Food & Business Knowledge PlatformFood security policy and governance - Food & Business Knowledge Platform

Impact of COVID-19 on smallholder farmers, producer organizations and MFIs in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Senegal

F&BKP Office — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 12:22:32 +0000

This insight brief (PDF) by ICCO Cooperation draws together findings resulting from a study investigating the diverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on smallholder farmers and microfinance institutions (MFIs) across four countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Senegal). The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a severe public health crisis across the world. To reduce the spread of the virus, governments have imposed a number of restrictions on movement and assembly. The top 5 study insights are: 1) The COVID-19 restrictive measures have far-reaching effects on every phase of the agricultural cycle, and at all levels of market systems. 2) The flows of agricultural inputs, labor and produce are inhibited, which results in lower quantity and quality of produce. 3) Smallholder farmers and producer organizations experience great difficulties in marketing their produce and accessing buyers, which results in less income, while costs for transportation are increasing, because of scarcity. 4) MFIs report repayment delays and increasing numbers of clients defaulting on loans, which puts their own liquidity at risk. 5) The observed effects of COVID-19 (restrictions) are expected to continue having a negative impact in succeeding seasons. For future-proof farming, building resilience to disruptive shocks and market volatility is required. Thereby the pandemic has highlighted the importance of mobile banking for facilitating access to finance during crisis conditions, and the potential of remote financial access for reducing both the costs and risks associated with traditional banking practices. Producer organizations should be supported to support their members and MFIs require improved risk management.

Science of scaling: Connecting the pathways of agricultural research and development for improved food, income and nutrition security

F&BKP Office — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 12:15:12 +0000

This special issue of Agricultural Systems takes stock of how the world of agricultural research for development (AR4D) is engaging with scaling in theory and practice in the context of increased pressure to demonstrate impact. The 10 publications cut agross three categories: 1) Understanding the scaling trajectory retrospectively form a longer term, systems perspective. The category includes two articles, showing how scaling of innovation cuts across different institutional, leadership, technological and organizational dimensions, and applying a systems perspective to draw programmatic lessons from a large scale investment in scaling. 2) Understanding scaling of innovation retrospectively as part of shorter term AR4D interventions. The five articles in the category focus on the scaling approaches employed by innovation platforms, on how multi-level innovation platforms served as the principle approach to scaling sustainable intensification, on approaching scaling from the viewpoint of ensuring access to material and social components of an innovation package, on research-development partnerships and partnership drivers and dynamics for scaling complex innovations, and on opportunities and challenges for scaling agricultural mechanization services. 3) Conceptual or methodological approaches aimed at guiding scaling prospectively. One paper builds a strong case for a systems approach to scaling, another operationalises complex systems concepts for assessing the scaling readiness of innovations, while the last paper demonstrates how the use of The Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS) for rapid characterization of rural households can support scaling partners to move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to scaling of innovation. The editorial proposes three research domains for the Science of Scaling: ‘Understand the big picture of scaling innovation’; ‘Develop instruments that nurture efficient and responsible scaling’; and ‘Create a conducive environment for scaling innovation’.

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.

Multi-actor initiatives in action: Lessons from the Sustainable Diets for All programme

F&BKP Office — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 15:42:29 +0000

This paper (PDF) by Hivos and IIED aims to strengthen the understanding of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MAIs) by showing what works and what does not, based on three MAIs that have come about through the Sustainable Diets for All programme, and also provides actionable recommendations for people designing MAIs. MAIs can serve to connect the various actors of the food system and bring about transformation. Each case briefly describes the MAI and how it works, and summarises the main outcomes and lessons. The programe has seen that inviting stakeholders such as decision makers and citizens to engage in these initiatives together encourages a deeper understanding of other perspectives and interests. And when decision makers take on challenges alongside other stakeholders, desired advocacy changes in agenda setting, policy making and practices are often achieved. In general, the case studies analysed in this report have shown the added value of MAIs in addressing food system problems. The complex nature of food systems, with their many moving parts and multiple actors, requires an approach that brings this diversity of views together in a meaningful and productive way. When designed to be flexible and to factor in learning moments and adjustments, and to consciously engage with stakeholders throughout every phase of the process, a MAI can be a useful approach for improving food systems. The paper concludes with a series of general recommendations drawn from these case studies: 1) Work flexibility into the process; 2) Clarify what you aim to change, define a desired change process, and monitor progress; 3) Be inclusive; 4) Conduct a stakeholder analysis; 5) Ensure strong facilitation; 6) Focus on everyday issues and discuss them in the local language; 6) Invest for the long term; 7) Understand people’s realities better; 8) Indentify the impact of strategies.

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.

Protracted crisis, food security and the fantasy of resilience in Sudan

F&BKP Office — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 10:11:16 +0000

This article in the Security Dialogue journal uses examples from Sudan to examine how and why the resilience ‘regime of practices’ has functioned as a form of neoliberal governmentality, and argues that it has created a fantasy in which conflict in Darfur is invisible. This allowed food aid to be withdrawn and removed the need for protection despite ongoing conflict and threats to livelihoods; thus crisis-affected populations have been abandoned. In the past decade, food security and nutrition practices have become central in the promotion of resilience in protracted crises. Such approaches have been welcomed by the aid community because of their potential for linking relief and development. Social and political analysts, however, have criticized resilience approaches for failing to consider power relations and because they entail an acceptance of crisis or repeated risk. In this context, regimes of food security and nutrition practices have become increasingly targeted, privatized and medicalized, focussing on individual behaviour and responsibility rather than responsibility of the state or international actors.

Dealing with Covid-19 in rural Africa: Lessons from previous crises

F&BKP Office — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 12:57:31 +0000

This brief (PDF) by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) summarises insights from a study which examines the lessons that can be drawn from previous crises to inform responses to Covid-19 in rural Africa. It addresses two main questions: 1. What might the consequences be of disease, and responses to it, on agriculture, rural livelihoods, food systems and food security? 2. What lessons on dealing with those consequences can be drawn from previous crises? How Covid-19 and responses to it will unfold in rural Africa is uncertain. Agricultural output may fall, as may household incomes. Food supply chains may be disrupted, leading to rising food insecurity. Rural livelihoods need to be sustained and food systems kept running. Effects may be moderate rather than severe: farming and food systems are used to coping with shocks. Impacts will be highly uneven between individuals and households. Those most affected will need support, for example through cash transfers. Other health crises show how difficult it is to get public responses right when so much is uncertain. Three mistakes are commonly made in early reactions: early responses can be misconceived; livelihoods tend to be sidelined in medical interventions; and overreacting in decision-making can make things worse. Management of crises thus needs to be adaptive, informed by timely evidence from the ground, with active engagement with local, affected communities. In terms of what to do, three priorities stand out: sustain rural livelihoods as far as possible, maintain food systems, and protect those most affected. On a brighter note, recovery from previous crises has often been quick and strong, even when the measures taken have been quite modest.

The full study ‘Policy interventions to mitigate negative effects on poverty, agriculture and food security from disease outbreaks and other crises’ can be found here (PDF)

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.

Agency of advocacy in the food systems of the majority

F&BKP Office — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 13:33:03 +0000

This paper (PDF) by Hivos and IIED highlights lessons and insights from the Sustainable Diets for All programme about the opportunities, dilemmas and tensions of putting (low-income) citizen agency at the centre of advocacy and interventions. Interventions to improve the sustainability and nutrition of food can be misdirected when based on assumptions about people’s priorities and level of knowledge. When citizens have agency, there is the potential to achieve better and more durable outcomes. The food systems for low-income citizens have characteristics that make citizen agency an important starting point for external interventions. These food systems of the majority operate largely through the informal and semi-formal economy without large-scale corporate structures. At the consumption end, these food systems meet a growing demand for prepared food, with the role of women and youth being particularly important throughout. The organisation of these systems are usually unclear to outsiders. Policy neglect is rife, as is a lack of trust. Local concepts of sustainable food systems may differ fundamentally from western framing of food and diets. External interventions therefore need to be grounded in realities of food systems of the majority. By understanding lived experience and by locating hotspots of organisation and energy, interventions have a chance to establish common cause with food producers, trades and consumers, especially in informal food economies. Reflections for citizen-centred interventions are: 1) Space and opportunity for agency should be designed from the beginning of an intervention. 2) Careful scoping in the food system of the majority and its organisation helps build around people’s priorities rather than an imposed agenda. 3) Ways of working need to be adapted to keep citizens at the centre of advocacy. 4) Advocacy at the local level and in the wider policy and market environment will not always be directed at public policy. 5) Effects on citizen capacities and agency can be monitored as outcomes in their own right.

Food transfers, electronic food vouchers and child nutritional status among Rohingya children living in Bangladesh

F&BKP Office — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 15:48:59 +0000

This article (PDF) in Plos One examines assocations between receipt of an electronic food voucher (e-voucher) compared to food rations on the nutritional status of Rohingya children living in refugee camps in Bangladesh. The study is associational, using cross-sectional data. Heights and weights were measured of 523 children aged between 6 and 23 months in households receiving either a food ration consisting of rice, pulses, vegetable oil (362 children) or an e-voucher (161 children) that could be used to purchase 19 different foods. Results show that in a humanitarian assistance setting, Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, household receipt of an electronic food voucher instead of a food ration is associated with improvements in the linear growth of children between 6 and 23 months, but not in measures of acute undernutrition or other anthropometric outcomes. The association is robuts to the inclusion of maternal, household and location characteristics. Women in male headed households receiving the e-voucher were 11 percentage points more likely to decide solely or jointly how to use the food assistance that their households had received compared to women in male headed households receiving the GFD. Households receiving the e-voucher reported being able to make the assistance they received last until the next payment. Improved dietary diversity, increased women’s control over the transfer and the ability of households to making the transfer last until the next payment are all associated with receipt of the e-voucher. The association between e-vouchers and linear growth of children indicates that transitioning from food ration to electronic food vouchers does not adversely affect child nutritional status.

Food as a weapon? The geopolitics of food and the Qatar–Gulf rift

F&BKP Office — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 15:27:29 +0000

This article, in the Security Dialogue, puts the concept of ‘food as a weapon’ in historical and regional perspective in the Arabian Peninsula through the lens of critical geopolitics, tracing the securitizing discourses about food security and their intertwining with narratives about territorial sovereignty, nationalism, and essentialist understandings of geography to explain the causes and effects of the food embargo in the ongoing Qatar–Gulf rift. On 4 June 2017, Qatar was suddenly put under an embargo by its regional neighbors – an effort spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who cut off most of its existing land, sea, and air traffic routes. With no domestic agriculture to speak of, Qatar’s external logistics networks are essential for maintaining its food supply. The country’s 2.6 million residents, many of whom flooded the grocery stores, were understandably concerned about their ability to secure food when news about the embargo broke. Eventually, new food supply chains were established, primarily with the assistance of partners in Iran and Turkey. The ongoing rift between Qatar and its neighbors in the Arabian Peninsula, manifested only in part by this effort to undermine the country’s material supply networks raises a number of questions about an old idea: that of food as a ‘weapon’.

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.

Drought, resilience, and support for violence: Household survey evidence from DR Congo

F&BKP Office — Thu, 14 May 2020 14:25:47 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Journal of Conflict Resolution examined the variation in the support for violence related to reported exposure to drought and resilience metrics, using household survey data from two conflict-affected regions in DR Congo. The authors expected that (1) climate shocks adversely affect agricultural production, (2) resulting shocks to agricultural livelihoods in turn lower the opportunity costs of violence, (3) how much these shocks actually translate into lower opportunity costs for violence is conditioned by the level of resilience determining the capacity to bounce back, and (4) all else being equal low opportunity costs result in a higher likelihood that an affected individual would support the use of violence and participate in conflict in a high-risk context. Findings suggest that more resilient households are less likely to support political violence and thus potentially participate in violence in this context. The experience of a drought is associated with support for political violence for the least resilient individuals. In North Kivu, internally displaced and host households are in a particularly dire situation and farming activities are often hampered by conflict. With prolonged conflict, economic considerations and questions of survival tend to become more important than political preferences. This may suggest that the link between agricultural production shocks, resilience, and propensity to engage in political violence could be particularly pronounced in areas of protracted crises in general. Agriculture remains the main source of food and income for the majority of those caught up in protracted crises; rapidly restoring local food production and investing in building and strengthening resilience are critical to tackling food insecurity. Protecting and restoring sustainable livelihoods is essential to the integrity of societies that depend on farming, livestock, fishing, forests, and other natural resources. The findings are relevant to assessing the security implications of climate change and are important for development and humanitaria policy makes supporting more resilient individuals and communities.

Ebola in Liberia: Impact on food security and livelihoods

F&BKP Office — Wed, 06 May 2020 14:45:24 +0000

This publication (PDF) by Action Against Hunger examines the effects of Ebola on livelihoods and food security in Liberia and provides recommendations for future crises. Findings show that the Ebola crisis has also become a livelihood and food security crisis, affecting wide sections of the Liberian population. The three most affected livelihood groups are 1) petty trading 2) wage labor, and 3) agriculture. Ebola aversion measures (quarantine, road blocks, and curfew) have had the most significant impact on livelihoods and food security. A general economic slowdown, along with Ebola-related fears and other changes in behaviour have had a significant impact on the income earning potential. The purchasing power of consumers has declined and market activity has stagnated. Vendors have been particularly affected by a lack of customers, increased cost of transportation, and the disruption in marketing due to the market closure ordered by the Government of Liberia. Little has been provided to assist communities to recover economically. They need micro-loans in order to revive their livelihood activities. External assistance provided to communities has focused on Ebola-related hygiene items. WASH community programmes were lacking in the country. There was a shift towards consuming less expensive, less nutritious food and limiting on dietary diversity. The publication comes with a number of recommendations: 1) Inject cash into communities to recover food consumption, market activity and incomes. 2) Improve access to micro loans. 3) Integrate livelihood-based responses to improve WASH outcomes. 4) Ensure sufficient level of community involvement. 5) Interventions should target communities with cases, but also with high vulnerability before the crisis. 6) Support with agriculture extension and inputs to mitigate possibility of food shortage. 7) Increase options for alternatives to the consumption of bush meat, as source of protein and livelihood. 8) Ensure that emergency interventions do not undermine medium- and long-term development goals. 9) Ensure that all interventions are coordinated with the government.

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.

Global report on food crises 2020

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 09:08:59 +0000

The 2020 global report on food crises (PDF) by the Global Network Against Food Crises and the Food Security Information Network tracks people most in need of emergency food, nutrition and livelihood assistance, identifies main drivers of actute food insecurity and malnutrition. It also explores whether and how conflict, weather extremes and economic shocks interact and exacerbate food crises and examines how chronic, structural or seasonal issues combine with shocks to exacerbate situations. At 135 million, the number of people in crisis or worse in 2019 was the highest in the four
years. When comparing the 50 countries that were in both the 2019 and the 2020 reports, the population in crisis or worse rose from 112 to 123 million. Conflict/insecurity was still the main driver of food crises in 2019, but weather extremes and economic shocks became increasingly significant. Africa had the largest numbers of acutely food-insecure people in need of assistance in countries badly affected by weather events. In East Africa, armed conflicts, intercommunal violence and other localized tensions continued to affect peace and security. The report reflects the growing influence of economic crises on acute food insecurity levels. An estimated 79 million people remained displaced globally as of mid-2019. More than half of these refugees were hosted in countries with high numbers of acutely food-insecure people. Forecasts for 2020 reveal that the combined effects of conflict, macroeconomic crisis, climaterelated shocks and crop pests, were likely to ensure that Yemen remained the world’s worst food crisis. The drivers of food crises, as well as lack of access to dietary energy and diversity, safe water, sanitation and health care will continue to create high levels of child malnutrition, while COVID-19 is likely to overburden health systems. The pandemic may well devastate livelihoods and food security,
especially in fragile contexts and for the most vulnerable people. A global recession will majorly disrupt food supply chains.

Effects of violent political conflict on the supply, demand and fragmentation of fresh food markets

F&BKP Office — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 12:39:14 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Food Security journal analysed consequences of conflict on economic and physical access to food, as this is one of the core aspects often being reported to be impeded in during conflict escalations causing transitory food insecurity. The current literature has mostly analysed economic effects of conflict, or conflict as a result of threatened food security at the macro-level. A limited number of studies have started to focus on the micro-economic effects of conflict on food markets. This study introduced an empirical framework that enables decomposing micro-economic effects of violent political conflict on food markets. Combining daily data on the sales of apples in the Hebron wholesale market with daily measurements of conflict intensity, significant effects of conflict on apple marketing and demand are found. Demand for apples collapses on days of escalating conflict, as well as welfare loss. Market size as well as total daily apple consumption quantities are found to be substantially reduced during intensive conflict at local level. The effect of suppressing demand is found to be more significant than the increase in marginal costs. The findings suggest that it is access to food in the given case that is more severely impeded by conflict than availability. Moreover, results suggest that it is important for relief policies to focus on alleviating effects of fragmentation of economic space. Future research could deepen and extend the understanding of economic effects of violent political conflict on food markets, food security, actual nutritional patterns and nutrition vulnerability at the micro-level. Further research could also assess nutritional impacts of conflict when demand effects of various commodities are translated into nutritional intake.

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.

Food security and conflict: Empirical challenges and future opportunities for research and policy making on food security and conflict

F&BKP Office — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:46:23 +0000

This article in the World Development journal examines the endogeneity that characterizes the coupling between food (in)security and conflict. During the previous decade, there has been an increased focus on the role of food security in processes of armed conflict, both in the academic and policy communities. While the policy community has pushed forward with new programs, the academic debate about the causal linkages between food security and conflict remains contested. The article first defines conflict and food security using the Uppsala Conflict Data Program and the FAO databases, and illustrate how intervening factors influence the relationship between conflict and food security at the micro and macro levels. Second, it provides a comprehensive review of the literature on the linkages between food security and conflict, focusing on findings that account for endogeneity issues and have a causal interpretation. Causal and substantive links exist between food security and violent conflict, spanning the individual up to global levels. Third, it highlights key data issues related to conflict and food security, and chart ways forward to collect new and better data that can help fill existing academic gaps and support policymaking. For policy makers, closing data gaps will be essential for producing effective food security and peacebuilding policies.

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.

The global institutional landscape of food and agriculture: How to achieve SDG2

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 16:11:53 +0000

This paper (PDF) by ECDPM describes the food and agriculture (F&A) global institutional landscape and its challenges and looks at ongoing reform efforts and their shortcomings. The world is not on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2. Achieving SDG 2 requires urgent action at country level, but also a more effective F&A global institutional landscape. The F&A institutional landscape grew over the past decades as a reaction to crises, identified needs, funding priorities, strategic considerations, humanitarian goals, and individual visions, to become the patchwork of interconnected institutions that it is today. One key feature today is the wide recognition that food is intrinsically linked, accompanied with a dizzying level of complexity, to many of humanities’ biggest challenges. Food, thus straddles almost all SDGs, yet it remains unclear whether or not the current fragmented F&A landscape can effectively coordinate across the whole spectrum of interrelated issues and goals. Renewed effort is urgently needed, but progress is hampered by high fragmentation, overlapping mandates, and budget shortages. Achieving SDG 2 requires stronger reform momentum and larger budgets, supported also by increased coordination across the F&A landscape. In the short term, the paper proposes to increase coordination through an inclusive consultative process to streamline SDG 2 actions across committed F&A institutions, which could culminate in an SDG 2 Leaders Alliance. A next phase of this consultative process could increase coherence, coordination, and accountability between the SDG 2 Alliance and other (F&A) institutions. For the long-term reforms necessary to address the challenge of increasingly complex food systems beyond 2030, a process aimed at delivering stronger food governance through a well-built institutional architecture is proposed. Current and upcoming challenges now necessitate a wider debate on the state of food security and the purpose of F&A governance, especially given its impact on the many related global issues outside the traditional purview of F&A institutions.

