisions from more than 70 countries. It was developed in 2011 to provide an on-line repository for food and agricultural policy decisions from around the world. It covers policies from topics related to safe drinking water and food safety guidelines to land ownership and taxes on agricultural inputs. Users can select their country of interest to explore recent policy decisions made within that country and use filters to further focus their search. According to the article, the tool can help policymakers and researchers to better identify appropriate policies.

Food and agriculture: shifting landscapes for policy

Babs — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 14:36:44 +0000

This paper in Oxford Review of Economic Policy, describes the ways in which changing consumption patterns and production technologies have altered the boundaries between agriculture and food. Increasing income and urbanization have driven a steady increase in the demand for prepared and processed foods, reducing the need for in-home preparation. But this well-documented transition has in turn led to a shift in the structure of the food industry, with manufacturers and processors playing an ever-larger role relative to farmers—most prominently in the US and European countries, but also in the developing world. The shift is evident in employment patterns and trade patterns as well as in production and value addition. The authors argue that regulatory systems and policies still tend to equate food with farming, reflecting the realities of the last century more than the policy challenges of today.

Macroeconomics, agriculture, and food security: A guide to policy analysis in developing countries

Babs — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 11:02:16 +0000

This book by Eugenio Díaz-Bonilla, provides an introduction to policy analysis related to monetary, financial, fiscal, exchange rate, and trade policies as they affect, and are affected by, agricultural and food security issues. Its approach, based on a simplified macroeconomic consistency framework, uses empirical cases to illustrate the problems involved. The author argues that macroeconomic agricultural policies are vital to both developing countries’ and the world’s economy for several key reasons: (1) agriculture accounts for a significant portion of developing countries’ overall domestic production, exports, and employment; (2) agricultural growth reduces poverty more than growth in other sectors; and (3) developing countries play a significant role in world agricultural production and international agricultural trade. The various macroeconomic theories and findings in this book could help policymakers and practitioners in developing countries to come to their own conclusions regarding the design of appropriate strategies to promote economic growth, poverty reduction, and food security. A synopsis of the report and a related blog are also available.

Improved metrics and data are needed for effective food system policies in the post-2015 era

Babs — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 14:16:15 +0000

This Global Panel’s technical brief (PDF) argues that the research community and governments need to work together to develop better ways to collect data which focuses on the nutritional impacts of food policy interventions. The brief is aimed at analysts, statistical experts and decision makers who use evidence to guide their policy choices. It argues that more collaboration is needed to develop robust mechanisms to collect better food system-wide data to help them design and evaluate the nutritional impacts of food policy interventions. Four main recommendations are made, including that governments should assume responsibility for enhancing national statistical capacity to generate the disaggregated data needed to support domestic and global development goals and the timely assessment of policy impacts. And, The global research community, including scientists from low and middle income countries, should actively define appropriate metrics that support measurement of progress in achieving food system efficiency and healthy diets, both locally and globally.

Donors and domestic policy makers: Two worlds in agricultural policy-making?

Nynke — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:50:03 +0000

This article in the Food Policy journal argues that policy beliefs are neglected in the literature on agricultural policy-making. The authors use two case studies to investigate how policy beliefs influence decision-making on whether the agricultural sector is taxed or subsidized. In-depth interviews with policy actors from Ghana and Uganda were used to execute a discourse analysis. The authors found that donors and domestic policy makers have fundamentally different policy beliefs regarding the question: What does it actually take to develop small-holder agriculture? These differences obstruct a fruitful dialogue on more effective policy instruments. The evidence from this analysis highlights the role that divergent policy beliefs can play in influencing agricultural policy choices. The authors therefore argue that efforts are needed to bridge the belief systems of the “donor world” and the “domestic world”.