Promoting effective resilience investments: Delivering peace, agriculture-led growth and socio-economic transformation in the Horn of Africa

F&BKP Office — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 14:39:43 +0000

This booklet (PDF) from the FAO and IGAD is a compilation of documentation on good practices on resilience at regional level, further to the implementation of the six pillars of IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) in the IGAD region: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. Seventy percent of the IGAD region comprises out of arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) that receive less than 600mm in annual rainfall and which are prone to recurrent droughts. In recent times, the impact of droughts has been compounded by rapid population growth, climate change, conflict and insecurity, and ecological degradation in the ASALs. The region is predominantly inhabited by pastoral and agro-pastoral communities who mostly depend on livestock production and who have limited capacity to cope with the impact of these shocks that often result in disasters and protracted crises. The lessons learnt as well as the challenges met during the implementation of IDDRSI Phase I (2013–2018) are discussed, with a view to informing the implementation of Phase II, endorsed in June 2018, as part of the efforts aimed at ending drought emergencies in the region. Natural resource management, market access and trade, livelihood support, disaster risk management, conflict prevention and institutional strengthening and coordination are all covered.

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.

The hunger games: Food prices, ethnic cleavages and nonviolent unrest in Africa

F&BKP Office — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 10:35:53 +0000

This article in the Journal of Peace Research argues that nonviolent mobilization is made possible in ethnically polarized contexts when broader cross-cutting grievances are present as they enable local activists to widen their appeal across social lines. Nonviolent movements are more successful when mobilizing large and diverse numbers of participants. However, while there has been considerable research on the outcomes of nonviolent campaigns, far less is known about the initial emergence of nonviolent action. A growing literature suggests ethnic divisions may undermine the ability of activists to engage in mass nonviolent mobilization across diverse social lines. Yet many large and diverse nonviolent movements have successfully emerged in various ethnically divided societies across the world. The focus is on food price spikes as an example of a cross-cutting issue that is likely to affect consumers from different ethnic groups. The unique and symbolic nature of food price spikes facilitates nonviolent mobilization across ethnic lines and provides clear short-term incentives for many people to participate in protests against the government. Using new spatially disaggregated data on government targeted nonviolent action, the article analyses grid-cell years across 41 African countries (1990–2008). The article finds strong evidence that food price spikes increase the likelihood of nonviolent action in politically excluded and ethnically diverse locations.

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.

Food safety in low and middle-income countries: The evidence through an economic lens

F&BKP Office — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 15:08:01 +0000

This study in World Development explored food safety issues at each stage of the value chain to identify the economic questions, practical challenges, and knowledge gaps along the way. Foodborne disease is a significant threat to global health, and food safety is a growing concern among consumers in low- and middle-income countries as these countries develop and incomes increase. Ensuring access to safe food, however, is complicated by the fact that our food systems are increasingly complex, with foods traveling longer distances and passing through more stages between where it is grown and where it is eaten. Food safety is both a health issue and an economic one: foodborne disease carries a global health burden comparable to that of malaria or tuberculosis, and affects everyone who eats food – meaning all of us. Factors identified to contribute to food safety issues include: limited consumer awareness and ability to pay for food safety; the lack of incentives to invest in food safety along the food supply chain, from farmers to aggregators, processors, food service providers, and retailers; and weakness of the public institutions responsible for regulatory enforcement. Programs that engage midsize and larger firms in co-regulation and reward farmers and firms for investment in food safety suggest potential ways forward. One lesson that can be drawn from both developed and developing countries with regard to food standards is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and policymakers will need to consider the specific of the circumstances when working to make improvements along the value chain. Alongside these efforts, researchers can help fill evidence and knowledge gaps on a variety of questions that remain outstanding,

Read more on this related blog by Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (CGIAR)

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.

Economic evaluations of multi-sectoral actions for health and nutrition

F&BKP Office — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 12:46:34 +0000

This brief (PDF) by the Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy focuses on the challenge of measuring and comparing health improvements from programmes and policies affecting agricultural production, farmers’ livelihoods and the food environment of urban and rural households. In the context of environmental uncertainty, competing funding demands, increasingly complex food systems and epidemiological transitions, meeting the challenges of malnutrition and public health calls for well-designed and implemented multi-sectoral interventions. However, planning effective agricultural policies and programmes that seek to improve nutrition requires knowledge and understanding of the costs and expected benefits; evidence of which is often scarce. Multi-sectoral interventions also involve different types of costs, incurred in diverse ways by a variety of agencies, meaning that a range of tools, methods and metrics are needed to adequately track and evaluate benefits and costs that transcend sectors. Tools do exist for measuring benefits and cost effectiveness, but which, and how many, are useful for agriculture-nutrition interventions? Just how far should we ‘climb up the tree of economic evaluation?’ Together, this complexity and lack of clarity inevitably hinders analysts’ ability to compare, measure and consistently budget for interventions. By creating a simplified framework and promoting best practices for estimating and reporting costs and benefits of multisectoral strategies that improved evidence and benchmarks will be available in the near future.

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.

Reducing food loss and waste: Setting a global agenda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 08:04:44 +0000

This report (PDF) by the World Resources Institute and the Rockefeller Foundation lays out a global action agenda that will help reduce food loss and waste. Reducing food loss and waste is an important strategy to help meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The benefits of reducing food loss and waste can be significant, it would for example close the gap between food needed in 2050 and food available in 2010 bij more than 20 percent. The underlying drivers of food loss and waste are closely interrelated. Among these drivers, some are more relevant in certain regions. The report identifies a three-pronged approach to halve food loss and waste by 2030. The report calls on governments, companies, farmers, consumers, and everyone in between to: 1) “Target-Measure-Act”: Set food loss and waste reduction targets, measure to identify hotspots of food loss and waste and monitor progress over time, and take action on the hotspots. Progress has been made toward implementing some aspects of Target- Measure-Act. In terms of setting targets, 50 percent of the world’s population now lives in a country that has set an explicit, public target; 2) Pursue a short “to-do” list per player in the food supply chain as “no regret” first steps toward taking action. 3) Collaborate on 10 “scaling interventions” to ramp up deployment of Target-Measure-Act and the to-do list to make sure the progress is going on faster. These scaling interventions include whole supply chain approaches, hotspot-specific approaches and enabling approaches.

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.

Contract farming and public−private partnerships in aquaculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 14:43:19 +0000

This paper (PDF) from the FAO explores some aspects of contract farming with public–private partnerships that combine the expertise and profitability goals of the private sector with the enabling policies of governments. Contract farming (CF) has demonstrated its positive impact as an institutional innovation. Even smallholders can benefit: by reducing – if not eliminating –transaction costs, CF provides markets, finance and technology to smallholders. They can be competitive when there are diseconomies of scale in cultivation, but benefits from economies of scale in processing. Partnering with private companies or NGOs can provide time and resources for entrepreneurial attitudes to evolve and for projects to become financially viable. Sustainability requires that farmers and private partners benefit economically and that environmental and social conditions do not worsen. For projects that focus on food production there are societal benefits. These benefits accrue to society when young people are involved in the project. The extent of unemployment and underemployment of young people in rural sub-Saharan Africa is a personal and societal tragedy, so training and opportunities to engage in business activities is positive. A further societal benefit is the reduction of food insecurity thanks to a successful project. In the first place higher incomes and profits from entrepreneurial activities enhance purchasing power and thus food accessibility. In the second place it increases the availability of food. These benefits are particularly pertinent when a project expands the production of eggs, fish and poultry, given the micronutrients they provide.

Rebuilding pastoralist livelihoods during and after conflict

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 09:14:34 +0000

This review (PDF) by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) synthesises findings from discussions on approaches to support pastoral livelihoods during and after conflict. The impacts of different approaches to protecting, promoting and rebuilding pastoralists livelihoods during and after conflict is mixed, complicated by the evolving nature of conflict, the range of pastoral groups operating across African contexts and the supra national nature of their activities. Pastoralism plays a significant role across vast swathes of Africa and disruption of their livelihoods may have a significant impact on the societies in which they operate. Policy interventions have been made to support pastoral communities, however, these are often poorly implemented, lack adequate funding, and are implemented by ill-equipped non-pastoral administrators. The lessons from this review suggest that, in order to be successful in unstable environments, development initiatives (including livelihoods support) should be both stabilisation-oriented (providing better access to physical and livelihood security for populations) and conflict-sensitive. State-supported projects that combine development and overcome security measures for the population’s benefit, if designed and implemented in a participatory fashion, can improve pastoralists’ perception of the state as repressive. Overarching the report is an emerging consensus amongst experts that poorly designed pastoral development interventions that do not fully take the drivers of conflict and violence into account can create more instability and exacerbate conflicts. Further to this, not all forms of development of pastoralism will induce stability, and developing pastoralism does not guarantee regional stability i.e. the action of some fringe pastoralists. However, if the objectives of stabilisation and conflict prevention are well integrated into the support of the pastoralist economy, evidence shows that this can contribute to lower levels of insecurity and help foster peace.

A step towards resilience: Pioneering market systems development in humanitarian response

F&BKP Office — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 09:26:47 +0000

This study (PDF) by Mercy Corps had the goal to identify and increase market access and incomes for South Sudanese refugee and local community households who were interested in commercial agriculture in Uganda. Protracted displacement requires a new generation of solutions beyond long-term relief aid, since it is unsustainable to indefinitely provide costly direct assistance that maintains a situation of dependency. The project designed to pioneer the use of the market systems development approach to build the resilience and self-reliance of refugees and host communities. Key activities included using partnerships among market actors to improve farmer access to goods and services and support to businesses to change practices and increase investment, aiming to generate durable income opportunities for refugee and host households. Results showed changed behaviours among all market actors, which are positive indicators of early market systems change. Further, the results revealed the significance of social captical and relationships in accessing goods and information: it increases farmers’ access to resources, improved efficiencies in the supply chain, increased knowledge of farming practices and ultimately improved social capital as a contributor to household resilience. However, to improve market opportunities sufficiently, a multi-year approach is required. The study came with a number of recommendations: 1) Price remained a primary barrier for farmer uptake of improve inputs and services, therefore financing models should be prioritised for future research and programming; 2) An in-depth assessment of sales channels, market dynamics, pricing structures and transaction costs would help to understand the most profitable and sustainable market avenues for farmers; 3) Future programming needs to address cross-cutting constraints, specifically supporting access to finance interventions and identifying market-driven solutions.; 4) Greater consideration needs to be given to the availability of natural resources.

You can find the evaluation report of the study here.

United Nations decade of family farming 2019-2028: Global action plan

F&BKP Office — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 08:53:16 +0000

This action plan (PDF) by FAO and IFAD aims to mobilize concrete, coordinated action to overcome challenges family farmers face, strengthen their investment capacity and thereby attain the potential benefits of their contributions to transform out societies and put in place long-term and sustainable solutions. Putting family farming and all family-based production models at the focus of interventions for a period of ten years, will contribute to a world free of hunger and poverty, where natural resources are managed sustainably, and where no one is left behind. Family farming is the predominant form of food and agricultural production in both developed and developing countries, producing over 80 percent of the world’s food in value terms. The global action plan aims at accelerating actions undertaken in a collective, coherent and comprehensive manner to support family farmers. The action plan consists of five pillars: 1) An enabling policy environment needs to be in place to achieve an sustain progress in food security and nutrition; 2) Support youth and ensure the generational sustainability of family farming; 3) Promote gender equity in family farming and the leadership role of rural women; 4) Strengthen family farmers’ organizations and their capacities to generate knowledge, represent farmers’ concerns and provide inclusive services in rural areas; 5) Improve socio-economic inclusion, resilience and well-being of afmily farmers, rural households and communities; 6) Promote sustainability of family farming for climate-resilient food systems; 7) Strengthen the multidimensionality of family farming to promote social innovations contributing to territorial development and food systems that safeguard biodiversity, the environment and culture. An inclusive monitoring mechanism is developed with the aim to enhance coordination among the different actors involed, contributing to timely synergies, promoting accountability and sharing best practices at all levels.

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.

Creating momentum for nutrition-sensitive agriculture: Experiences and lessons from the Australian aid program

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 May 2019 09:52:43 +0000

This paper in the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development takes a retrospective analysis of the shifts in the Australian aid program that made significant progress in aligning its agriculture policy and programming to be more nutrition-sensitive, and the broader policy environment which made these shifts possible. Global efforts to improve malnutrition have regained considerable momentum. Building the institutional capacity of donor countries to orient investments for enhancing nutrition outcomes is key to this overall vision. The lessons shared aim to support other donors and organizations to undertake similar organizational-level action towards greater nutrition-sensitivity. The Enabling Environment Framework (EEF) guided progress on the complex development agenda and identifies additional considerations for creating sufficient momentum for action. The frameworks consists of three pillars: 1) Knowledge and Evidence; 2) Politics and Governance; 3) Capacity and Resources. The three pillars provide a useful tool to guide thinking around the criteria essential to trigger institutional change. While the EEF outlines key pillars pivotal to creating and sustaining political momentum, lessons to inform how the pillars interact to enable (or hamper) progress to be made are yet to emerge. The processes that enable change will differ among countries and policy environments, which suggests that there may be additional mechanisms and actions required to create momentum. A readiness to learn and adapt accordingly enabled the Australian aid program to orient agricultural investments to improve nutrition outcomes. While the Australian aid program has been successful thus far in creating momentum, further work will be required to convert momentum into results.

Cultivating stability: Agriculture systems, conflict & resilience

F&BKP Office — Thu, 09 May 2019 13:18:35 +0000

This publication (PDF) of Mercy Corps aims to provide ways to ensure that agricultural systems continue to function throughout violent conflict, recover more quickly and minimize the risks of fueling further conflicts so that the people within the systems maintain food security and economic gains. The basis for any agriculture intervention in a situation of conflict or at risk of conflict is to have a good understanding of the conflict issues that could impact or have their source in the agriculture system. This understanding will allow to tailor appropriate solutions for each affected group in ways that respond to their unique needs and vulnerabilities and that address directly and deliberately the drivers of conflicts. The “freedom of movement” can be used as a proxy indicator to determine which intervention can apply. Freedom of movement can be dictated by people’s own fears (they do not want to travel to markets because of insecurity), or movement restrictions may be imposed by the government or militias. In intense conflict, where security concerns limit the freedom of movement, maintaining local production and consumption is paramount to fighting acute hunger and preventing the total breakdown of the system. At immediate (or near-term) risk of conflict or when conflict diminishes, facilitating the development of adaptive market and production systems will be the key to maintaining production levels and feeding the population. To prevent conflicts from reoccurring, we need to address the systemic barriers that perpetuate cycles of conflict, poverty and vulnerabilities. The article comes with a number of princples and actions: 1) Foster social cohesion; 2) Tailor solutions to different affected groups; 3) Ensure protection of women and youth; 4) Support inclusive re/construction of productive infrastructure; 5) Develop conflict-resilient production systems; 6) Promote context-driven local solutions; 7) Mainstream water and land governance and; 8) Strengthen agriculture markets from the onset.

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.

The nexus: Joining forces – peace-building, humanitarian assistance and development co-operation.

F&BKP Office — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 07:57:44 +0000

This issue (PDF) of the Rural 21 journal focus is on the Humantitarian-Development-Peace nexus whereby solutions to instability should bridge the gap between humanitarian assistance and development co-operation, while supporting peace-building. Recurring crises and protracted conflicts world-wide have become the new normal and are leading to fragility, insecurity and migration. Since refugees flee from their insecure region to a less fragile one, the demands in the new region are twofold – the refugees need basic services, while the host countries and communities request support for a sustainable use of natural resources in what is now a region of increased population density. One article is on the nexus policy approach that has resurfaced among global policy-makers seeking a convenient combination of humanitarian action, development and peace. The author gives an account of the different nexus approaches and trends over the last few decades and shows where their restrictions are. An article by the World Food Programme discusses how the nexus is implemented and how to address the most vulnerable in ongoing conflictive and crises situations. CARE International has been advocating for a bottum-up approach to more integration between humanitarian, development and peace activities, where analysis design and implementation are done in very close relation to its impact groups. Three contexts of this nexus approach are analysed in this article. Further, a case of Haiti shows how the dairy and seed sector, besides introducing measures to disaster risk reduction and climate mitigation and adaption, got Haiti back on track after natural disasters that caused crises and food insecurity. Further case studies on adapting to climate change and to more resilience to recurrent (food) crises such as in Mali complement this edition’s selection of articles.

Global report on food crises 2019

F&BKP Office — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 15:11:44 +0000

The 2019 Global Report on Food Crises (PDF), by the Food Security Information Network, provides the latest estimates of severe hunger in the world caused by food crises. More than 113 million people accross 53 countries experiences acute hunger, of which two thirds live in only eight countries. This is a slight improvement compared to 2017, however year on year over 100 million people faced periods of actue hunger. The modest decrease between 2017 and 2018 is largely attributed to changes in climate shocks. High levels of acute and chronic malnutrition in children living in emergency conditions remained of grave concern. The primary driver of food insecurity continued to be conflict and insecurity. Thereafter follows climate shocks and natural disasters, that mostly affected people in Africa. Another key driver was economic turbulence. For 2019, large segments in a number of countries risk falling into level 4 out of 5 of acute food insecurity. Climate shocks and conflict will continue driving food insecurity and are expected once again to severely affect several regions, while the needs of refugees and migrants in host countries are expected to remain significant. Ending conflicts, empowering women, nourishing and educating children, improving rural infrastructure and reinforcing social safety-nets are essential for a resilient, stable and hunger-free world. Investments in conflict prevention and sustaining peace will save lives and livelihoods, reduce structural vulnerabilities and address the root causes of hunger. The report demonstrates the need for simultaneous action across the humanitarian-development nexus to deliver a hunger-free world. Overall, quality of data has improved but there are countries for which there are data gaps. Collecting and analyzing data on vulnerable populations is vital in ensuring a situation analysis that identifies not only outomes, but hunger’s key drivers for a targeted and integrated response for multiple partners working in development and humanitarious spheres.

An abridged version of the report and the key messages (also in French) are available here.

Setting priorities to address the research gaps between agricultural systems analysis and food security outcomes in low- and middle- income countries

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 13:42:17 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by CGAIR assesses the current state of practice for the representation of food security indicators in agricultural systems models and provides recommendations for improvements in both model formulation and the empirical evidence base underlying it. The assessment found that there is broad agreement at conceptual level about linkages between agricultural systems and food security. However, the extant conceptual frameworks are often not specific enough. Moreover, the representations of food security indicators in empirical model analyses of both households and regions are diverse yet often inconsistent with the definitions more commonly emphasized by human nutritionists. Often, empirical models appear to equate measures of production or yields with “food security” when these are indicators only of the “availability” dimension of food security. It is recommended that agricultural systems models focus on incorporating three food access indicators: 1) food consumption expenditures; 2) experiene-based food insecurity scales; and 3) measures of household dietary diversity. The evidence base is currently insufficient to support robust and reliable integration of experience-based food insecurity scales and household dietary diversity into agricultural systems models. Collection of information, preferably using longitudinal data approaches, is needed so that model extensions can include these indicators. Additional study is needed to document and refine the general nature of relationships between common outputs of agricultural systems models and the other two indicators of food access. Priorities for application of agricultural systems models integrating improved representations of food security indicators could include assessment of shocks that could negatively affect production or incomes. The proof-of-concept analyses incorporating food access indicators at the household and regional levels have highlighted the empirical challenges of doing so, but also the benefits of doing so. Broad dissemination of the findings to the agricultural systems modeling and nutrition community is recommended.

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.

Food resources and strategic conflict

F&BKP Office — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 09:14:05 +0000

This study in the Journal of Conflict Resolution aims to develop an explanation for how the competition over food resources conditions the strategic behaviors of three actors: rebels, civilian producers who grow crops, and state forces. A growing number of studies draw linkages between violent conflict and food scarcities. Yet, evidence suggest that within states, conflict revolved around food resource abundance. Using a statistical-strategic model, the author validates its theory at the subnational level on new high specificity spatial data on staple crop access and productivity in Africa for the years 1998 to 2008 (and use the estimates to forecast conflict on out-of-sample data for 2009 to 2010). In line with theoretical expectations, local variations in food productivity have a positive, statistically significant, and substantive effect on the strategic behaviors of different actors. These findings suggest that the imperative for food denial as a microlevel tactic in civil war should be more seriously incorporated into the work of scholars and policy makers.

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.

One size does not fit all: Private-sector perspectives on climate change, agriculture and adaptation

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 15:40:15 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the The Climate-Smart Agriculture Papers assesses how private-sector actors across the supply chain manage climate smart agriculture (CSA), with an eye on how civil society can better engage companies in promoting CSA practices. Smallholder farmers around the globe are facing unstable productivity due to changing climate and weather patterns. The ways in which the private sector supports these farmers to build resilience to and/or engage in efforts to mitigate climate change can have significant impact on farmer livelihoods, security of supply of smallholder crops, and the reputation of the private sector actors drawing loyalty of end consumers and investors. Drawing on dialogue with 42 private firms working in coffee, cocoa and other commodity crops, we found that companies used a variety of climate information depending on their proximity to farm level, drivers for decision-making, and motivations for investing in climate smart practices. In order to successfully approach companies, tool/resource developers need to understand the role of climate smart agriculture within each company’s business model and sustainability strategy. By providing granular data to assist in risk management of specific supply chains, tailoring tools and resources to the companies’ needs, and making the business case for CSA investment, those promoting CSA practices can better engage the private sector to invest in climate resilience. The research highlights the need for the scientific community to provide more detailed, actionable information to incentivise companies’ investments in CSA. Understanding the role each company plays in the supply chain —as direct service providers, collaborators or catalysts—can help define the type of information needed. Insights and approaches that effectively connect long-term climate projections with short-term productivity and weather variability are still needed to increase alignment between existing productivity focused approaches and effective CSA investments.

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

Transforming pasotralist mobility in West Darfur: Understanding continuity and change

F&BKP Office — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 12:28:27 +0000

This study (PDF) by Feinstein International Center of Tufts University examines how livestock keepers in Darfur Region of Sudan cope with and manage extreme climate variability, and potential insecurity and conflict, and how this coping differs according to systems of livestock production and mobility patterns. Pastoralist mobility offers significant production advantages and enables pastoralist herds to access the best-quality grazing during the rainy season. Results show that the annual cycle of mobility differs according to whether livestock keepers are specialists in farming or pastoralism. Patterns of mobility have changed. Compared to the pasts, grazing territories are retracting closer to the home area. All livestock keepers identified insecurity as their predominant concern. The restricted patterns of mobility are a preventive response strategy to counter security risks. Livestock keepers avoid remote pastureland that might put them at risk from bandits and armed groups. Additionally, the lack of water for livestock is pushing livestock keepers to reduce the time spent at certain areas despite the availability of quality pasture. As a result, livestock keepers must make trade-oﬀs between the threat of insecurity and looting versus the risks of overgrazing, poor-quality pasture, overcrowding, and disease. Thus, livestock keepers design and manage the annual cycle of movement to sustain and protect their herds and support household food security and other livelihood goals. Dry years and ﬂoods are characteristic of this region. Drought coping strategies, including higher frequency movement and tree cutting to use seeds and pods as fodder, risk overgrazing and degradation of tree cover. Conﬂict responses include: keeping small livestock herds within the village and moving larger, more mobile herds in bigger groups. None of these responses adequately address the problems faced, and so there is a need for a more collaborative and considered institutional, policy, and programmatic response involving discussing the issues with both the local- and state-level authorities and other stakeholders.

Farmer seed systems and sustaining peace

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 14:25:54 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by FAO examines the role of farmers’ seed systems in sustaining peace, with a focus on social cohesion as a pathway to positive local collective action. The underlying premise of this research is the assumption that farmers’ seed systems are themselves a form of positive local collective action for food security and nutrition. Conflicts heighten grievances, erode trust,undermine credibility of authorities and damage networks. Farmers’ seed systems, which are considered social and economic networks based on trust and reciprocity, may also be aﬀected by such types of conflict. However, precisely because of their nature as trust networks and their function in managing and exchanging agricultural biodiversity, farmers’ seed systems could also provide an important pathway to increased social cohesion through positive local collective action, resulting in the increased resilience of individuals, households and communities to conflict. The paper reveals that certain characteristics of farmers’ seed systems do contribute to sustaining peace, highlighting the two-way interaction of peace-building and agricultural development. Considering their potential in contributing to sustaining peace, it is important to be aware of the challenges that farmers’ seed systems are currently facing, with potentially severe impacts on the socio-ecological resilience of our global food and agriculture systems. The following three recommendations are suggested: 1) Further consideration should be given to strengthening social cohesion as part of peace-building activities before implementing agricultural development project; 2) The focus should be on locally owned action rather than external actors, peace-building in this context involves the restoration of a network of relationships or new arrangements for inclusive and participatory governance ; 3) Further research on positive examples should be undertaken.

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.

Fair prices to achieve a living income for small farmers and its relation to local food purchase programs

F&BKP Office — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 10:17:45 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Sociology and Anthropology journal aims to stimulate a discussion of how to raise the farmers’ income in a non-conventional way, namely by providing another way of looking at prices. For poverty alleviation as well as for food security with the agricultural producers, it is necessary to take a different look at producer prices, especially for small farmers. Since farmers do not earn a sufficient livelihood, alternative ways than market prices have to be looked at. An alternative application for market prices, are the ‘fair prices’. This fair price is the minimum price the farmer should receive in order to attain a living income and food security. The living income / fair price methodology takes as its point of departure the real local costs of living and the real production costs, and thus leads to different fair prices in different places. According to the author, this paradigm shift from the use of prices decided by the market with all its imperfections, to an approach founded on ethics is needed. The developments at both company and NGO level concerning living wage and living income give rise to the hope that the fair price concept will also be further developed soon. Fair prices are an important solution for the farmers’ problems, but are not the only solution. The Living Income / Fair Price methodology can be used in combination with other approaches, such as sustainable agricultural practices. As conditions are different in each country, more research is needed to analyze the consequences of the payment of fair prices for several groups of the population and to advise local governments about adequate accompanying measures.

Food systems in protracted crises: Strengthening resilience against shocks and conflicts

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 16:32:46 +0000

This literature review (PDF) by IDS provides an overview of the recent evidence on what food systems look like in protracted crises and the interventions mentioned in the literature to build more resilient food systems against shocks and conflicts. Food systems are changing and will continue to change in the near future due to many transformative drivers, such as population growth, globalisation, climate change, and pollution. A key trend in food systems is that food insecurity and malnutrition are increasingly concentrated in countries with protracted crises. Since 2010, there has been a rising trend in the proportion of people in countries with protracted crises facing undernourishment, whereas it has been declining for all other developing countries. Food insecurity is not only a consequence of conflict, but can also fuel and drive conflicts, especially in the presence of unstable political regimes, a youth bulge, stunted economic development, slow or falling economic growth, and high inequality. There is an acknowledgement that food insecurity, undernutrition, vulnerabilities to shocks and conflicts, extreme poverty and youth unemployment are all related to food systems. While stressing the importance of access to agriculture inputs, food markets, service providers and infrastructure as prerequisites for successful and efficient food systems, this report shows that all these features of chain processes are heavily affected in countries in protracted crises. In crises or after severe shock situations, men, women, boys and girls are exposed to different types of risks and challenges, and have specific coping strategies related to food and nutrition security. Interventions in food systems that increase food security and nutrition are important to reduce violence and conflict and to become more resilient to shocks. Specific attention should be given to: 1) Linking emergency assistance and food aid to development and vice versa; 2) Implementing social protection schemes; 3) Private sector development in food systems; 4) Access to finance by building financial systems and; 5) Developing the institutional environment.

Agriculture & food systems to 2050: Global trends, challenges and opportunities

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 10:55:34 +0000

This book (PDF) by World Scientific features a comprehensive foresight assessment, exploring the pressures — threats as well as opportunities — on the global agriculture and food systems between now and 2050. The overarching question it addresses is: “How should agricultural research and policy re-orient itself to address the ‘perfect storm’ of global threats and opportunities facing our planet?” It aims to help understand the context, by analyzing global trends and anticipating change for better planning and constructing pathways from the present to the future by focusing on the right questions and problems. The book has a number of key messages: 1) Rapid urbanization, income growth, and the consequent rising demand for food—in terms of both quantity and diversity—provide a new growth opportunity for the agricultural sector in developing countries. This implies a shift from ‘agriculture as a way of life’ to ‘agriculture as a business’ for smallholder farmers in developing countries. 2) The rise of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in developing countries needs urgent attention. Diversifying from the current focus on staple grains toward a nutrition-sensitive food system can help address the double burden of malnutrition. 3) Adaptation of transformative innovations and modern science tools with ‘big data’, ICT, and precision agriculture to smaller scales in developing countries is a major challenge for research and technology design, but has considerable potential to generate high returns towards sustainable intensification. 4) Food systems thinking can help identify synergies and trade-oﬀs between the SDGs, and indicate leverage points for policies and interventions.

A brief outlining some of the book’s key headlines can be found here.

A living income for small-scale farmers: Tackling unequal risks and market power

F&BKP Office — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 11:32:41 +0000

This paper (PDF) by Oxfam argues that closing the living income gap for small-scale farmer requires tackling the underlying imbalance in risk and market power that many of them face when engaging in global food value chains. The ability of small-scale farmers to earn a living income is critical to ensure their viability and economic success. The underlying imbalance is not accidental, but reinforced by structural barriers at the level of individual supply chains, commodity sectors, and public policy agendas. Disproportionate risk can represent a key deterrent for farmers to invest in their farms. Small-scale farmers are limited in their capacity to ensure predictable conditions and to buffer against potential shocks. Unequal market power is the second key barrier. The proliferation of global value chains has come with significant power asymmetries between global buyers and local farmers. Small-scale farmers could play a more active role in fulfilling their economic potential, by engaging in markets on more equal footing. Underlying these risk are structural barriers. At supply chain level, inequities in risk and power are manifested in the captive relationships between a large, fragmented group of farmers and a concentrated group of buyers. At commodity sector level, income prospects of farmers are significantly shaped by decision on commodity production an trade are made by powerful actors. At public policy level, imbalance between risk and market power faced by farmers is reinforced by a diverse set of policy areas ranging from land rights to access to inputs, market infrastructure, export policies, taxation and investment. Women face gender-specific income barriers. Entry point for overcoming these barriers exist. Four strategic shifts are recommended: from production to income as the benchmark for farmer-oriented support; from farmers’ participation in exports towards a holistic household-wide perspective; from resource-intensive interventions to exploring system-oriented strategies; from ‘creating’ to ‘contributing’ to change.

The Scaling Scan: a practical tool to determine the potential to scale

F&BKP Office — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 11:10:48 +0000

Impact at scale is needed to address critical global issues like water availability, sanitation, food security, access to clean energy and environmental concerns. But at the same time we all seem to wonder what scaling actually means in practice: how can our policy or project activities contribute to reach impact at scale? The PPPLab, studied to what it realistically takes to scale, and developed a practical tool that helps projects to identify strengths and weaknesses of their scaling strategies. The Scaling Scan is designed for anyone involved in pro-poor and sustainable development programs looking to scale impact. They are mandated to scale responsibly with minimal negative side effects on environmental, social and other systems. Project coordinators, managers and teams who direct project resources and priorities will be those most able to take advantage of the Scaling Scan. Still, technical experts and implementing staff will still find the scaling perspective useful, especially if applied before a pilot ends. Furthermore, the Scaling Scan can be applied within a range of sectors, though it is based on experience from the agriculture and the water sector. Several tests have been carried out in the Netherlands, Mexico, Kenya, India and Nepal with project managers, scientists, agricultural extension agents and other development practitioners working in the agrifood and rural water supply sectors. The final version was developed in cooperation with the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Centre (CIMMYT).

You can download the Scaling Scan here.

You can download an Excel version of the Scaling Scan here.

Conflict and hunger: The lived experience of conflict and food insecurity in South Sudan

F&BKP Office — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 14:09:11 +0000

This report (PDF) by Concern Worldwide seeks to understand how conflict affects individuals, groups and communities, the different mechanisms by which conflict affects food security and what opportunities remain for mitigating the impact of conflict on hunger. The study documents conflict’s devastating impact on food security in areas both acutely and less directly affected by violence. In some cases, it leads to near-total dependence on food aid. Restrictions on humanitarian access are deadly weapons of war. Conflict profoundly affects communities through localised violence, economic crisis and as a force multiplier in contexts of natural disasters and climate change. Conflicts impact on food security are unequally distributed within households and communities. Gendered dimensions are particularly stark. Women are primarily responsible for food collection and preparation, putting themselves at risk when searching for food. They are also more likely to deny themselves and suffer from (violent) power imbalances within households. The study outlines ways in which conflict severely disrupts traditional coping mechanisms and mutual support systems. Depleted household assets and competition for scarce resources can diminish cooperation, mutual solidarity and systems of reciprocity. Five recommendations are given: 1) Humanitarian and development actors must work in a conflict-sensitive way to support peace at different levels and deliver effective, accountable quality programming. 2) Humanitarian and development actors should implement programmes that are highly attuned to the ways that gender and social relations shape conflict’s impacts on food security. 3) Actors should support community-owned resilience-building activities that tackle the combined impacts of conflict, climate change and natural disasters on food insecurity. 4) Donors should provide sufficient, rapidly dispersible and flexible funding to support conflict-sensitive, multi-year, integrated responses to conflict and hunger. 5) All parties to conflict must abide by, monitor and continue to advocate for compliance with, international humanitarian law, including law concerning the use of food as a weapon of war.

Food security and conflict: Empirical challenges and future opportunitites for research and policy making on food security and conflict

F&BKP Office — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 13:49:34 +0000

This article by the World Development Journal, emphasizes the endogeneity that characterizes the coupling between food (in)security and violent conflict. During the previous decade there has been an increased focus on the role of food security in conflict processes, both in the academic and policy communities. While the policy community has pushed forward with new programs, the academic debate about the causal linkages between food security and conflict remains debated. This article makes three contributions: First, it defines conflict and food security using the standard Uppsala Conflict Data Program and the FAO databases, and illustrates how intervening factors influence the relationship between conflict and food security at the micro and macro levels. Second, is provides a comprehensive review of the literature on linkages between food security and conflict, focusing on findings that account for endogeneity issues and have a causal interpretation. Third, policy-affecting data gaps beyond endogeneity and chart ways forward is highlighted to improve the existing bodies of data and support new data collection to fill the academic gaps and support policy making. Results show that causal and substantive links exist between food security and violent conflict, spanning the individual up to global levels. The article also provides policy makers with analysis of data challenges. Closing data gaps will be essential for producing effective food security and peacebuilding policies.

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.

Delivering on the promise of transformational change: What does it take for Dutch-supported PPPs?

F&BKP Office — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 10:52:02 +0000

This paper (PDF) by PPPLab presents the main lessons from Dutch-supported public–private partnerships (PPPs) in food security and water, provides building blocks for making PPPs deliver on the SDGs, with fundamental implications for key partners in PPPs and policymakers. PPPs are expected to address complex issues in challenging placese. PPPLab found that Dutch-supported PPPs do rather well when it comes to pioneering innovative approaches, aligning interests, influencing the rules of the game, leveraging actors’ strengths and developing inclusive partnerships. However, the partnerships have to deal with high expectations form all sides and to deliver quickly on various policy goals. For Dutch-supported PPPs to deliver their promise of transformational change, they should: 1) Strategize for systemic change, which includes applying a long-term system lens, identifying scaling potential through local actors, engaging in issues that matter locally and becoming system players. 2) Improve parnerships’ fitness to enable change, which requires considering who to partner with, how to partner, what to do if circumstances change and how to work on locally embedding the partnership. 3) Rethink risk and combine resources, which implies mitigate risk, blended value proposition, plan financial graduation and get an in-country finance partner on board. Taking into account the lessons from Dutch-supported PPPs and their challenges, the Dutch PPP approach is in need of recalibration. There are some fundamental implications for the Dutch government on how to support PPPs best and unleash their transformational potential. Recalibrating the Dutch PPP approach implies: nurture system players, grants should exit responsibly and promote locally embedded partnerships.

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 safe food imperative: Accelerating progress in low- and middle-income countries

F&BKP Office — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 15:52:54 +0000

This report (PDF) by the World Bank strengthens the economic case for increased public investment and other policy attention on food safety in developing countries. Among developing countries, there is limited understanding of the wider-ranging socio-economic costs of unsafe food and the benefits of remedial or preventative measures. Due to this, many countries underinvest in food safety or invest inefficiently in reaction to serious outbreak of foodborne illness, other food scares or trade interruptions. For many countries experiencing rapid urbanization and dietary challenges, the growing complexity of food safety hazards is outpacing if not overwhelming prevailing food safety management capacity – both in government and supply chains. A significant share of food safety problems and associated costs can be avoidable if a concerted set of preventive measures are put in place. Food safety needs to become a shared responsibility. The most crucial roles for governments is to be facilitative: induce investments and behaviour changes by actors that share the goal and responsibility for safer food. This inclusive concept of food safety management may require a paradigm shift in how emerging countries approach food safety regulation. Governments of low- and middle-income countries need to invest in food safety in a smart way: with clear purpose and tracking impact of interventions. Investments should also address environmental health issues and public health systems. Recommendations for national governments is a two-set: 1) Effective policy frameworks to govern food safety, emphasizing the adoption of both systems and inclusive concepts of food safety management. 2) For better implementation, guidance is offered for reforming food safety regulatory practices. The report also includes recommendations for different stakeholders, emphasizing core principless and reflecting what is most important and feasible for countries at different levels of economic development and food system modernization. More specific priorities and action plans will need to be determined and created by stakeholders at country or regional level.

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.