Global food security 2030- assessing trends in view of guiding future EU policies

Babs — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 14:16:28 +0000

This report (PDF) from the European Commission shows that it is essential for Europe to move towards an integrated examination of a much broader landscape. By 2030 and beyond, food security will increasingly be considered as securing food supply in response to changing and growing global demand. Food security is not only a global and systemic challenge, but also an opportunity for the EU to play a role in innovation, trade, health, wealth generation and geopolitics. Better coordination and coherence at EU level are necessary in order to move from a food-security to a food-systems approach. This report calls for an evolution of present-day policies on food security and beyond into a Common Food Systems Policy in which both the systemic and global dimensions of food security are fully incorporated.

Agricultural growth in West Africa: market and policy drivers

Babs — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 11:24:37 +0000

This report by the African Development Bank, ECOWAS and the Food and Agriculture Organization highlights opportunities for West African agricultural growth. The authors states that the combination of strong demand growth, sustained economic growth, higher global agricultural prices, and an improved policy environment has generated the most conducive conditions for agricultural growth in West Africa in over 30 years. The study contributes to a better understanding of the evolving context for growth in West Africa’s agrifood sector by: (1) examining the drivers and trends affecting the demand for and supply of agrifood products, (2) evaluating the performance of the agricultural sector and related policies in the light of those trends and (3) distilling the main implications for future policy priorities. The report stresses that while increasing agricultural yields is essential, more attention needs to be placed on the downstream segment of the agrifood system: assembly, storage, processing, wholesaling and retail. Improving the mix of public investments in agriculture in the region is as important as increasing their level, the report finds. It encourages governments to shift spending towards public goods such as roads, reliable electricity supply, research and schooling rather than towards subsidizing private goods such as fertilizer and tractors.

Optimizing Africa’s food systems

Nynke — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 11:28:52 +0000

This article in International Policy Digest argues that the optimization of the agricultural sector in Africa is essential to achieve the SDGs and to ensure a healthy and prosperous Africa. The authors present different policy recommendations that, in their opinion, will not only ensure food security but also will promote inclusive growth. The authors state that generally speaking, Africa is not a healthy continent and it lags behind the rest of the world in all the indicators of health. Besides producing more nutritious food, optimizing productivity of the agriculture sector in Africa could go a long way in bridging the resources gap the continent needs to revamp and develop its healthcare. The nine recommended policies range from pro-women empowerment policies to the promotion of intra-regional trade and to the full liberalization of Africa’s air space. The article also further elaborates on how optimizing the agro-value chain can have trickle-down effects and improves healthcare, job creation and poverty.

How can sector governance models drive sustainability performance in smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors?

Babs — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 10:45:19 +0000

This publication by Aidenvironment, NewForesight & IIED, explores the drivers and potential benefits of sector governance models in enabling the transition of smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors towards sustainability. Different forms of sector governance models and market governance mechanisms that exist are highlighted and their strengths and weaknesses in relation to promoting sector quality are discussed. Key success factors that should be kept in mind when designing and implementing sector governance models in current economic and market realities include: 1) A strong sector vision based on sector and farm quality, 2) Systems of checks and balances to prevent corruption within the model; 3) Models with room for product differentiation and price transmission; and 4) Tools for revenue collection to facilitate investment in the sector.

The dynamics of the contemporary governance of the world’s food supply and the challenges of policy redirection

Babs — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 13:53:36 +0000

This paper in the Food Security Journal identifies the governance dynamics and the international policy architecture that frame contemporary policy actions in relation to the food supply and elaborates on key governance tensions that policy makers need to address to feed the world’s growing population by the mid-21st century. Two main dimensions of governance are examined: the international policy space, composed of nation states collaborating through international regimes with other international actors; and the private corporate led governance of the food supply. At the international levels, policy discontinuities and gaps are identified, for example between international environmental regimes and food security institutions. The resulting contemporary governance trajectories are providing a disjointed but widespread set of policy guidelines with some evidence of convergence. These governance forms are helping to shape the terms of debate but the reliance on industry mediated food sustainability will need to be augmented by stronger political leadership from the individual nation states. The authors conclude that policy advances will need to build on the more collaborative and inclusive forms of governance that are being put in place, and continue to improve the balance of sustainable production and consumption of food. Please find this blog by the authors about this paper.

Ending poverty and hunger by 2030: an agenda for the global food system

Babs — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 08:34:48 +0000

This report (PDF) by the World Bank identifies key issues where the global food system should improve. TTo permanently end poverty and hunger by 2030, the world needs a food system that can feed every person, every day, everywhere; that can raise real incomes of the poorest people; that can provide safe food and adequate nutrition; and that can better steward the world’s natural resources. Urgently, we need a food system that is more resilient and that shifts from being a major contributor to climate change to being part of the solution. All these aspects are closely interlinked, calling for a more comprehensive approach to delivering a healthier and more prosperous future. This document lays out key elements of an action agenda for the global food system called for by the Sustainable Development Goals of ending poverty and hunger by 2030. It builds on lessons learned, recognizing the need for broad partnerships and multisectoral approaches to achieve these goals. It calls on key partners, coalitions, and alliances to come together to help shape the evolution of the global food system to permanently end poverty and hunger by 2030. The three core elements of the agenda are aligned around(i) ensuring a more climate-smart agriculture,(ii) improving nutritional outcomes, and(iii) strengthening value chains and improving market access. Within these groupings, a combination of policies, investments, knowledge, partnerships, South-South learning, and political will and leadership will be needed.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI) 2015

Babs — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 08:36:51 +0000

This year´s annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, takes stock of progress made towards achieving the internationally established Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) and World Food Summit hunger targets and reflects on what needs to be done, as we transition to the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. The report reviews progress made since 1990 for every country and region as well as for the world as a whole. Progress towards the MDG 1 target, however, is assessed not only by measuring undernourishment, or hunger, but also by a second indicator – the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age. Progress for the two indicators across regions and over time, is compared, providing insights into the complexity of food security. Overall progress notwithstanding, much work remains to be done to eradicate hunger and achieve food security across all its dimensions. The 2015 report not only estimates the progress already achieved, but also identifies remaining problems, and provides guidance on which policies should be emphasized in the future. Key factors that have determined success to date towards food security and nutrition goals are identified. The report also shows how protracted crises, due to conflict or natural disasters, have deleterious effects on progress in hunger reduction.

These publications covers key aspects of regional food security and nutrition, including evolution of undernourishment (and other forms of malnutrition) in the following regions: Latin America and the Caribbean; Africa (and NENA); Asia and the Pacific; and Europe and Central Asia.

The Oxford Handbook of Food, Politics, and Society

Babs — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 08:27:19 +0000

This Oxford Handbook “Food, Politics and Society“, edited by Ronald J. Herring, explores the complex interrelationships between food and agriculture, politics, and society. More specifically, it considers the political aspects of three basic economic questions: what is to be produced? how is it to be produced? how it is to be distributed? It also outlines three unifying themes running through the politics of answering these societal questions with regard to food, namely: ecology, technology and property. Furthermore, the book examines the tendency to address the new organization of global civil society around food, its production, distribution, and consequences for the least powerful within the context of the North-South divide; the problems of malnutrition as opposed to poverty, food insecurity, and food shortages, as well as the widespread undernutrition in developing countries; and how biotechnology can be used to ensure a sustainable human future by addressing global problems such as human population growth, pollution, climate change, and limited access to clean water and other basic food production resources. The influence of science and politics on the framing of modern agricultural technologies is also discussed, along with the worsening food crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, food security and food safety, and the relationship between gender inequality and food security. Other chapters deal with the link between land and food and its implications for social justice; the “eco-shopping” perspective; the transformation of the agrifood industry in developing countries; the role of wild foods in food security; agroecological intensification of smallholder production systems; and the ethics of food production and consumption.

Rural economic diversification in sub-Saharan Africa

Babs — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 10:36:50 +0000

This working paper by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) discusses emerging policy implications for economic diversification in rural sub-Saharan Africa. According to the author, while continuing to prioritize rural investments in the economic and social sectors, governments should mainstream rural development within national strategies and commit to the long term. Rural and urban development policies should be brought together, ideally within a territorial or regional development framework, to strengthen the market and service linkages between rural and urban areas. Given the prevailing rural employment environment, new and critical attention must be given to the informal household enterprise sector and to re-enforcing the agriculture and food sectors. The evidence base to inform rural development policies needs to be further strengthened and made more accessible.