Agriculture as an engine of economic reconstruction and development in fragile countries

F&BKP Office — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 12:00:57 +0000

This briefing (PDF), by CTA is part of the Brussels Briefings and focuses on agriculture as an engine of economic reconstruction and development in fragile countries. Fragility results from the complex interplay of weak societal institutions confronted with internal and external stresses. The relationship between fragility and agriculture is a complex one. Agriculture systems can suffer significantly because of fragility, whilst also contributing to the conditions for a fragility to emerge and persist. Agriculture plays an important contribution towards economies of fragile countries. The role of agriculture and food has a particular resonance in fragile and conflict states. Smallholder farming can form the basis of peace-building. By taking a sustainable development approach to food and nutrition security, reconstructing livelihoods of conflict and disaster affected communities is possible. As fragility increases, so does the reliance on agriculture as a source of livelihood and security. Working effectively in fragile states requires a long-term, context-specific approach. Agriculture must play a central part in boosting fragile countries’ economies and alleviating poverty. Investing more in agriculture would ensure moving from emergency to resilience and long-term development. There is a need to mitigate risks to the population by investing in local capacities for early warning, preparedness and response. Smallholder farmers are among the most vulnerable. Access to inputs and knowledge, ICTs to quickly share information and extension/advisory services will contribute to the resilience of agriculture livelihoods. Reducing the root causes of vulnerabilities of individuals and communities with livelihoods depending on crop, livestock, fish, trees and other renewable resources is fundamental. Finally, national ownership and international commitment are needed to reduce fragility, fragile states have untapped opportunities to pursue development. Donor coordination remains necessary since very often these lessons are simply not learned or shared across countries and among donors.

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.

The role of innovation brokers in agricultural innovation systems

F&BKP Office — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 12:13:34 +0000

This article, published by The World Bank, discusses the role of innovation brokers in bridging communication gaps between various actors of agricultural innovation systems. On the basis of recent experience in the Netherlands, it outlines the success of brokers in finding solutions adapted to the needs of farmers and industry, and thus their positive impact on innovation adoption. This section also examines some issues on how brokers function, particularly with regard to balancing interests, funding their activities, and the role of government. Innovation brokers purposefully catalyze innovation through bringing together actors and facilitating their interaction, from a relatively impartial third-party position. Brokering expands the role of agricultural extension from that of a one-to-one intermediary between research and farmers to that of an intermediary that creates and facilitates many-to-many relationships. Preliminary lessons from experience are that innovation brokers help build synergy in agricultural innovation systems, but their “behind-the-scenes” mode of operating conceals their impact and may limit financial support for their role. Their contributions to building capacity for collective innovation and preventing innovation-system failures offer a rationale for public investment in their activities. Innovation brokers need considerable room to maneuver in building and facilitating networks from a credible position. A context-specific design is required for innovation brokers to attain a credible position. The article comes with several recommendations for brokers, policy makers, project leaders and those who champion innovation brokering. A recommendation for brokers is to plan for the nature of the different innovation broker functions in the different steps of the innovation process, but be flexible at the same time. For policy makers it is recommended to assess innovation system failures and current innovation broker capacity to avoid duplication of effort. Project managers should coordinate actions of the innovation network partners and the innovation broker when forming the network to avoid confusion among the parties.

This article is a chapter of the book “Agricultural innovation systems: An investment sourcebook“.

Markets in crises: The implications for humanitarian action

F&BKP Office — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 09:56:53 +0000

This report (PDF), by the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), collates findings across three case studies on what actually happens to the institutions around markets during and after crises, and explores how humanitarian policies and interventions can be best used to maximize the potential of markets to support the household resilience of people living in situations of crises. Results show that the direct impact of a crisis did not stop markets from functioning: as long as demand existed, markets continued to function and prices rose to ensure supply continued. Markets’ ability to function was hit most by the breakdown in credit. Crises also changed the power structures and incentives behind market governance. The same conflict affected different market sectors in different ways, due to differences in institutional structures. The ways in which humanitarian aid was delivered had huger, often negative, impacts on markets. Most aid was given in-kind, which replaced demand for goods in the markets. This constrained recovery of the markets. The ways in which aid agencies purchased in-kind aid was unsuitable for the ways in which markets worked in those countries. Better understanding of the many different ways in which crises and aid change markets enables agencies to take action before a crisis to help strengthen the resilience of market systems to crises. Taking markets in crises seriously means the end of the humanitarian livelihoods sector as we know it. Although the increasing engagement of humanitarian agencies with market analysis is an extremely positive development, the aid sector needs to make radical changes in how it incorporates market awareness into its planning, and how it thinks about the private sector and its role in crises.

There are also seperate reports for all three case studies in Pakistan, Mali and South Sudan.

Armed conflict and food security in West Africa: Socioeconomic perspective

F&BKP Office — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 14:28:46 +0000

This paper in the International Journal of Social Economics examines the effect on increasing armed conflict on food security in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member countries. Traditional theory perceives climate change, social injustices, property right, food insecurity, religious extremism and bad governance as the predictors of armed conflicts. In this study, the authors departed from the traditional theory by demonstrating that the nature and trend of armed conflict could also pose a serious threat to food security. The study utilized the dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) to investigate the effect of conflict intensity on food security in the 14 member states of the ECOWAS using annualized panel data from 2005 to 2015. The findings reveal that armed conflict is a significant predictor of food security in West Africa. The findings of the study bring to fore, the urgent need to rethink global initiative for combating food insecurity. The effort must also identify the causes of armed conflicts and design sound strategies for de-escalating the armed conflicts. Resolving the escalating armed conflict entails developing a conflict resolution framework that is extremely sensitive to the causes of conflict in Africa and adopting localized ex ante institutional diagnostics that would help in understanding the nature of the conflicts.

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.

Food systems for sustainable development: Proposals for a profound four-part transformation

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:59:56 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Agronomy for Sustainable Development journal is calling on the need for a transformation of food systems – at scale – in order to achieve the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. Food systems are of importance for sustainable development: they are at the nexus linking food security, nutrition, human health, viability of ecosystems, climate change and social justice. However, agricultural policies tend to focus on food supply. Therefore, a transformation is needed to deliver multiple and simultaneous social, economic, and environmental outcomes, including poverty eradication and mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The food systems transformation that is needed has four parts, as argued by the international group of experts. First, food systems should enable all people to benefit from nutritious, healthy food. Second, they should reflect sustainable agricultural production and food value chains. Third, they should mitigate climate change and build resilience. Fourth, they should encourage a renaissance of rural territories. The implementation of the food system transformation relies on: (i) suitable metrics to aid decision-making; (ii) synergies of policies through convergence of local and global priorities, and (iii) enhancement of development approaches that focus on territories. There is a need for consistency between global actions for sustainable development and numerous local-level innovations. It emphasizes the challenge of designing differentiated paths for food systems transformation responding to local and national expectations. Scientific and operational challenges are associated with the alignment and arbitration of local action within the context of global priorities. In the end, the food system transformation depends on enlightened policies, well-adapted process, local to global integration and value systems based on justice and human rights principles for arbitrating trade-offs. The process should be accelerated through multi-stakeholder coalitions to encourage greater alignment among actors in the framework.

A related news item by CIRAD can be found here.

Conflict and hunger: Breaking a vicious cycle

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 08:13:14 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Swiss’ and Netherlands missions to the UN presents the findings and recommendations from a series of seminars on the link between conflict and hunger. Conflict and hunger are both on the rise again. There is broad recognition that the two reinforce each other in a vicious cycle and that conflict is a key driver of severe food insecurity and famines. There is not a lack of current legal frameworks to limit the adverse impact of conflict, but the persistent failure to comply with them and the lack of accountability that aggravate situations of food insecurity. The situations requires urgent and immediate attention and long-term commitments. Preventing conflict, mitigating its negative impacts on food security and establishing sustainable, resilient and inclusive food systems requires a comprehensive, coordinated, innovative, multi-disciplinary response. Affected communities and their needs must be at the centre of any response. This report suggests three key pathways: prevention of food insecurity resulting from or contributing to conflict; compliance with and accountability within legal frameworks; and working towards a comprehensive and coordinated operational response. The international community should build on existing mechanisms, initiatives and previous successes, while looking for innovative ways to respond to the immediate and long-term needs of communities. One of the recommendations for the Security Council is to consider the use of targeted sanctions in cases of willful impediment of relief supplies, while taking into consideration guarantees of due process under international law. A recommendation for UN Member States is to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access and avoid the politicisation of humanitarian assistance by ensuring that humanitarian needs and respect for humanitarian principles are the basis of humanitarian action. The UN system and relevant organisations should support further evidence-based analysis on how food insecurity can lead to conflict and intervene in support of food security and livelihoods by making investment in rural development and agriculture.

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.

Food security and conflict: Empirical challenges and future opportunities for research and policy making on food security and conflict

F&BKP Office — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 12:36:18 +0000

This article, in the World Development journal, emphasizes the endogeneity that characterizes the coupling between food (in)security and violent conflict. During the previous decade there has been an increased focus on the role of food security in conflict processes, both in the academic and policy communities. While the policy community has pushed forward with new programs, the academic debate about the causal linkages between food security and conflict remains debated. The article makes three contributions. First, conflict and food security are defined using the standard Uppsala Conflict Data Program and the FAO databases, and it is illustrated how intervening factors influence the relationship between conflict and food security at the micro and macro levels. Second, a comprehensive review of the literature is provided on linkages between food security and conflict, focusing on findings that account for endogeneity issues and have a causal interpretation. Third, policy-affecting data gaps are highlighted beyond endogeneity and chart ways forward to improve the existing bodies of data and support new data collection to fill the academic gaps and support policy making. The article frames the ongoing debate around the causal relationship between food security and conflict, while also providing policy makers with analysis of data challenges and opportunities for innovation in food security and peacebuilding. Results reveal that causal and substantive links exist between food security and violent conflict, spanning the individual up to global levels. For policy makers, closing data gaps will be essential for producing effective food security and peacebuilding policies.

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.

Multi-stakeholder partnerships to finance and improve food security and nutrition in the framework of the 2030 Agenda

F&BKP Office — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 08:11:38 +0000

This report (PDF) by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food and Nutrition Security clarifies the concepts of multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) and identifies the challenges. There is a growing recognition that the food security issue requires a cross-sectoral and holistic approach, for example via MSPs. The growing importance of MSPs however raises questions about the benefits, limitations, performance and relevance of MSPs. The primary benefit of MSPs is the mobilization and coordinated use of complementary resources. MSPs can also improve mutual understanding among partners, facilitate policy convergence and consensus building. A major challenge is the tensions that can appear among partners in a MSP, for example generated by conflicts of interest. Thereby, MSPs can reproduce existing power asymmetries and strengthen the position of more powerful actors. MSPs can also be more time, energy and resource consuming than when acting separately. HLPE suggests eight qualities that shape MSPs’ performance. Three result-related: effectiveness, impact and capacity to mobilize resources. Five process-related: inclusiveness, accountability, transparency, reflexivity and efficiency. The links, synergies and trade-offs between these qualities have to be considered when assessing MSPs’ performance. The report comes with a number of pathways to improve MSPs and finishes with a number of recommendations. One recommendation is to establish a policy framework to ensure that MSPs effectively contribute to the progressive realization of the right to adequate food. Hereby, states should consider the role of MSPs when developing strategies for achieving national food and nutrition security (FNS) goals, and ensure that legal and regulatory frameworks promote transparency and accountability. Another recommendation is to improve mobilization, coordination and targeting of financing for FNS through MSPs. States and intergovernmental organizations should promote innovative ways to mobilize domestic and international public financing of MSPs through the use of various mechanisms.

A summary of the report 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.

Innovation platforms in agricultural research for development

F&BKP Office — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:53:34 +0000

This article (PDF) by the Experimental Agriculture journal describes when and for what purpose innovation platforms provide an appropriate mechanism for achieving development outcomes, and what kinds of human and financial resource investments and enabling environments are required. Innovation platforms are fast becoming part of the mantra of agricultural research for development projects and programmes. Their basic tenet is that stakeholders depend on one another to achieve agricultural development outcomes, and hence need a space where they can learn, negotiate and coordinate to overcome challenges and capture opportunities through a facilitated innovation process. However, as the implementation of innovation platforms can consume significant human and financial resource investments, research and development donors will require evidence on the return on investments. This requires investments in structure monitoring, evaluation and learning, which is missing in many innovation platform initiatives. Furthermore, the study makes clear that not all constraints will require innovation platforms and, if there is a simpler, more cost- and time-effective approach, that should be considered first. It also provides an incentive to better reflect whether development outcomes can be achieved by building on existing platforms and networks, rather than initiating new innovation platforms. Based on the review of critical design principles and plausible outcomes of innovation platforms, this study provides a decision support tool for research, development and funding agencies that can enhance more critical thinking about the purposes and conditions under which innovation platforms can contribute to achieving agricultural development outcomes.

Food security, resilience and well-being analysis of refugees and host communities in northern Uganda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 12:27:07 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO provides a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the refugees’ food security, well-being and resilience in Northern Uganda. Although refugees in Uganda are given land and mobility rights, their food security remains low, with a high dependency of food aid. The key message concerning food security is that having access to stable and basic services (improved sanitation, water and markets) as well as the diversification of income-generating activities, will enhance the food security of host and refugee communities. Refugee communities are more food insecure and strongly reliant on assistance as main source of consumed food. A policy and programme implication is to improve management of regional food stocks in order to respond to the increased food demand. These food stocks could be produced by and purchased from farmers in the region. Further, boost the capacity for agricultural production and marketing and develop specific support packages for refugees. A main finding on livelihoods is that a vibrant informal market for exchange exists between refugees and host communities, contributing to their resilience. Gaps of the informal market can help identify appropriate opportunities for market and skills development, employment and value chain development, which would increase food security through local production. Male-only households are less resilient than female-only or male-female households. Male-households have lower adaptive capacity, fewer safety nets and lower expenditure on food and lower dietary diveristy. Women fulfil multiple household resonsibilities, they have a essential contribution to food security, nutrition and chilrens’ primary caregiving. So, attention should be payed to male-only households and nutrition education project should target both men and women. Women’s contribution to food security and nutrition should be acknowledged, and barriers to gender equality are tackeld through enabligh policy and legal environment.

The effect of violent conflict on household resilience and food security: Evidence from the 2014 Gaza conflict

F&BKP Office — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 12:34:01 +0000

This paper (PDF), in the World Development journal, studies how conflict affects household resilience capacity and food security, drawing on panel data collected from households in Palestine before and after the 2014 Gaza conflict. Food security of households in the Gaza Strip was not directly affected by the conflict. However, household resilience capacity that is necessary to resist food insecurity declined among Gazan households as a result of conflict. This was mainly due to a reduction of adaptive capacity, driven by the deterioration of income stability and income diversification. However, the conflict actually increased the use of social safety nets and access to basic services for the households exposed to the conflict. This may be due to the aid support provided to households by organizations after the end of the conflict. These results highlight the importance of health and social sectors for development in a conflict-affected economy. It also indicates the importance of labor markets in achieving sound household resilience capacity. Negative of restrictive labor markets can be compounded further during conflict. Further, is also emphasizes the importance of humanitarian response to conflict. From a policy perspective, the reduction of adaptive capacity which ultimately translates into a contraction of household resilience can be restored with immediate and significant support to victims of conflict. From a research perspective, the ways in which resilience capacity is recovered in the long-term, still needs studying as well as the impact of lower conflict on resilience capacity. Most importantly, it is needed to understand if either low or high intensity conflict may force households below a lower critical threshold of resilience capacity, from which households cannot recover without external assistance.

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.

Partnering for value: Lessons from Public Private Producer Partnerships (4Ps) in practice

F&BKP Office — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 14:13:29 +0000

This paper (PDF) by SNV outlines factors that are important for successful Public Private Producer Partnerships (4Ps) business cases. The first factor is size of the private enterprise. While large enterprises are more likely to reach scale, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are usually more impact driven. For pro-poor impact, it is recommended to set up 4Ps with SMEs that are locally rooted in the area where the producers are located. The second factor is the structure of the market. Some market dynamics are less suitable for a 4P, as is often the case with saturated, unregulated or unstable markets. When there is a stable market and clear investments are needed to meet a certain market demand, there is a clear rationale to build long-term 4Ps. The third factor is focusing on raw materials versus value adding activities. A strong motivator to start a 4P when partners are interested in taking up market functions related to value addition. In contract, when the focus is on raw materials without further value adding activities, there is usually less incentive to invest in each other and start a long-term cooperation. In such cases, it is recommended to look for more open, flexible set-ups where partners jointly explore in which they can still support each other. The last factor is the level of co-ownership and equal participation by all partners; which should be a continuous priority during 4P brokering for success. To achieve a real meaningful partnership, capacity building if often needed for all partners. A major conclusion is that there is a sound basis for the role of 4Ps in rural development. Long-term 4Ps can contribute to development of agricultural value chains. However, many factors should be take in into account to increase the likelihood of success and benefits for all partners.

The nexus between food and nutrition security, and migration: Clarifying the debate and charting a way forward

F&BKP Office — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 12:03:21 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by ECDMP clarifies the characteristics of the nexus between food security and migration, frames the debate and provides recommendations for further work around agriculture and rural development (ARD) and migration interventions. The paper comes with three key messages. First is that politicians often have a simplistic interpretation of the nexus between food security and migration assuming that investment in ARD will automatically curb migration. This is not the case. A new narrative is needed on the development benefits of migration for food and nutrition security (FNS); a more nuanced understanding of ‘drivers of migration’, and a knowledge agenda to provide more evidence on the nexus. Second, adapting a development approach means increasing the options available to individuals to allow them to pursue better agricultural, rural or urban livelihood opportunities, with safe and regular migration as one of those options. Complex migration dynamics should be mainstreamed into food and nutrition security strategies and initiatives. Donors should support transformative actions around the FNS-migration nexus in Africa, with a particular focus on women, nutrition, climate change and environmental sustainability. Third, priority should be given to policies and actions that acknowledge human mobility as a pillar of sustainable food systems and inclusive territorial development. Special attention should be given to: smallholder farmers and small service providers; support for mobility of all food system players along better integrated urban-rural territories and (regional) food economies; large investments in infrastructure, especially digital and financial; inclusive governance arrangements centred on local authorities and organisations. Despite the complexities involved, African governments and other stakeholders, including the donorcommunity, must not and should not give up on the opportunity to deal with the nexus more maturely and effectively than is currently the case.

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.

School feeding or general food distribution? Quasi-experimental evidence on the educational impacts of emergency food assistance during conflict in Mali

F&BKP Office — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 10:12:17 +0000

This report (PDF) by UNICEF relies on a unique precrisis baseline and five-year follow-up to investigate the effects of emergency school feeding and general food distribution (GFD) on children’s schooling during conflict in Mali. It estimates programme impact on child enrolment, absenteeism and attainment by combining difference in differences with propensity score matching. School feeding led to increases in enrolment by 11 percentage points and to about an additional half-year of completed schooling. Attendance among boys residing in households receiving GFD, however, declined by about 20 per cent over the comparison group. Disaggregating by conflict intensity showed that receipt of any programme led to rises in enrolment mostly in high-intensity conflict areas and that the negative effects of GFD on attendance were also concentrated in the most affected areas. Conversely, school feeding mostly raised attainment among children residing in areas not in the immediate vicinity of the conflict. Programme receipt triggered adjustments in child labour. Thus, school feeding led to lower participation and time spent in work among girls, while GFD raised children’s labour, particularly among boys. The educational implications of food assistance should be considered in planning humanitarian responses to bridge the gap between emergency assistance and development by promoting children’s education. Important questions remain on the provision of humanitarian aid during conflict. For instance, as with cash transfers, it may that variations in the size and duration of the transfers may influence the impact of both programmes, but particularly GFD, in different ways. This also has implications in terms of the costs of both programmes, as well as for the different modalities of the same programme (such as cooked meals versus snacks). Also, how should one go about optimizing food assistance to balance the trade-offs between education goals and food security goals? This remains an important area for further research.

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.

Agricultural production amid conflict: Separating the effects of conflict into shocks and uncertainty

F&BKP Office — Fri, 18 May 2018 12:16:35 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the World Development journal examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small farmers and whether households respond differently to conflict shocks and uncertainty brought about the presence of non-state armed actors. Shocks may arise when either government or non-state armed actor is hegemonic in the region; in the later case, shocks tend to be worse. More violent shock leads the farmers to update beliefs and think there is a higher probability that non-state armed actors will dominate the region. More pessimistic beliefs lead the agent to exchange perennial crops for other agricultural activities, which are less risky but also less profitable. A violent shock will also reduce land used for perennial crops. However, the effect of a violet shock on other agricultural activities is ambiguous. On one hand, if the farmer is certain about the distribution of the shocks, a violent shock will decrease the land used for other agricultural activities since there is less available production. On the other hand, if the farmer is uncertain about the distribution of the shocks, a violent shock will induce more pessimistic beliefs and the farmer may increase the land dedicated to other agricultural activities for self-insurance purposes. Results show that the presence of armed groups does not necessarily coincide with violent assaults against the civilian population. Households may learn to live amid conflict, yet at a lower income trajectory. Traditional post-conflict policies concentrate on reconstruction efforts, which are necessary to increase production in a short period of time, as this paper shows. However, policies should also create favorable conditions to reduce uncertainty. In addition, policies that go beyond individual beneficiaries and target the community could improve trust among households, reducing the perception of uncertainty. Reducing uncertainty, paired with increased access to formal credit, induce households to expand investment and avoid sub-optimal decisions

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.

Innovations in food systems: The key to human and planetary health

F&BKP Office — Sun, 06 May 2018 14:53:39 +0000

This blog by Shenggen Fan in GlobalDev argues that innovations in technologies, policies, and institutions will be critical in reshaping food systems for nutrition, health, inclusion and sustainability. Global cooperation is key to ensuring that innovations in food systems are widely disseminated and contribute positively to global development. Food systems have played a huge role in the progress of improving food security and nutrition, yet these systems are also at the heart of our global health and sustainability crises. However, food systems have the unique potential to fix these problems and help meet broader development goals. To do so, we need a new food system for which innovations are critical. First of all, technological innovations are key to achieving multiple wins and it will be critical to promote technologies with strong evidence of their benefits. The technologies should be scaled up, with careful consideration of their impact on smallholders, children’s nutrition and employment. Second, policy innovations are also critical as they can help to make priorities of both human health and environment. Examples of policy innovations are better targeting of agriculture and nutrition subsidies and innovations in financing. Third and last, institutional innovations can create an enabling environment for these policies and technologies to have broad, inclusive impact. Areas of institutional innovations are land reform, inclusive markes chains, institutional accountability and the promotion of science. So, conclusion is that food can fix many problems, but food systems must be fixed first with the help of innovations. To develop and implement these innovations to ensure no one is left behind, disciplines, countries, and sectors must work together. Global cooperation will be key to ensuring that innovations in food systems are widely disseminated and contribute positively to global development.

The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security 2017

F&BKP Office — Fri, 04 May 2018 14:08:05 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO provides the latest data on the impact of disasters and crises on agriculture sectors, combined with sound analysis of remaining gaps and challenges. Its attention is not limited to natural disasters alone, but includes the first-ever analysis of the effect on agriculture of conflict and food chain crises. The 2017 report also considers how the entire sector is impacted: not only crops and livestock, but also forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. Between 2005 and 2015, approximately USD 96 billion was lost due to declines in crop and livestock production following disasters in developing countries. Between 2006 and 2016, crops, livestock, fisheries, aquacultures and forestry absorbed 23 percent of all damage and loss caused by medium- to large-scale natural hazard-induced disasters. Results of the report reveal that standardizing disaster-related damage and loss assessments enables the monitoring of international targets and goals, and facilitates enhanced cooperation and coordination at the global, national and local levels. This can significantly advance progress towards more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems. The large share of disaster impacts absorbed by agriculture, combined with the expected further increase in the frequency and intensity of natural hazards, food chain crises and conflicts, calls for enhanced and coordinated sectoral policies, actions and investments in risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Improving data and building knowledge on disaster impacts on agriculture – including forestry, fisheries and aquaculture – is essential. A voice should be given to “silent” disasters, which will provide a more comprehensive picture of national disaster vulnerabilities and more targeted national policy and action. Strengthening capacity will enable a coordinated and coherent application of assessment methodologies, which in turn will build and strengthen partnerships. Enhanced capacity for damage and loss assessment ultimately means better informed policy, action and improved disaster risk reduction (DRR), preparedness and resilience in agriculture. Streamlining damage and loss assessment effort for better DRR policy, improved resilience and higher investment in agriculture.

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 impact of food assistance on food insecure populations during conflict: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in Mali

F&BKP Office — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:28:41 +0000

This article (PDF) in the World Development Journal aims to evaluate the impact of humanitarian aid on the food security of rural populations in Mali. A quasi-experimental study based on two survey rounds, five years apart, was designed for the Mopti region in Northern Mali. Data was collected from 66 communities randomly selected from within food-insecure districts. Study outcomes include household expenditures and food consumption and a proxy for child nutritional status (height measurements). Program impact was estimated by combining propensity score matching and difference-in-difference. Food assistance was found to increase household non-food and food expenditures and micro-nutrient availability. Disaggregating by degree of conflict exposure showed that the effects on children’s height and caloric and micro-nutrient consumption were mostly concentrated in areas not in the immediate vicinity of the conflict, unlike the increase in food expenditures that were driven by households located in close proximity to armed groups. The effects were also concentrated on households receiving at least two forms of food assistance. In villages where armed groups were present, food assistance improved household zinc consumption and also appeared to support food expenditures. Food transfers are thus found to exert a protective effect among food insecure population in conflict context. The effect on consumption and growth is strongest in the vicinity of the conflict, the effect on expenditures is strongest in villages directly affected by conflict.

Relevance of informal institutions for achieving sustainable crop intensification in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 14:17:36 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Food Security journal analyzes the influence of informal institutions on farmers’ access to land resources, financial resources, and farm inputs to achieve Sustainable Crop Intensification (SCI). The analysis is based on qualitative and quantitative data in Eastern and Southwestern Uganda. Results indicate that informal institutions play a central role in enhancing farmers’ investment in SCI interventions by facilitating access to land through inheritance, land rentals, and labor sharing arrangements, although they are biased against non-clan members and female members of the communities. Informal institutions also enable access to financial resources by farmers at lower transaction cost compared to formal financial institutions. Yet, the informal institutions face challenges related to poor rule enforcement and limited financial reserves. The contribution of informal institutions in improving farmers’ access to (i) external farm inputs, (ii) serving as forums for knowledge sharing and (iii) regulating quality of farm inputs is minimal. Findings imply that development interventions could benefit from using informal institutions as entry points for investment in SCI and building on institutions’ strengths in influencing access to land and financial resources. Policies and programs that promote the SCI approach need to recognize the role of informal institutions for increased implementation and impact. Future research should focus on identifying and testing models to better link formal and informal institutions relevant to SCI in order to maximize potential synergies between both systems, to avoid parallel and sometimes conflicting institutional incentives, and to reduce the negative impact that both systems may have on the ‘weaker’ groups in the community that may have disadvantages preventing their adoption of SCI in either institutional system.

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 report on food crises 2018

F&BKP Office — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 12:12:23 +0000

The 2018 Global Report on Food Crises (PDF), by the Food Security Information Network, provides the latest estimates of severe hunger in the world. An estimated 124 million people in 51 countries are currently facing crisis food insecurity or worse. Levels of acute malnutrition in crisis-affected areas remain of concern. The rise in insecurity compared with 2017 can be largely attributed to new or intensified and protracted conflict or insecurity, the main drivers of food insecurity. Food-insecure people in need of urgent action in conflict affected countries accounted for 60 percent. Another major driver of food insecurity are climate disasters, especially persistent drought. These main drivers of food insecurity (conflict, displacement and climate shocks), along with outbreak of diseases and limited access to basic health, drinking water and sanitation services have created a bleak malnutrition situation in many countries. Conflict and insecurity will likely remain major drivers of food insecurity crises. The impact of severe dry weather on crop and livestock production is likely to heighten food insecurity in pastoral areas. There is a critical need for agencies to work together to improve the reliability of data, which need to be readily available to all parties. No significant improvement in food security can be expected globally until peace is achieved and livelihoods restored. Food security, nutrition and livelihood-based interventions will be vital to save lives, build resilience and contribute to sustaining peace.

The key messages of the report can be found here.

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.

Scaling up innovations through adaptive research: An institutional analysis and lessons from farm science centers in India

F&BKP Office — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 12:32:27 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by IFPRI presents a case study and lessons learned from an attempt to scale up a set of aquaculture innovations through adaptive research trials involving small-scale fish farmers in Odisha, India. Scaling up and mainstreaming proven technologies remains a major challenge for extension and rural advisory systems throughout developing countries. The two-plot trial, comparing 6 new technologies with traditional farmer practices, indicates that the technologies are location specific and feasible. However, some of the required inputs are out of reach for a small-scale fish farmer. Furthermore, the case study reveals that constant institutional support is required to keep farmers using the new practices until an incubation period has been completed. Key part of the study was to document lessons learned about conducting adaptive trials and demonstrations. The first key lessons was that farmers’ preconceived opinion about new technologies was low, and convincing them to participate was a tough task for organizers. Second, the budget was inadequate providing supplies for only a few farmers to participate in each trial. Another striking lessons is that results will be incorporated into mainstream extension messages that promote these technologies, perhaps prompting a large number of farmers to adopt them. Furthermore, state extension workers are aware of these technologies but have not worked to disseminate them or pushed for wider adoption. So conclusion is that technological solutions to farmer’s problems alone will not boost the widespread adoption of innovations. The associated institutional constraints must be identified and removed through strategic approaches. The mainstream extension systems needs to address the constraint in order to promote more widespread adoption of new technologies among fish farmers.

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.

Increasing social-ecological resilience within small-scale agriculture in conflict-affected Guatemala

F&BKP Office — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 14:11:22 +0000

This article in the Ecology and Society Journal, focuses on the challenge of increasing social-ecological resilience in small-scale agriculture is particularly in the socioeconomically and agroecologically marginalized Western Highlands of Guatemala. Climate change is a threat to agriculture in this region and adaptation strategies are challenged by the context of a society torn apart by decades of violent conflict. The largely indigenous population in the Western Highlands has suffered widespread discrimination for centuries. The armed conflict has left a legacy of a deeply divided society, with communities often suspicious of outsider interventions and in many cases with neighbors pitted against each other. The authors use the example of the Buena Milpa agricultural development project to demonstrate how grassroots approaches to collective action, conflict prevention, and social-ecological resilience, linking local stakeholder dynamics to the broader institutional and governance context, can bear fruit amidst postconflict development challenges. Examples of microwatershed management and conservation of local maize varieties illustrate opportunities to foster community-level climate adaptation strategies within small-scale farming systems even in deeply divided societies. The Buena Milpa case studies suggest that nurturing the re-emergence of this resilience among poor and marginalized groups requires the brokering role of reputable and trusted local organizations able to navigate a challenging governance environment.

Food and agricultural innovation pathways for prosperity

F&BKP Office — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 09:36:35 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the Agricultural Systems journal characterizes concisely the vast inter-related literature on agriculture research for development (AR4D) context, mechanisms, and impacts as a framework and foundation for the expert assessments of specific mechanisms. The paper starts with identifying where agricultural research investments are most likely to be an engine of poverty reduction. Changes in the context of the efforts in the developing world over the past three decades have fundamental implications for AR4D priorities. Structural transformation has significantly reduced the number of countries in which agriculture plays the dominant role in the economy. At the same time, a combination of structural change, better methods, and more nuanced understanding of chronic poverty has revealed the need for a more multifaceted approach to AR4D. These changes and urbanization necessitate to embrace a food systems perspective beyond farms and fields, to longer and increasingly complex food chains. Finally, uncertainty, vulnerability, and potential disruption in these food systems suggest that flexibility, adaptability, and resilience are important considerations in AR4D strategy. Thereafter, the paper focuses on identifies plausible impact pathways and the evidence that tests their plausibility. Poor farmers in the developing world are often the focus of public sector AR4D, while they are not the only potential beneficiaries. This paper identified 18 plausible interacting impact pathways through which agriculture research can contribute to reductions in poverty and associated livelihood vulnerabilities. A key lessons concerning measuring the impact of agriculture research is that poverty impacts are almost impossible to measure reliably unless the initial research design is structured around this goal. Without thoughtful research design at the early stages, there is no statistical technique that can provide convincing evidence after the fact.

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.

SOFI 2017: Building resilience for peace and food security

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 12:31:19 +0000

This annual report (PDF), ‘The state of food security and nutrition in the world’, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) or the World Health Organization (WHO) monitors progress towards the SDG targets of ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition. After a prolonged decline, a recent increase in undernourishment could signal a reversal of trends. The vast majority of the chronically food insecure and malnourished live in countries affected by conflict. Therefore, the report singles out conflict – increasingly compounded by climate change – as one of the key drivers behind the resurgence of hunger and many forms of malnutrition. To effectively address conflict-related causes of food insecurity and undernutrition, it is necessary to invest in multisectoral causal analyses and interventions that address both chronic and acute food insecurity and undernutrition. Policy and programme coherence is needed in addressing the impacts of conflict, along the following lines: economic policy responses where conflict creates economic crises; social policies to address challenges to health and nutrition resulting from reduced access to and availability of food; policies and investments for agriculture and food systems in particular; integrating support to populations displaced by conflict into the policy agenda. Closer partnerships between humanitarian, development and peace actors and international financial institutions will be important to support conflict and protracted crisis-affected communities in addressing root causes, building resilience and finding durable solutions.

Sustaining Peace Webinar I – The role of conflict-sensitive natural resource management approaches

F&BKP Office — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 12:47:51 +0000

This webinar by FAO explores the nexus between conflict, food security and peace. It examined the linkages between natural resource management, investment in resilient agricultural livelihoods and contributions to peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Interventions supporting food security and nutrition play a critical role in protecting and saving lives and livelihoods and in strengthening resilience in conflict-affected situations. However, interventions supporting livelihoods, particularly those focused on natural resource management, can also play an important role in sustaining peace and in directly preventing conflict, through a number of different pathways. Some of these pathways are explored in the 2017 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report on ‘Building Resilience for Peace and Food Security’, and are referenced in the 2015 CFS Framework For Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (CFS-FFA). This webinar explored how conflict-sensitive approaches to natural resource access and use can make a contribution to sustaining peace, and how investments in building resilience can help reduce specific conflict drivers. The speakers on this webinar include: Florian Krampe (Researcher, SIPRI’s Climate Change and Risk Project, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SIPRI) and Sarah Gibbons (Chief of Party, PEACE III program, Pact Kenya). The webinar is moderated by Julius Jackson (Technical Officer Protracted Crises FAO). In the first presentation, the risks and opportunities for NRM in fragile and conflict-affected states are explored. The second presentation provides information on the PEACE III programme, a 5-year USAID funded peacebuilding programme that works along the borders of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda. The last presentation showcases FAO’s work on natural resource access and use between Misseriya and Dinka Ngok communities through a multi-sector livelihood project in the contested AAA between Sudan and South Sudan.Please find the webinar presentation and webinar report.

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.

Cash tranfers, food security and resilience in fragile contexts

F&BKP Office — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 12:09:52 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the German Development Institute provides an overview of the evidence on the impact of cash-based interventions (CBIs) in fragile contexts on the immediate, underlying and basic causes of food and nutrition security. The paper stresses the high potential of CBIs for humanitarian and transitional assistance. Giving beneficiaries cash means giving them an opportunity to decide what they need most. In particular, given their great adaptability to contexts and needs as well as their ability to link short and long-term outcomes, it is clear that CBIs should form part of every response analysis. This holds despite challenges such as the need for markets, food being available for purchasing and the difficulty of influencing the exact livelihood sector on which beneficiaries spend the cash. CBIS are essentially a multi-sectoral approach, thus difficult to include in relatively sector-driven environment of crisis and development interventions. The focus in the report is on cash-for-work (CfW) interventions, that provides short-term, immediate incomes. It is however difficult to identify their longer-term effects. Furthermore, they exclude labour-constrained households, such as single, disabled or elderly people. Thus, a very rigid political focus on a specific tool is not necessarily the best option. A greater degree of openess to other CBIs is desirable to adjust to local contexts. Linking actors between and within organisation could institutionalise learning and increase the efficiency of interventions and the transparency of success factors. Thus, while there is ample evidence that CBIs can work in protracted crises, there are also situations in which they are not the best choice. Openness to cash transfers under the condition of performing public works could translate into an openness to unconditional transfers.

Grazing systems expansion and intensification: Drivers, dynamics, and trade-offs

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 10:54:41 +0000

This article in the journal Global Food Security discusses the dynamics, drivers and trade-offs of grazing system expansion and intensification. Grazing systems dynamics are driven by a complex combination of socio-economic, political and environmental contexts. Although the drivers and dynamics can be highly location-specific, the research focuses on describing global trends as well as trends by agro-ecological, socio-economic and political contexts. Global grasslands have expanded in area over the last decades. A decreasing trend has however been observed since the 21st century. Grazing systems’ management has also intensified. While these dynamics can have socio-economic and environmental benefits, they have often led to unsustainable systems, exemplified by deforestation and land degradation. Opportunities for land expansion without damaging forests and natural ecosystems are increasingly limited around the world and future increases in grazing systems production will need to mainly come from increases in productivity per animal and per unit area. The authors highlight some priority research areas and issues for policy makers to consider to help the movement towards more sustainable systems.

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.

From famine to food security: Lessons for building resilient food systems

F&BKP Office — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 12:07:42 +0000

This brief (PDF) by IFPRI documents lessons for building resilient food systems to prevent future famines. Food aid and development assistance provided by multilateral and bilateral donors can play an important role in reducing famines. This will be crucial for improving food security and economic growth in countries currently facing food security crises. However, long-term commitment of national governments to rural development and food security is important as well. The key to success has been the development of resilient food systems that reduce the vulnerability of populations to food crises and famines when a shock hits. Lessons learned can help develop relief measures that also build food-system resiliency. Resilient food systems can withstand stresses and provide critical access to food and prevent stressed areas from becoming vulnerable to food crises and famine. Food-system resilience is simply the capacity to bounce back to normal or higher levels of food supply after a shock from man-made or natural disaster. Approaches to building resilience can be divided into three categories: 1) Policy systems: A policy system designed for resilience will be responsive and capable of managing emergency, short- and long-term interventions. Actors in the policy process will be able to develop common goals to address food emergencies and balance these goals with long-term development strategies. 2) Institutional: Institutions promote resilience when they have adequate capacity to anticipate, plan, and act effectively to prevent an impending crisis, manage the present crisis, and rebuild to a higher level post crisis. 3) Food systems: Strong and resilient food systems can help to reduce the impacts of drought on food and nutrition security. Countries that have built resilient food systems are better able to prevent famines. Adequate commitment, internal and external, to sustainable solutions has not been forthcoming to address the looming hunger and loss of livelihoods and lives.