Critical Role of Animal Science Research in Food Security and Sustainability

Babs — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 10:16:50 +0000

This book “Critical Role of Animal Science Research in Food Security and Sustainability“ identifies areas of research and development, technology, and resource needs in the field of animal agriculture, both nationally and internationally. The report assesses the global demand for products of animal origin in 2050 within the framework of ensuring global food security and evaluates how climate change and natural resource constraints may impact the ability to meet future global demand for animal products in sustainable production systems. The agricultural sector worldwide faces numerous daunting challenges that will require innovations, new technologies, and new ways of approaching agriculture if the food, feed, and fiber needs of the global population are to be met. The recommendations of this book could inform a new roadmap to meet the challenges of sustainable animal production in the 21st century.

Indigenous food systems, agroecology and the Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure

Babs — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 10:51:20 +0000

On the 2-3 February 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a technical meeting betwen Indigenous Peoples’ respresentatives and FAO staff. The meeting was attended by more than twenty indigenous peoples from the seven socio-cultural regions identified by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), including members of UNPFII, political leaders, technical experts, inidgenous food producers and traditional knowledge-holders. In addition, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Land Coalition (ILC), civil society and academia also attended the discussions. This report (PDF) includes the work plan based on the main suggestions made for how FAO and indigenous peoples can collaborate in the short, medium and long term. The report identifies concrete steps that can be followed in relation to the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, known as the SSF Guidelines, inidgenous food systems and fishers among others.

Agriculture and rural development for inclusive growth and food security in Morocco

Babs — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:54:51 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from Brookings Institution states that the objective of inclusive growth is linked to that of food and nutrition security. The Government of Morocco is implementing a rural development strategy with two pillars: the first pillar focuses on large modern farms, and the second pillar focuses on smallholder and family farming. The author argues that the twin goals of inclusive growth and food security would be best achieved by emphasizing the importance of the second pillar, and by adopting an approach that includes: (i) increasing food reserves and using financial markets for risk reduction, (ii) improving the linkage of smallholders and family farmers to markets and help them increase domestic food production while raising their incomes, and (iii) supporting the development of independent producer organizations that provide voice for smallholders and also help them gain better access to input and output markets. The paper is divided into four sections. The first section reviews political economy developments in Morocco, and how the country was impacted by the Arab Spring. The second section describes key challenges of agriculture and rural development in Morocco. The third section discusses possible strategies to deal with those challenges, and the fourth concludes.

Global crop data aid in food policy decisions

Babs — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 09:44:55 +0000

This article from IFPRI highlights a newly updated interactive website which provides spatially disaggregated crop production estimates for 42 crops around the globe. Knowledge on where in the world individual crops are cultivated, their production patterns, and whether they are irrigated or rain fed are essential components for ensuring adequate, sustainable food production and safeguarding food security. The Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM), pinpoints the production of crops—such as rice, cassava, potatoes, wheat and maize—down to the pixel level at a resolution of five minutes (about ten kilometers at the equator). First launched in 2008 using data from 2000, the website had been updated with new data from 2005, is more interactive, and includes a map gallery and data center.

Governance of science, technology and innovation for food security in Africa: A conceptual framework for developing indicators

Babs — Mon, 25 May 2015 09:21:26 +0000

This paper (PDF) by professor John Ouma-Mugabe at the CTA website, lays out the conceptual framework for developing indicators for assessing the governance of science, technology and innovation (STI) in Africa. It is erected on the premise that the subject of ‘governance of science, technology and innovation’ is increasingly becoming part of academic inquiry and public policy discourse in Africa and internationally, yet there are no conceptual tools as well as empirically tested indicators for demonstrating what constitutes it. For clarity, and to make the distinction between government and governance, professor Mugabe identifies three key principles that underlie good governance and institutions: participation, accountability and transparency. The rule of law is at the core. Mugabe also distinguishes between politics and policy making and elaborates on two aspects of STI policy making: policy for STI (e.g. funding, and the pursuit, application, diffusion and adoption of knowledge) and STI for policy (use, organization and application of knowledge to improve decision making). Mugabe proposes a framework as well as indicator areas for the three elements of good governance and recommends that the framework be tested through a series of case studies.