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

How does institutional embeddedness shape innovation platforms? A diagnostic study of three districts in the Upper West Region of Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 12:47:21 +0000

This article (PDF) in the NJAS – Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences examines the factors that enhance and constrain innovation platforms’ functionality by applying the concept of institutional embeddedness. Innovation platforms have emerged as a way of enhancing the resilience of agricultural and food systems in the face of environmental change. A case study is presented of sub-national platforms established in three districts of the climatically-stressed Upper West Region of Ghana. A different kind of organization − the traditional chief council, the agricultural extension service, and a local NGO − was chosen by members to convene and coordinate the platform in each district. The authors examine platform members’ accounts of the platform formation and selection of facilitating agent, their vision for platform roles, and their understandings of platform agenda and impacts. It is illustrated how the organizational position of facilitating agents contribute to shaping platform agendas, functions, and outcomes. This process hinges on the deployment of legitimacy claims, which may appeal to cultural tradition, technical expertise, community engagement, and dominant scientific narratives on climate change. Institutional embeddedness is thereby shown to be a critical aspect of agency in multi-actor processes, contributing to framing local understandings of the climate change and to channelling collective efforts towards select response strategies. In conclusion, the authors stress that the institutional identity of facilitating agents and their relationship to members of the platform and to powerholders in the broader context provides a useful diagnostic lens to analyse the processes that shape the platform’s ability to achieve its goals.

Guidelines: assessing landscape governance – a participatory approach

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 12:42:49 +0000

This manual (PDF) by Tropenbos International and EcoAgriculture Partners introduces a method of assessing landscape governance in a participatory way. Landscape governance relates to how rules and decision-making address overlapping claims and conflicting interests in the landscape. It also relates to how rules and decision-making encourage synergies among stakeholders and stimulate the sustainable management of the landscape. In order to achieve sustainable landscape development, it is crucial to understand how governance processes are organized, and how this influences the decisions and behavior of actors in the landscape. The assessment methodology discussed in the manual consists of a two-day participatory workshop with stakeholders from the landscape. Applying this methodology allows participants to discuss key features of landscape governance, and learn how to monitor them and identify priorities. The workshop is structured around indicators of four key performance criteria in landscape governance. These criteria are: 1) inclusive decision-making in the landscape; 2) culture of collaboration in the landscape; 3) coordination across landscape sectors, levels and actors; and 4) sustainable landscape thinking and action.

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).

Value chain innovations for technology transfer in developing and emerging economies: Conceptual issues, typology, and policy implications

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 12:47:56 +0000

This article in the journal Food Policy addresses the question how value chain organization and innovations can have an important impact on modern technology adoption. The adoption of modern technologies in agriculture is crucial for improving productivity of poor farmers and poverty reduction. However, the adoption of modern technology has been disappointing. The authors argue that value chain organization and innovations can have an important impact on modern technology adoption, not just by downstream companies, but also by farmers. They systematically documented value chain innovations including smallholder contracting with interlinked technology transfer, triangular guarantee structures with technology suppliers or financial institutions, special purpose vehicles and vertical integration. Several conclusions can be drawn from the analysis and empirical cases. First, value chain technology transfer programs are often driven by a need for quality upgrading. Second, these technology transfer programs have been set up in complex environments. Successful programs create the right conditions for successful and self-enforcing contracting, and are based on extensive knowledge of the sector and of local conditions. Third, many institutional innovations for technology transfer use both a pull and push strategy. The push strategy consists of improving access to technology, while the pull strategy consists of providing better incentives for investments in technological upgrading. Fourth, access to finance by the initiator of the technology transfer program is essential. Fifth, the effects of these programs can be very substantial as they can move the entire value chain towards a higher equilibrium, with impacts for all agents.

The discussion paper, published in 2016, can be found here.

Scaling up sustainable land management and restoration of degraded land

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 09:40:24 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) examines how sustainable land management can be scaled up and out globally. With current rates of land degradation reaching ten to twelve million ha per year, there is an urgent need to scale up and out successful, profitable and resource-efficient sustainable land management practices to maintain the health and resilience of the land that humans depend on. As much as 500 million out of two billion ha of degraded land, mainly in developing countries, have restoration potential, offering an immediate target for restoration and rehabilitation initiatives. In the past, approaches to achieving sustainable land management have had limited impact. To achieve the ambitious goals of alleviating poverty, securing food and water supplies, and protecting the natural resource base, we need to recognize the inter-connectedness of the factors driving land degradation, so that solutions can be taken to scale, transforming management practices for millions of land users. An analysis of the critical barriers and incentives to achieve scaling up suggests that the most appropriate options should be selected through the involvement of stakeholders at all levels, from local to national and international. New incentives for land managers as well as the public and private sectors are required to achieve a land degradation-neutral world.

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.

Societal effects of food: An exploration of a new methodology

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 10:01:13 +0000

This publication (PDF in Dutch, English summary) by Wageningen Economic Research and True Price discusses a method to map the societal effects of food production and consumption and the relative size of those effects. It uses six capital categories: financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, natural and social and relationship capital, which are subdivided to cover all relevant societal effects of food. The first step is the estimation of the size of an average food product’s societal effect in each impact category. An average food product is defined as a product that can be included in an average Dutch shopping basket. The second step is the determination of the societal effect of specific food products relative to the average food product. The method has been validated with tests for five products that are part of a typical traditional Dutch diet, namely fresh green beans, potatoes, full-cream milk, minced beef from Dutch dairy cows and plain chocolate made from cocoa beans cultivated in Ivory Coast. The method can be used to identify the opportunities for the improvement of the most important positive effects and the mitigation of the most important negative effects. The business community can implement the method in arriving at carefully-considered decisions on the approach to improvements to the societal effects. Consumers can use the method in making carefully-considered decisions on the products they buy as determined by the importance they attach, for example, to the environment or to animal welfare. The method also gives an insight into movements over the course of time.

This publication was discussed during the seminar on true cost accounting and true pricing. This related report (PDF) discusses true cost accounting in the UK.

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.

The European Union, agriculture, and the tropics: Public financial incentives to enhance food security and expansion of production contracts

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 13:57:29 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Tropical Conservation Science frames two rapidly moving issues in the EU’s multifaceted relationship with agriculture in the tropics: 1) use of the public development funds to drive agricultural productivity and market access and 2) the adoption of private production contracts for sourcing products destined for EU markets. Member States of the European Union have strong historical ties to agriculture in tropical regions based on colonial history and accompanying trade flows. Attempts to reverse the extractive nature of these relationships through public finance investments in sustainable intensification and the linking of smallholders to new markets could enhance food security and rural development. Public sector financing of public–private partnerships to support these efforts, however, may create dominant positions for large agricultural companies. Moreover, the expanded use of agricultural production contracts by these firms may give rise to a variety of legal and social issues, especially when one party to the agreement lacks economic bargaining power. On the other hand, production contracts can enable small-scale farmers to mitigate risk, establish more predictable income streams, and access new market opportunities. Public development funds promoting reformation of smallholder farming operations need to consider the consequences of the expanded use of production contracts.

External influences on agro-enterprise innovation platforms in Benin, Ghana and Mali: Options for effective responses

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 09:34:26 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Cahiers Agricultures discusses external influences on innovation platforms (IPs) and the options for effective responses. The platforms examined in this paper were conceived as vehicles for facilitating institutional change in support of innovation that benefits smallholders, in selected agro-enterprise domains in Benin, Ghana and Mali. They were designed and implemented in a manner that enabled experimentation with processes of change in the selected domains. A Research Associate in each case facilitated the work of the IPs and applied Theory-Guided Process Tracing (TGPT) methodology to document the innovation processes pursued by platform members. The main influences were found to emanate from global, sub-regional and national levels. The authors identified five main types of external influences on the work of the IPs: political, economic, socio-cultural, technological and environmental. The IPs’ responses were diverse but generally included reconstitution of the membership, lobbying, capacity-building among smallholders, and empowerment of smallholders by organizing provision of new knowledge, skills or financial resources. IPs must necessarily assess the options for responses – politically, economically, socio-culturally, technologically and environmentally to address institutional constraints. Whilst some options can be very effective in meeting the respective constraints, others may be limited in providing solutions. The authors concludes that external influences are important in determining the direction of socio-technical and institutional innovation.

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.

Land resource planning for sustainable land management

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 14:17:19 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) provides an overview of the development and status of implementation of land evaluation and land-use planning concepts and tools for land resource and landscape management. The challenges of population growth and increasing demands on limited resources, land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change, require a rational utilization of resources to sustain and enhance productivity and maintain resilient ecosystems. Opportunities for expanding the area of agricultural land are limited, because much of the available land is unsuitable for agriculture and competition among sectors within landscapes leaves less land for agricultural production. Food security should therefore be achieved by increasing (and then maintaining) production on already-existing agricultural land to meet the demands of growing populations. Land-use planning and, more broadly, land resource planning (LRP), are tools for achieving the sustainable and efficient use of resources, taking into account biophysical and socioeconomic dimensions. The availability of suitable tools and information to support and satisfy the needs of decision-makers at different scales, across sectors and among stakeholders is limited, however. To address this gap, FAO developed the Land Resources Planning Toolbox, an online, searchable database that contains existing tools and approaches that are used to implement land resources planning.

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.

Exploring future changes in land use and land condition and the impacts on food, water, climate change and biodiversity

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 14:17:14 +0000

This policy report (PDF) by The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) provides scenario projections for the Global Land Outlook, exploring future changes to the use and condition of land and the resulting impacts on food, water, climate change and biodiversity. Three scenarios reveal the scope of potential future changes in land use up to 2050. In all three scenarios, the pressure on land is projected to increase in Sub-Saharan Africa. Larger and more affluent populations will drive an increase in demand for food and fibre, with projections ranging from 25% to 75%, depending on the scenario being considered. The amount of land available to expand agriculture is becoming more and more limited and expansion increasingly takes place on marginal lands. Future agricultural land use depends greatly on efficiency increases. Over the past decades, the largest contribution to the rise in food production has come from efficiency increases in agriculture, in both yields and conversion steps in the livestock sector. Although to varying degrees, the three scenarios assume enhanced efficiency will continue to play a dominant role in future production increases. In addition, the effects of climate change on future agricultural land use are especially uncertain, but likely to be negative, on a global level. Lower yields due to climate change would result in more land (around 10%) having to be used for agriculture. Change in land condition affects ecosystem functions and is expected to further exacerbate the challenge of managing increasing pressures on land.

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.

Global land outlook

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 14:31:01 +0000

This publication (PDF) by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) addresses the future challenges and opportunities for the management and restoration of land resources in the context of sustainable development. The current pressures on land are huge and expected to continue growing. Our inefficient food system, with a focus on short-term production, is threatening human health and environmental sustainability. Our current agriculture practices use enormous amounts of scarce water and energy supplies, and contribute to the very climate change that threatens the entire food system. Food security is under threat and there is no single solution to this challenge; instead the world will need to make a coordinated effort to address shortages, degradation, inequalities, and waste. Ten key steps will be essential: 1) Close the gap between actual and potential yield in all environments; 2) Use land, water, nutrients, and pesticides more efficiently; 3) Reduce offsite impacts of food and non-food production; 4) Stop expanding the agricultural frontier; 5) Shift to more plant-based and whole food diets; 6) Raise awareness about health, sustainability, and responsibility; 7) Reward sustainable land management practices; 8) Reduce food waste and post-harvest losses; 9) Improve land tenure security, access to nutritional food, and gender equity; 10) Implement integrated landscape management approaches. It is clear that the next few decades will be the most critical in shaping and implementing a new and transformative global land agenda.

Voluntary standards and institutional innovations – the right path to sustainable and inclusive food systems?

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 08:16:30 +0000

This article, published by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), reflects upon efforts to link sustainable production with responsible consumption both within global value chains and within domestic markets in developing countries. Most approaches towards making food systems sustainable look at production practices as the main entry point into system change. However, the authors argue, enabling consumers to identify products as being produced sustainably is fundamental to incentivizing farmers to market their products in this way. The authors found that a wide range of actors in developing countries are inventing new forms of interaction and organisation to supply local markets with sustainable agricultural products. These ‘institutional innovations’ are the new rules and forms of interaction that help actors from civil society, the private sector and even civil servants to redefine sustainable practices for the local level and bring together food systems actors that have not traditionally worked together. Three types of innovations deserve particular attention by policy makers: participatory guarantee systems, multi-actor innovation platforms and community-supported agriculture. Overall, the authors found that autonomy, reciprocity and recognition of the diverse types of knowledge fostered through institutional innovations all serve as incentives for producers to adopt and adapt sustainable practices. In sum, social and institutional innovations are as essential as technological innovations in transitions to sustainable food systems, and they require policy support.

This article is published in the Greats Insights magazine with a thematic focus on sustainable food systems.

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.

Do theories of change enable innovation platforms and partnerships to navigate towards impact?

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 14:30:58 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) examines how theories of change (ToCs) enabled practitioners to navigate towards impact in settings characterized by a multiplicity of views on issues of joint concern. ToCs are increasingly used to articulate pathways for interventions and to support learning. This responds to the recognition of the complexity of agricultural development challenges and the non-linear process of achieving innovative and sustainable solutions. Two cases discuss how intervention programs test the ToCs. In the first case MAIZE, based on the experiences of the CGIAR Research Program, innovation platforms are essential for directing technology development and arranging exchange between key actors. In the second case, based on the experiences of the 2SCALE programme, business-led partnerships arrange sourcing by companies from associated farmers and induce collaborations with small and medium enterprises in low income food markets. The cases reveal that one cannot predict the route to impact, but one can compose plausible story lines explicating the assumptions. Rather than looking for a generic ToC, the authors propose a more systematic comparison of the situations of different interventions within similar programs, thus including the context. Connecting practitioners with researchers makes it possible to use more intermediate theorizations tailored to situated and specific impact pathways. However, the dynamics captured by ToCs may contrast with the donors’ consistent reliance on a rigid log-frame approach. Therefore, it is relevant to make explicit choices about how to relate ToCs to M&E efforts.

This working paper is part of a series, which are a result of the seminar “Agricultural Innovation Systems: reality check”. Another paper in this series (PDF) aims to develop and test a generalizable complexity-aware theory of change of how agricultural research for development fosters innovation.

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.

Women’s land rights as a pathway to poverty reduction: A framework and review of available evidence

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 13:37:31 +0000

This report (PDF) by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reviews the literature on women’s land rights (WLR) and poverty reduction. Despite the large body of literature on the relationship between land tenure security, livelihoods, and poverty, most of this literature is based on household-level data and does not consider possible intra-household inequalities in land ownership. However, growing evidence that households do not pool resources completely and that women have fewer assets than men warrants attention to the potential role of WLR in poverty reduction. The Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project conceptual framework is adapted to identify pathways by which WLR could reduce poverty. Results show some evidence on these relationships, but many of the key pathways have not been empirically analyzed. The evidence is strong for relationships between WLR and bargaining power and decision making on consumption, human capital investment, and inter-generational transfers. There is a high level of agreement, but weaker evidence on the relationship between WLR and consumption and food security, which is examined in two papers. Significant positive effects were found of certificate ownership in Ethiopia on food availability and body mass index (BMI) of children. The effects on calorie availability (but not BMI) were higher for female-headed households. In the study of a land allocation and registration program in West Bengal greater women’s decision making over household food and agriculture among beneficiary households were found, but no evidence of significant short-term improvements in food security.

Bringing farmers into the game: Strengthening farmers’ role in the innovation process through a simulation game

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 13:19:08 +0000

This article in the journal Agricultural Systems discusses the participation of farmers in knowledge co-production within multi-stakeholder settings. While farmers are recognized as equally weighing sources of innovation in the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) framework, their participation in knowledge co-production within multi-stakeholder settings such as innovation platforms is still often limited. Farmers participate more in implementing than in designing innovations or in shaping innovation process. Drawing on the companion modeling approach and critical companion posture, we designed a simulation game based method that we tested with dairy farmers in the irrigation scheme in the North-West Tunisia. The objectives were to engage farmers in a research project as equal knowledge producers, to support the process of collective construction of improved farm strategies and to create conditions for farmers to get empowered to pursue their innovation ambitions. The LAITCONOMIE game, based on the self-design principle, creates conditions for farmers to mobilize their knowledge and knowledge of others to respond to their local innovation needs. Despite a modest scale, the game experiment brought results in terms of knowledge co-production and of change in farming practice of the participants.

To find out more about guidelines for innovation platforms in agricultural research for development, please click here.

Systems analysis in Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS): potentials and pitfalls

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:34:13 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) provides examples of ‘systems analysis’. Agricultural innovation systems (AIS) are complex, multi-layered, and can be difficult to define and analyse. The five cases describe analyses of: i) agricultural systems in North-West Vietnam; ii) household food security in Central Vietnam; iii) agricultural innovation systems in Central Africa; iv) wheat commodity systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, and v) the national agricultural research system in Papua New Guinea. For each case the context is described, what was done, and how the outcomes informed broader research and development activities. These cases show that there is no single best method to conduct systems analysis within a broader AIS approach. The choice of systems analysis depends on the specific needs of the AIS being addressed, the perceived knowledge and practice gaps that need to be filled, and the interests and mandates of the partners facilitating the AIS process, among other factors. However, ‘good’ systems analysis demonstrates several common characteristics, like a clearly defined ‘system of interest’; inclusive and participatory; an analysis of the linkages between different domains; and making use of and integrating different ‘types’ of knowledge. Suggestions for system analysis in practice include: clarifying objectives and expectations; balancing breadth and depth; paying attention to power dynamics; avoiding an assumption of predictability; careful mixing of quantitative and qualitative methods; and a keeping a focus on informing action.

This working paper is part of a series, which are a result of the seminar “Agricultural Innovation Systems: reality check”. Another paper in this series (PDF) focuses on the contribution of AIS approaches to achieving impact at scale.

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.

Agribusinesses, smallholder tenure security, and plot-level investments

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 13:10:28 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) investigates how a decrease in the share of land held by an agribusiness in a village affects smallholder plot-level tenure security and investments in rural Tanzanian villages. A large number of agribusinesses that acquired agricultural land in many sub-Saharan African countries have reduced or ceased their operations in recent years. Drawing on a panel of 5,101 plots, the results show that a decrease in the share of land held by an agribusiness significantly increases the probability that a plot has tenure security and raises the time spent on the plot. This last result is not driven by changes in tenure security but is likely due to a learning effect that comes from employment on the agribusiness. Taken together, the study reveals the importance of taking a comprehensive impact assessment of agribusinesses on local populations. Agribusinesses can have productivity-enhancing effects on smallholders, but can also have adverse impacts such as raising uncertainty once they cease their operations. To mitigate these adverse impacts, the existing land framework should be revised to ensure that smallholders are able to reclaim their land if agribusinesses do not come into fruition or cease their operations. In addition, more information should be provided to smallholders via the village assemblies and councils on the implications that arise from the coming of agribusinesses.

Feeding Dar es Salaam: A symbiotic food system perspective

F&BKP Office — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 10:29:10 +0000

This dissertation (PDF) of Marc Wagerif from Wageningen University and Research is a sociological analysis of the agri-food system of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, that feeds most of the over four and a half million residents of this fast-growing city. It is based on qualitative research that has generated a picture of the food system that supplies the important foods for the majority of residents of the city. The research takes an actor orientated approach and starts from urban eaters and follows the food back through retailers, processors and transporters to the primary producers. Instead of dismissing what has been found as ‘informal’ or trying to fit it into structuralist paradigms, from orthodox economic or political economy perspectives, the authors tries to understand the core ordering principles and rationality of this system that has shown a remarkable resilience over many years. Of particular interest are various forms of collaboration, instead of competition. This study comes at a time when global food production and distribution is dominated by powerful transnational corporations through an agro-industrial food system that is widely critiqued for its negative environmental and social impacts. Many argue that this industrial food system is unsustainable, yet its expansion can seem inevitable and alternatives are seen by many as incapable of feeding the world’s growing and increasingly urban population. ‘Value chain’ interventions have become popular among ‘development’ practitioners and policy makers seeking to integrate more producers into the global industrial food system rather than challenging that food system. Wagerif however presents in this thesis a ‘symbiotic food system’ made up of multitudes of small-scale and interdependent actors that produce the food and get it to urban eaters at a city feeding scale.

For those with an interest in food systems, please also check recent discussions on the website of the Food & Business Knowledge Platform: https://knowledge4food.net/transforming-food-systems-improved-nutrition/

Integrated agricultural landscape management: Case study on inclusive innovation processes, monitoring and evaluation in Tanzania

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 09:54:13 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Outlook on Agriculture Journal describes the process, the results, challenges, and lessons emanating from applying integrated agricultural landscape management (IALM) processes in innovation platforms. IALM is deliberately designed to support food production, ecosystem conservation, and rural livelihoods. It aims to simultaneously contribute to human well-being, food and fiber production, climate change mitigation, and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems services. These multiple livelihood functions are important features of an agricultural landscape in Mbeya, Tanzania. Due to environmental damage caused by agricultural expansion and charcoal burning, the IALM process was implemented to address this problem. This encompassed the identification and involvement of a range of key landscape actors. Awareness creation and joint problem analysis was needed, followed by solution framing, learning, planning and implementation of actions, and monitoring and evaluation. A multi-stakeholder innovation platform was formed for creating a coordination mechanism, common understanding, vision and goals, and networking. Fifty IALM ideas were identified and six selected by the stakeholders. Outcomes of using the IALM process included policy recommendations, joint learning, and innovative actions and were co-developed, implemented, monitored, and evaluated with the local communities.

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.

Improving accountability in agricultural investments: Reflections from legal empowerment initiatives in West Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 08:09:30 +0000

This report (PDF) from IIED focuses on the role of legal empowerment and grass root action to change the way investments in natural resources are happening and to protect rights and the environment to ensure more sustainability. A recent surge in agribusiness plantation deals has increased pressures on land in many low- and middle-income countries. Rural people have mobilized to protect their rights, seek better terms or oppose the deals altogether. Since 2014, an initiative in Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal has worked to help people harness the law in order to have greater control over decisions that affect them – a process commonly referred to as legal empowerment. In the three countries, the initiative developed diverse approaches, responding to different local contexts and theories of change. Each approach embodied a distinctive combination of grassroots action, public advocacy and private sector engagement – through supporting junior lawyers in Cameroon, grassroots committees in Ghana and locally negotiated land charters in Senegal. This report summarizes insights from first-hand experiences with helping rural people exercise their rights and, ultimately, claim their own future.

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.

Sustainable land management in practice in the Kagera Basin: Lessons learned for scaling up at landscape level

Nynke — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 10:21:16 +0000

This book (PDF) from FAO provides insights into sustainable land management in the Kagera Basin, shared by Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. It showcases how land degradation can be successfully challenged and climate change can be coped with through sustainable landscape planning and management. The book presents the results of the five-year Transboundary Agro-ecosystem Management Project for the Kagera River Basin. The project starts from the idea that knowledge is a basis for sustainable development, but successful implementation depends on understanding what works in the field and where to improve lives and the environment. In the Kagera basin, smallholder farmers depend almost entirely on natural resources for their livelihoods: besides growing crops they are also livestock keepers and, may also supplement their diet through fishing and gathering wild products. The project used an integrated ecosystems approach to managing land resources at landscape scale, backed up by learning through Farmer Field Schools and catchment committees and plans. The process empowered land users to combine locally adapted practices and plan and manage their territories to achieve local benefits and a range of improved ecosystem services. The results show that sustainable land management techniques do have multiple benefits. When carried out at scale across the globe, these techniques can secure viable livelihoods for rural communities while restoring the resource base for future generations.

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.

Public-public development cooperation

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 13:03:43 +0000

This report (PDF) by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency explores the potential added value of public-public cooperation between Dutch sub-national actors and their Sub-Saharan African counterparts. Over the past years, development cooperation policy in the Netherlands has become increasingly oriented towards facilitating private sector development and public-private partnerships (PPPs). As opposed to PPPs, decentralized public development cooperation has received relatively little attention. The rationale behind decentralized public development cooperation is that public goals are best achieved by public institutions. Overall, the main motivation for Dutch sub-national public actors to engage in development cooperation is to share knowledge and contribute to capacity building to strengthen public institutions in the global South. In general, however, there seems to be a discrepancy between the motivations and the practices as they actually occur. Although the general intention of Dutch sub-national public actors is to develop long-standing partnerships based on equality and reciprocity, this is in many cases not realized in practice. The potential added value of decentralized public development cooperation in contributing to food security lies in long-term, mutually beneficent cooperation based on an integrated approach to the governance of public goods. In order to realize this potential, decentralized public development cooperation should be adapted to its context and aimed at enhancing integrated governance, thus stimulating synergies between public goods such as land, water and food security.

For Ethiopia’s farmers, landscape management and tenure lead to more resilience and income

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:01:41 +0000

This blog of the World Bank Group discusses the impact of the Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP). This is an innovative approach to restoring degraded land, which combines security of tenure for Ethiopia’s farmers with better management of the country’s natural resources. The program organizes the communities that live on degraded land to take part in land restoration by building conservation structures that slow down the flow of water and reduce soil erosion. In doing so, it supports rural infrastructure and opportunities to make a living. Since the government owns all the land, lifetime leases or landholding certificates are used as an incentive to get people to help restore degraded land. The government is also addressing the registration and certification of rural land. Through the second phase of the program (SLMP2: 2013–2019) about 266,000 households have received landholding certificates legally. Under the SLMP2, the community in Endarta woreda agreed to allow the enclosed hillsides of Adi Qilqil to be used for income generation by single mothers and previously landless youth who had organized themselves into associations. These two groups of people were then given legal certificates so that their rights to access communal land were protected. So far, the degraded land shows an increase of 18% in vegetation cover since 2009.

Guidelines for innovation platforms in agricultural research for development

Nynke — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 09:39:35 +0000

This publication (PDF) from IITA, WUR, and CGIAR-RTB provides guidelines for creating successful innovation platforms in agricultural research for development (AR4D). Innovation Platforms are an increasingly popular approach to enhancing multi-stakeholder collaboration in AR4D programmes. As the name indicates, Innovation Platforms have an innovation objective, that is, the introduction and utilization of any new knowledge (technological or other) in an economic or social process. Although innovation platforms have been successful in addressing agricultural challenges, there is a risk that they are promoted as a panacea for all problems in the agricultural sector. These guidelines support development funders and project developers in thinking about when and in what form innovation platforms can contribute effectively to achieving research and development objectives. The guidelines aim to support actors in: 1) Reflecting on when and under what conditions Innovation Platforms are an appropriate mechanism to foster collective action and innovation for resolving agricultural development problems and capitalizing on opportunities; 2) Designing Innovation Platforms, including the definition of realistic goals, facilitation mechanisms, timelines, responsibilities, and how to measure outcomes and impact; 3) Allocating necessary resources, creating the enabling conditions required for the effective implementation of Innovation Platforms, and developing metrics to assess their impact. The guidelines also contain reference materials, Frequently Asked Questions and a decision support tool for research, development and funding agencies.

Please also have a look at the blog of lead author Marc Shut on the publication.

The political economy of cardamom farming in eastern Nepal: Crop disease, coping strategies, and institutional innovation

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 12:40:11 +0000

This article (PDF) in the SAGE Open Journal investigated the impact of crop disease on cardamom farmers’ livelihoods, as well as both individual and institutional efforts to combat the disease in Nepal. Strategies varied by household circumstances, like size of landholding, alternative income sources, and access to supporting institutions. They included burning fields, changing land use patterns, diversifying crops, and seeking institutional support. During a crisis, farmers expect government institutions to help, especially when customary practices have not solved the problem. However, due to weak capacity, local government support was limited to providing training and distributing new varieties of cardamom. Despite acquiring substantial revenue from cardamom, the national government has failed to appoint adequate crop experts at the local level. Local institutions hence cannot meet the demands of farmers dealing with the cardamom crisis. This calls for institutional innovation at the micro level. Therefore, to protect and improve farmers’ livelihoods, institutional innovation at the community level is needed, along with policies that provide immediate and sustainable support during crises. These policies should be focusing strictly on preventing or combating disease through research. Additionally, the government’s institutional capacity and support for innovation is crucial. Institutions should be formed to support farmers taking alternative measures. These institutions should formulate proper innovation methods and reach out to farmers of diverse groups.

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.

Enhancing sustainability of pastoral productive systems

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 14:17:26 +0000

This Learning Alliance Highlight (PDF) by ELLA Network reviews the best practices in land tenure policy for pastoralist societies in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. Over the course of six topics, participants in the Online Learning Alliance discussed and exchanged ideas on how to sustain pastoralism as a production system. Public policy in both regions has not promoted the sustainability of pastoral systems. This has been aggravated by misconceptions about pastoralism as a productive system. There are similarities in land tenure systems between the Altiplano and the East Africa Savanna. Also pressures on and drivers of change in land tenure systems are similar although unique drivers exist in different regions. This results in a convergence towards individual land tenure systems, even though collective land tenure regimes are key for sustaining pastoral production systems. The management of land in pastoral communities in both regions is mainly based on customary land systems, which play a fundamental role for sustainability. However, the potential of women in pastoral communities has remained untapped. Pastoral communities have adapted to their environment by employing practices that sustain pastoralism. For example, improvements in animal breeds and practicing mobility allow pastoralists to improve production. Finally, land degradation is increasing due to declining access to land. On the other hand, livestock numbers are increasing. This demonstrates the usefulness of a holistic approach in improving pastoral livelihoods.

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.

Understanding changing land access and use by the rural poor in Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda

Nynke — Mon, 22 May 2017 09:06:21 +0000

The IIED published four research reports on land issues, access to land and land use in Ghana (PDF), Mozambique (PDF), Senegal (PDF), and Uganda (PDF). In all countries the acquisition of land by new actors, both government and business, puts pressure or rural lands and their communities. Current land governance systems are often not sufficient to deal with this rapid change and to ensure fair access and productive land use. This leads to new strategies by the rural poor to secure their livelihoods. For example in Ghana the study shows how, under new circumstances, rural communities are changing how they access and manage land: shifting from customary to more commercial systems; farming smaller plots of land; and renegotiating access to common resources, such as grazing land. This in turn is influencing crop choices and livelihoods. In Mozambique, there is progressive land legislation, however, elite groups are still able to consolidate land holdings. The authors argue that policy must improve land administration and land-use planning processes to make them more inclusive. In Senegal, the focus on the study especially reports on the difficulty for young farmers to access land and the authors recommend that land reform should address these power imbalances. In Uganda, the authors also recommend pro-poor land policies and programmes since old practices of inheritance, gifts or proof of long-term occupancy are now replaced by the market and leave the poor excluded and powerless.

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.

Can land reform feed South Africa?

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 03 May 2017 12:15:41 +0000

This article by Oxpeckers explores the role of land reform in improving the food security situation in South Africa. The author argues that if reform is not well targeted it may threaten food security and benefit only the elites in rural areas. Over the past 23 years land reform barely altered the farming landscape: only 8-9% of farmland has been restituted or redistributed. The Reconstruction and Development Programme of 1994 advocated that land reform should promote small-scale farming. However, according to this article it has not and large-scale commercial farms that only benefit a few were favored. Therefore the author argues that the current model of land reform does not support food security and that instead farming on smallholder plots could be highly productive. A professor believes that food production can improve by seeking out the “serious farmers”. These people should be supported with information, loans and infrastructure. It is argued that if farms are subdivided, more people could benefit directly. This must be done gradually and sustainably, using pilot projects, careful assessment and adjustment for failures. Informal markets for smallholders could be actively supported by municipalities. This could be done for example by improving road access to farms, supporting auction sales of goats and sheep, and offering public space for informal food markets. The author concludes that well-targeted land reform could make a substantial difference to many households and create new jobs.

Compositional dynamics of multilevel innovation platforms in agricultural research for development

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 May 2017 08:11:17 +0000

Innovation platforms (IPs) form a popular vehicle in agricultural research for development (AR4D) to facilitate stakeholder interaction, agenda setting, and collective action toward sustainable agricultural development. This article in the Science and Public Policy Journal, aims to systematically research the dynamics of stakeholder composition throughout IPs and tries to analyze how seven ‘key functions’ of the innovation process are fulfilled. Data are gathered from experiences with interlinked community and (sub)national IPs established under a global AR4D program aimed at stimulating sustainable agricultural development in Central Africa. The findings show that all innovation systems functions required multilevel action, but that fulfillment of specific functions demands for strategic involvement of specific stakeholders at specific levels. It was observed that a research- and dissemination-oriented sequence in the functions was prioritized in AR4D IPs and argue that such a sequence may be different in other types of (business) IPs. The authors question the sustainability of many of the existing AR4D IPs and their ability to function as a business incubator, as the sequencing of innovation systems functions in AR4D IPs tend to undermine market formation and entrepreneurial capacity development. These findings provide an incentive to think function oriented about compositional dynamics (stakeholder groups * levels) in innovation processes, rather than striving for equal stakeholder participation. In addition to having multi-actor platforms at different levels, joint agenda setting and reflection, participatory action research, and careful networking and problem solving by (contracted) innovation champions can facilitate stakeholders connectivity across levels.

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.

Making the case for institutional demand: Supporting smallholders through procurement and food assistance programmes

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 09:14:39 +0000

This paper in the Global Food Security Journal focuses on the rationale for supporting market interventions for smallholders through what the authors call Institutional Demand. This consists of different interventions that target procurement from smallholder farmers and distribute their surplus to vulnerable populations. This policy intervention links the goals of both agricultural development and social protection through three key areas: price stabilization; income generation and; food security. It is argued that Institutional Demand should be a key policy intervention as it can directly address both rural poverty and malnutrition. It does this by linking the productive capacity of smallholder farmers with populations living in situations of food insecurity. Impact evaluations and assessments of Institutional Demand programmes are limited in scope and depth. Therefore, while this paper outlines much of the evidence thus far, the primary purpose of this paper is to push forward a new research agenda that looks at the ways in which Institutional Demand can promote policy synergies between the goals of social protection and agricultural development. There are few key elements of the procurement system that must be considered when designing Institutional Demand policies: the objectives; the scale of the demand; the modalities to reach the most vulnerable producers and farmer organizations; rules and regulations which might restrict smallholders ability to participate in procurement processes; and food safety and quality management, which might be very strict, making smallholders unable to comply. The issues outlined in this paper present fruitful areas for more qualitative and quantitative assessments of Institutional Demand programmes.

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.

Solving ‘wicked’ problems: Can social learning catalyse adaptive responses to climate change?

F&BKP Office — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 13:55:42 +0000

Social learning approaches can catalyse knowledge co-creation and action, so have the potential to help solve complex ‘wicked’ problems such as climate change and food insecurity. This working paper (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) synthesises evidence from five diverse initiatives employing social learning approaches in response to such problems using the Climate Change and Social Learning initiative’s monitoring and evaluation framework. This tool is structured to track the processes that are more likely to foster social learning across four key dimensions: engagement, iterative learning, capacity development and challenging institutions. Complex or ‘wicked’ problems often cannot be adequately addressed using traditional ‘top-down’ approaches. Social learning oriented approaches offer a potential solution by calling on the knowledge of multiple stakeholder groups, and encouraging knowledge sharing and integration and the co-creation of new knowledge. Social learning is more than just group learning; it has an agenda for wider change. It encourages stakeholders to work together to implement and test solutions through iterative cycles of learning, action and reflection. Spreading the learning from this iterative process to wider stakeholder groups and networks allows for change on a larger scale. Institutional openness and support for such approaches is crucial for realising the potential for change, according to the authors. This working paper highlights initial evidence that key factors in social learning approaches can lead to clear learning outcomes with resulting positive changes in values and practice. Links to longer-term development outcomes are also evident in several completed initiatives. The analysis indicates that programmes and projects employing approaches that incorporate key factors from each social learning dimension are most likely to see positive changes among stakeholders in relevant understanding, relationships and norms. Programmes and projects that emphasise all four dimensions are most likely to see the crucial changes in values and practice across stakeholders and wider groups that can lead to improved development outcomes.

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.

Agricultural research organisations’ role in the emergence of agricultural innovation systems

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 09:25:33 +0000

This paper by CIMMYT argues that successful agricultural interventions require social shifts, not just technological. Traditionally, agricultural research organizations measured impact by the number of technologies developed, with less attention given to whether or not these technologies were adopted by farmers and the impact they had in communities. However, poor farmers seldom benefit from new agricultural technologies. So today organizations must clearly demonstrate impact in farmers’ fields. In response, research and extension approaches based on agricultural innovation systems are popular. An agricultural innovation system is a web of dynamic interactions among researchers, input suppliers, extension agents, farmers, traders, and processors engaged in the creation, diffusion, adaptation, and use of knowledge relevant to agricultural production and marketing. This shift represents a new focus on innovation as a social process, as opposed to a research-driven process of technology transfer. Despite growing interest worldwide in agricultural innovation systems, little is known about the most effective ways to operationalise these systems, especially within short and medium timeframes. The study claims that external input is often needed to generate an agricultural innovation system, and that network brokers – actors like NGOs and others, who catalyze collective action by enhancing farmers’ access to information and technical assistance – play a crucial role. Based on an analysis of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) initiative in Mexico, this viewpoint suggests that such organisations are more often suitable network brokers when the objective is the development and scaling out of a technology by itself. When the objectives are multi-faceted and include extension and education, other actors are better placed to be the network broker.

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.