Brokering development: Enabling factors for public-private-producer partnerships in agricultural value chains

Nynke — Fri, 15 May 2015 10:28:47 +0000

This publication (PDF) from IFAD and IDS seeks to understand how public-private-producer partnerships (PPPPs) in agricultural value chains can be designed and implemented to achieve more sustained increases in income for smallholder farmers. PPPPs involve cooperation between government and business agents, working together to reach a common goal or carry out a specific task, while jointly assuming risks and responsibilities, and sharing resources and competences. They also explicitly involve farmers (or producers), hence the fourth ‘P’ is added to the more familiar designation of ‘public-private partnerships’. The research also considers the role of PPPP brokers as independent facilitators who support the process of exploring, designing and implementing PPPPs. The research is based on four case studies of agricultural value chain PPPPs developed through projects financed by the IFAD in Ghana, Indonesia, Rwanda and Uganda. The aim was to gain insights into the outcomes of the PPPPs so far, and how these have been influenced by the way the PPPP was designed, implemented and brokered. The study lists eight enabling factors for PPPPs, for example: the need for prioritization of farmer ownership; ensuring a clear market pull; and building capacity to respond to changes in complex market systems. Overall, the conclusion is that overall agricultural value chain PPPPs are a variation, on, rather than a departure from other value chain approaches and therefore bring similar opportunities and challenges.

Global Food Policy Report 2014-2015

F&BKP Office — Mon, 11 May 2015 14:51:41 +0000

The Global Food Policy Report (PDF) by IFPRI provides an in-depth look at major food policy developments and events. This annual report offers an overview of the policy developments that have contributed to or hindered progress in food and nutrition security. It reviews what happened in food policy and why, examines key challenges and opportunities, shares new evidence and knowledge, and highlights emerging issues. Furthermore, data for several key food policy indicators, including country-level data on hunger, agricultural research spending, and capacity for food policy research is presented. The 2014–2015 report calls on governments of middle income countries to reshape their food systems to focus on nutrition and health, close the gender gap in agriculture, and improve rural infrastructure to ensure food security for all.

From liability to opportunity: how to build food security and nourish growth

F&BKP Office — Mon, 11 May 2015 14:02:44 +0000

This article by McKinsey & Company introduces an “integrated food economy approach” as a strategy for strengthening the food system. Indicators have been reviewed to assess country’s food availability, affordability and quality. According to the authors, four building blocks are needed for resilient food systems: 1) efficient agricultural production that takes advantage of innovative technologies and practices; 2) tailored trade and investment approaches; 3) well-functioning domestic markets; and 4) strategic reserves of food and water.

Social protection for enhanced food security in sub-Saharan Africa

Nynke — Wed, 06 May 2015 16:32:11 +0000

This paper in the Food Policy journal identifies several positive synergies between social protection programs and enhanced food security and entitlements to food. The author argues that entitlements to food can be strengthened, if social justice principles are introduced to the design and delivery of social protection programs. Examples reviewed include rights-based approaches such as employment guarantee schemes, community-based targeting and demand-driven accountability mechanisms. One function of social protection is to manage or reduce vulnerability. Several instruments are like weather-indexed insurance, public works programs, emergency food aid and buffer stock management were reviewed. All these instruments aim to stabilize income and access to food across good and bad years, or between the harvest and the hungry season. Other social protection instruments aim to raise household income and crop production, for instance agricultural input subsidies or input trade fairs, as well as public works projects that construct or maintain physical infrastructure such as rural feeder roads. The paper concludes by arguing for a comprehensive approach to social protection that will achieve sustainable food security, by combining interventions that stabilize income or food production with those that raise income or food production, and are designed and delivered in ways that enhance social justice.

Food security and scarcity: why ending hunger is so hard

Babs — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 11:40:50 +0000

This book by C. Peter Timmer (available on University of Pennsylvania Press), provides an examination of what makes a productive, sustainable, and stable food system and of how to address the complex task of ending hunger. Important lessons learned are analysed, based on past work of the author as well as recent published research. Timmer calls for markets, policies, and investments that focus on pro-poor growth, agricultural development, and stable food economies. Reiterating the importance of a historical perspective, he highlights short-, medium-, and long-term actions, including managing volatile food prices, managing the demand for food, and managing a sustainable increase in food supplies. An important message from the book is that any strategy to improve food security has to depend on an in-depth understanding of how food markets operate. During a livestream event at IFPRI in February 2015, Timmer gave a presentation of the highlights in his book, watch here.

Conceptualizing drivers of policy change in agriculture, nutrition, and food security

Babs — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 11:36:25 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) introduces an applied framework, named the kaleidoscope model, to analyze drivers of change in the food security arena, with a specific emphasis on agriculture and nutrition policies. Focusing on five key elements of the policy cycle—agenda setting, design, adoption, implementation, and evaluation and reform—the model identifies key variables that define the necessary and sufficient conditions for policy change to occur. These variables were derived through an extensive review of the secondary literature on episodes of policy change in developing countries across a broad range of policy domains related to food security, including agriculture, education, healthcare, nutrition, and social protection. The model aspires to improve the relevance of public policy theories to the developing-country context; offers practical recommendations to key partners; and informs ongoing policy change processes.

The EU’s common agricultural policy: ensuring the EU’s development and agricultural policies evolve together

Babs — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 11:31:44 +0000

At the Green week in Berlin a publication (PDF) was presented that explains how the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) meets the EU’s commitment to policy coherence for development, which aims to minimize problems for developing countries due to policies. The paper stresses that an effective policy coherence for development (PCD) agenda for food security requires interventions at different levels, including action by developed countries and emerging economies, as well as action at global and national levels in developing countries.

Digging deeper: inside Africa’s agricultural, food and nutrition dynamics

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:28:23 +0000

This book published in the African Dynamics Series of the African Studies Centre Leiden with contributions of a large group of researchers, attempts to ‘dig deeper’ into what is currently happening in Africa’s agricultural and rural sector and to convince policymakers and others that it is important to look at the current African rural dynamics in ways that connect metropolitan demands for food with value chain improvements and agro-food cluster innovations. The aim of the book is to link empirical accounts of agricultural dynamics to policy debates on the need for economic transformation in Africa. The book is divided in four sections: 1) mapping the evidence; 2) agricultural production and effectiveness; 3) drivers of food production and 4) institutional issues.

Principles for responsible investment in agriculture and food systems

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 08:57:17 +0000

The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) endorsed the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (PDF) in October 2014. The objective of the Principles is to promote responsible investment in agriculture and food systems that contribute to food security and nutrition, thus supporting the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. The document seeks to address the core elements of what makes investment in agriculture and food systems responsible and to identify who the key stakeholders are, and their respective roles and responsibilities with respect to responsible investment in agriculture and food systems. The principles provide a framework that all stakeholders can use when developing national policies, programmes, regulatory frameworks, corporate social responsibility programmes, individual agreements and contracts. Read more on background to principles.

Addressing debates on African agriculture and rural development

F&BKP Office — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:06:12 +0000

IIED, ODI and IDS have published a series of papers addressing agricultural and rural development debates in sub-Saharan Africa. They aim to improve the understanding of agricultural and rural development in Africa in the context of both long-standing and new drivers of change, so as to stimulate debate and research, and contribute to improved policy and food security outcomes. The papers include: 1) Africa’s Evolving Food Systems – Drivers of change and the scope for influencing them; 2) Smallholder agriculture in Africa. An overview and implications for policy; 3) Rural economic diversification in sub-Saharan Africa; 4) Agricultural policy choice: interests, ideas and the scope for reform; 5) Rural futures. How much should markets rule?; 6) The rehabilitation of agricultural subsidies? And 7) Improving policymaking for agricultural and rural development in Africa.