Sustainable intensification in smallholder agriculture: An integrated systems research approach

F&BKP Office — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 10:23:45 +0000

Sustainable intensification has recently been developed and adopted as a key concept and driver for research and policy in sustainable agriculture. It includes ecological, economic and social dimensions, where food and nutrition security, gender and equity are crucial components. This book on Routledge describes different aspects of systems research in agriculture in its broadest sense, where the focus is moved from farming systems to livelihoods systems and institutional innovation. Much of the work represents outputs of the three CGIAR Research Programs on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics, Aquatic Agricultural Systems and Dryland Systems. The chapters are based around four themes: the conceptual underpinnings of systems research; sustainable intensification in practice; integrating nutrition, gender and equity in research for improved livelihoods; and systems and institutional innovation. While most of the case studies are from countries and agro-ecological zones in Africa, there are also some from Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Find also the blog on sustainable intensification by Bioversity International here.

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.

Synthesis report – gender & collectively held land

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:16:06 +0000

This report (PDF) by Landesa gives recommendations on interventions to strengthen collective tenure and ensure that both women and men benefit from the improved land tenure security. The report synthesizes findings from six case studies from China, Ghana, India, the Kyrgyz Republic, Namibia, and Peru. While efforts to address gender in land tenure reforms are increasing, work to improve tenure security of collective land is relatively new. Largely understudied is the intersection between gender and collective tenure security reforms. Land is a critical asset for women and men, and land held in collective tenure can be particularly important for women because their livelihoods often depend upon it. In the rush to provide secure land tenure for communities there is a risk that women’s rights will not be documented or secured, thus weakening their rights to the collective land. The report recommends that project planners take seven measures while planning, implementing, and assessing interventions to strengthen collective tenure. One of them is to identify what formal legal rights women hold within the collective tenure context and what legal changes are necessary to improve women’s land tenure security. It is crucial that women be consulted and empowered in order to ensure that they benefit from collective land tenure reforms.

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.

Social network analysis of multi-stakeholder platforms in agricultural research for development: Opportunities and constraints for innovation and scaling

F&BKP Office — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 10:17:22 +0000

This article in PLOS ONE, analyses the role of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) for agricultural innovation and scaling. Multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) are seen as a promising vehicle to achieve agricultural development impacts. By increasing collaboration, exchange of knowledge and influence mediation among farmers, researchers and other stakeholders, MSPs supposedly enhance their ‘capacity to innovate’ and contribute to the ‘scaling of innovations’. The objective of this paper is to explore the capacity to innovate and scaling potential of three MSPs in Burundi, Rwanda and the South Kivu province located in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In order to do this, we apply Social Network Analysis and Exponential Random Graph Modelling (ERGM) to investigate the structural properties of the collaborative, knowledge exchange and influence networks of these MSPs and compared them against value propositions derived from the innovation network literature. Results demonstrate a number of mismatches between collaboration, knowledge exchange and influence networks for effective innovation and scaling processes in all three countries: NGOs and private sector are respectively over- and under-represented in the MSP networks. Linkages between local and higher levels are weak, and influential organisations (e.g., high-level government actors) are often not part of the MSP or are not actively linked to by other organisations. Organisations with a central position in the knowledge network are more sought out for collaboration. The scaling of innovations is primarily between the same type of organisations across different administrative levels, but not between different types of organisations. The results illustrate the potential of Social Network Analysis and ERGMs to identify the strengths and limitations of MSPs in terms of achieving development impacts.

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.

Monitoring agricultural expansion in Burkina Faso over 14 years: The role of population growth and implications for the environment

Nynke — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 10:28:20 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Remote Sensing uses remote sensing with a high spatial resolution (30 m) to monitor agricultural expansion in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso ranges amongst the fastest growing countries in the world with an annual population growth rate of more than three percent. This trend has consequences for food security since agricultural productivity is still on a comparatively low level in Burkina Faso. In order to compensate for the low productivity, the agricultural areas are expanding quickly. The mapping and monitoring of this expansion is difficult, even on the basis of remote sensing imagery, since the extensive farming practices and frequent cloud coverage in the area make the delineation of cultivated land from other land cover and land use types a challenging task. Thus, improved methods for mapping LULCC (land use and land cover change) are needed. For this study, the authors used a newly developed framework to generate high temporal (8-day) and high spatial (30 m) resolution time series for all of Burkina Faso for the years 2001, 2007, and 2014. For training and validation, a randomly sampled reference dataset was generated from Google Earth images and expert knowledge. The results show an expansion of agricultural area of 91% between 2001 and 2014 to a total of 116,900 km². While rainfed agricultural areas account for the major part of this trend, irrigated areas and plantations also increased considerably, primarily promoted by specific development projects. This expansion goes in line with the rapid population growth in most provinces of Burkina Faso where land was still available for an expansion of agricultural area. The analysis of agricultural encroachment into protected areas and their surroundings highlights the increased human pressure on these areas and the challenges of environmental protection for the future

Access to farmland gets quick and dirty in sub-Saharan Africa

Nynke — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:32:14 +0000

This briefing (PDF) by IIED investigates the rapidly changing power dynamics and structures related to land governance in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors argue that understanding the changing dynamics of land access in rural Africa will be crucial if systems of land governance, companies and organisations, and rural development initiatives are to adapt and make a positive impact. Land that used to be allocated within the community by chiefs is now increasingly changing hands in more diverse ways. The wealthy and well-connected within the community or from further afield are frequently able to override local statutory or customary land rights, dispossessing the previous occupants or forcing them to divide their already small plots of land. When government-backed investors obtain large tracts for agribusiness, local farmers who manage to participate in the schemes do well, but those who cannot may find themselves in dire need of support. While the scale and pace of these changes are growing fast, policy responses are lagging. This briefing sets out some suggestions for how to close the gap.

Also see this separate briefing on similar challenges on land access change in Uganda.

Aquaculture zoning, site selection and area management under the ecosystem approach to aquaculture

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:27:41 +0000

Land governance and water governance tend to address similar challenge with regard to the equitable distribution of resources. This handbook (PDF) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank focuses on water governance and provides practical guidance on aquaculture spatial planning and management. Spatial planning for aquaculture should consider the balance between the social, economic, environmental and governance objectives of local communities and sustainable development. This process is termed the ecosystem approach to aquaculture (EAA). Three principles govern the implementation of the EAA: (i) Aquaculture should be developed in the context of ecosystem functions and services with no degradation of these beyond their resilience. (ii) Aquaculture should improve human well-being with equity for all relevant stakeholders. (iii) Aquaculture should be developed in the context of other sectors, policies and goals, as appropriate. This publication describes the processes and steps for spatial planning, including aquaculture zoning, site selection and area management; and the resources required. Six annexes present key topics, including: (i) binding and non-legally binding international instruments that govern sustainable aquaculture; (ii) bio-security, zoning and compartments, infected zones and disease-free zones; (iii) aquaculture certification and zonal management; (iv) an overview of key tools and models to facilitate and inform the spatial planning process; (v) case studies from ten countries; and (vi) a workshop report. A separate policy brief, accompanying this paper, can be found here.

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.

Improving the resilience of agricultural systems through innovation platforms: creating space for farmer participation in research

F&BKP Office — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 10:19:15 +0000

This article in the Ghana Journal of Science, Technology and Development, highlights the role of innovation platforms for resilience thinking. Responding to global food crisis, such as imposed by climate change, requires resilient food systems that are able to respond to shocks. Resilience thinking, as an approach to agriculture development, focuses on enhancing the capacity of both the human and ecological systems inter alia. In this paper, the concept of resilience is approached from the perspective of socio-ecological systems dynamics. In particular, the study examined the contribution of farmers to research towards enhanced resilience of traditional African vegetable production systems in northern Ghana. An Innovation Platform was set up as a ‘knowledge space’ that provided an enabling environment for the interaction between farmers’ indigenous and researchers’ scientific knowledge in agricultural research. The study revealed that indigenous knowledge can be invaluable to building resilient food systems. However, ensuring that farmers participate effectively and contribute to research effort requires good community mobilization and facilitation skills by scientists as farmers need to be assured that their knowledge and other contributions are valued and their views respected by scientists. Good communication skill is necessary for effective knowledge brokering by researchers. Beyond the farmer, building a good relationship with the community is important in ensuring buy-in by farmers.

Integrated landscape approaches for Africa’s drylands

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 10:30:43 +0000

This book (PDF) by the World Bank presents emerging findings on the importance of moving beyond single-sector interventions to embrace integrated landscape approaches in Sub-Saharan Africa. This includes landscape management that takes into account the health of the ecosystems that support human livelihoods and contribute to the resilience of rural communities. Integrated landscape management is particularly important for these drylands because people depend on production systems that are frequently disrupted by exogenous shocks such as drought. The book highlights policy options, covering six broad intervention areas: (1) Clarify land rights and responsibilities; (2) Encourage multistakeholder involvement and collective action; (3) Overcome institutional barriers to integrated landscape management; (4) Create conditions for adaptive planning and management; (5) Create mechanisms and supporting policies for sustainable and long-term fi nancing of integrated landscape management; and (6) Invest in a solid evidence base and knowledge-sharing platforms for integrated landscape management.The ecological and economic evidence presented in this book shows that integrated landscape management can enhance efforts to invest in tree-based systems and improved livestock management and support productivity increases for rain-fed cropping. Integrated landscape management efforts have helped to coordinate the actions of multiple land users and other stakeholders, reduced confl icts, and improved overall governance of water, land, and other resources.

Tree-based production systems for Africa’s drylands

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:02:59 +0000

This book, published (PDF) by the World Bank, identifies some of the most promising investment opportunities at the level of tree-based systems, species (products), and well-defined management practices for accelerating rural economic growth in the drylands. This book is one of a series of thematic books prepared for the study, “Confronting Drought in Africa’s Drylands: Opportunities for Enhancing Resilience.” Trees, with their deep rooting systems, maintain their standing value and offer some production even in drought years. They are therefore a good buffer against climatic risk and are a critical element in a diversification strategy designed to maintain levels of consumption and income in good times and bad.In addition, their value can be tapped when it is most needed: wood from trees can be harvested throughout the year, and many annual tree products are harvested at times different from the times when annual crops are harvested. The potential of tree-based systems is not always appreciated, however, so work remains to be done tochange the mindsets of policy makers, development professionals, and even technical specialists such as researchers and extension agents. For many, mixing trees with crops is considered unconventional and to be avoided, yet a growing body of evidence suggests that successfully integrating trees into farming and livestock keeping activities can be extremely profitable, provided the appropriate species and management practices are used.

Innovation systems: Towards effective strategies in support of smallholder farmers

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 14:49:07 +0000

This book (PDF) by CTA examines ‘innovations systems’ – a concept suggested as underpinning industrial development – as a strategy for agricultural development. Innovation systems approaches conceptualise change as a long-term, socially-embedded process, and recognise the important role policy plays in shaping the parameters within which decisions are made. Providing a collection of papers and commentaries from the world’s top scholars and practitioners, this book looks at the strengths – but also the weaknesses and challenges – of the innovations systems approach and how it may be applied to benefit smallholder farmers. The debate generally converge around the role of research and development and science and technology in the innovation process, the levels of public investment required and the innovation pathways to be pursued. And, more critically, what policies and institutional mechanisms are needed to sustain agricultural innovation and how governments can ensure that smallholder farmers are not marginalized in a competitive global trading environment. While several chapters provide the theoretical underpinning to support the discourse, others feature concrete experiences drawn primarily from sub-Saharan Africa as well as other regions; Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific. This body of knowledge does not provide a blueprint for agricultural innovation in developing countries or emerging economies, however, the lessons learned can be useful in guiding the design, implementation and evaluation of future policies, programmes and research on agricultural innovation systems.

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.

Shifts in the landscape: Increased pressure on rural land and livelihoods in Ghana

Nynke — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:49:06 +0000

This briefing (PDF) from IIED explores the increased pressure on rural land and livelihoods in Ghana due to competition for land an changes in land governance. In Ghana 70 per cent of the population are smallholder farmers who depend on the land for their basic needs. Growing competition for this resource is having significant impacts on rural livelihoods and land governance. A recent study by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology highlights the key drivers of pressure on rural land, including population growth, urbanization and acquisition of land by new actors including government and business. It shows how, in this new context, rural communities are changing how they access and manage land: shifting from customary to more commercial systems; farming smaller plots of land; and renegotiating access to common resources, such as grazing land. This in turn is influencing crop choices and livelihoods. This briefing explores some of these changes in the rural landscape. As Ghana is currently in the process of consolidating a number of land related laws into a single Lands Act, there is an opportunity for the government to address some of the challenges highlighted in this research.

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.

Making sense of research for sustainable land management

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 11:45:28 +0000

This book (PDF), published by CDE/WOCAT and UFZ, provides evidence of how practices of sustainable land management can be adapted to specific local and regional contexts. It is based on the work of more than 600 scientists and synthesizes experiences and practice-relevant results from a seven year German funded international research programme on interactions between land management, climate change, and ecosystems and their services. It includes 30 technologies and approaches documented using WOCAT standardized tools. The book shows how research can support decision makers and advisors from a variety of sectors – at national, regional, and local levels – in comprehending the complexity of sustainable land management. It assists them in identifying and developing suitable solutions for prevention or restoration of land degradation, improvement of yields, increasing resilience in production systems, and making water management more efficient. A special focus targets measures for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The examples in this book confirm that preservation of ecosystems and the provision of their services can be accomplished within production systems (land sharing), and outside of them
through the intensification on productive land – while leaving other land out of production (land sparing). The question is not ’either / or‘. It rather is how to integrate both within the available space of this planet.

Land administration service delivery and its challenges in Nigeria: A case study of eight states

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 11:10:59 +0000

This paper (PDF) by IFPRI assesses the nature of land administration service delivery in Nigeria using data collected from three sets of participants in land administration processes. The particpants include: 76 service providers, 253 beneficiaries, and 172 professionals. The data were collected from eight states selected from the six geopolitical zones of the country—Cross River, Benue, Bauchi, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, and Lagos states, plus the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja). These were chosen because they are considered to have advanced land administration systems. The findings show that land registration processes in Nigeria take a long time: nearly 80 percent of beneficiaries and 41 percent of professionals responded that land registration took more than two years to complete after first apply-ing. This difference between beneficiaries and professionals may stem from the fact that many professionals, who generally are better educated, may know more about the application process than do beneficiaries and are able to navigate the process more efficiently. Land registration information guidelines seem to be rarely available to the public. Consequently, the dominant means of access to land administration institutions is through direct contact. Coordination among governance structures put in place by states for land administration also was found to be poor, especially in Bauchi and Enugu states, where very low levels of cooperation on issues related to land administration reforms were observed.

New horizons for the transitioning of our food system: connecting ecosystems, value chains and consumers

F&BKP Office — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 15:07:47 +0000

This report (PDF) by NewForesight and Commonland and with contributions from the Boston Consulting Group, presents the complex challenges we face in our current food system, and highlights opportunities to forge a path towards a more sustainable future. The authors sketch an initial outline of holistic approaches that offer long term solutions while capturing net positive business opportunities with multiple returns. The main aim of this paper is to trigger decision makers in business, government, and society to form coalitions, apply such holistic approaches and drive systemic change in our food systems at scale using an ecosystem approach. These coalitions are the key to convening representative stakeholders from all levels, unlocking collaborative learning within food systems, and identifying and pursuing the opportunities for growth and value creation offered by this transition. They argue that there is tremendous, as yet untapped value in fixing our food systems, from soils to plate. This offers significant opportunities for businesses, farmers, society and the planet. Front running organizations that appreciate the urgency; recognize these far-reaching opportunities; and get this transition right, will be rewarded with faster growth and value creation. A key message of the report is that there is a need to form coalitions of committed frontrunners on the path towards net positive food systems using an ecosystem approach. These coalitions need to focus on transforming specific combinations of interrelated agrilandscapes, value chains and consumer markets. It is crucial that these coalitions appreciate the importance of – and invest in – collaborative learning as a first step to identify and capture the opportunities for growth and value creation. A presentation presenting the key points of this report can be found here.

Prioritizing climate-smart agricultural land use options at a regional scale

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 10:45:52 +0000

This article (PDF), published in the Agricultural Systems journal, describes a spreadsheet-based methodology that generates information about the suitability of climate-smart agriculture. It is based on a region specific production function and ‘target yield’ approach in current and future climate scenarios. The promotion of climate-smart agriculture in different parts of the world requires a clear understanding of its relative suitability, costs and benefits, and the environmental implications of various technological interventions in a local context under current and future climates. Such data is generally difficult to obtain from the literature, field surveys and focused group discussions, or from biophysical experiments. In this study such data is obtained by measuring target yields that are identified for homogeneous agroecological spatial units using published crop yield datasets, crop models, expert judgement, biophysical land characterisations, assessment of yield gaps and future development strategies. The application of this approach is illustrated for prioritizing agronomic interventions that can enhance productivity and incomes, help farmers adapt to current risk, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions in current and future climates for the flood- and drought-prone state of Bihar in north-eastern India. In general, climate smartness increases with advanced technologies. Yield is the least limiting while emission is the most limiting factor across the entire crop-technology portfolio for climate smartness.

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.

Transformation in governance towards resilient food systems

F&BKP Office — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 14:56:22 +0000

This research paper (PDF) by The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is the result of a joint effort among a small group of researchers to identify pathways for transformation towards sustainable food systems, which are resilient towards shocks and towards climate change in particular. Using empirical studies, both transformations in governance systems and governance of transformations were investigated. These cases served as a preliminary analysis to identify some of the trends and patterns that warrant further investigation. Not surprisingly, transformational change in food systems is often triggered by a shock to the system, or by increasing pressure to that system. But that alone is not enough to bring about a transformation. A number of preconditions and conditions need to be present including sufficient ‘wealth’ or economic and social capital in the system with resources that can be mobilized, and sufficient flexibility in the institutional context to allow innovation to emerge and gain strength. A particular area of interest that appears to stimulate transformations is collective action, which often involves collaboration across geographical scales and interest groups. The outcomes of transformations are complex and typically multifaceted, and can take years to emerge. However, broadly speaking, the cases explored demonstrate that governance is central to food system transformation both in terms of pre-conditions and provoking processes as well as in the outcomes of the transformation itself. Food system transformations in general appear to entail fundamental shifts in social relations and institutions – in other words, the governance of the food system.

Governing tenure rights to commons

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 13:45:42 +0000

This technical guide (PDF) by the FAO is about the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. Millions of people worldwide depend on natural resources such as land, fisheries and forests that are used collectively as commons. Commons are essential to cultural identity and well-being. They are a source of food and income, an important safety net, and a matter of human rights – for indigenous peoples and local communities including farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, landless people and the most marginalized and vulnerable. The guide aims to support states, community-based organizations and civil society organizations, the private sector and other relevant actors to take proactive measures to implement the standards and recommendations of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (Tenure Guidelines) for legally recognizing and protecting tenure rights to commons and community-based governance structures. The guide:

translate principles of the Guidelines into practical mechanisms, processes and actions;
give examples of good practice – what has worked, where, why and how;
provide useful tools for activities such as the design of policy and reform processes, for the design of investment projects and for guiding interventions

Growing advantage of large farms in Asia and its implications for global food security

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 10:09:44 +0000

This article, published in the Global Food Security journal, argues that if small-scale farms continue to dominate in the face of the increasing wage rate in Asia, many countries in this region will lose their comparative advantage in agriculture. When the wage rate is low, a labour-intensive production method is chosen. Since it is costly to monitor hired labourers in agriculture, small-scale farms dependent on family labour are more efficient than large farms relying on hired labour. This leads to the inverse relationship between farm size and productivity, if land markets do not reallocate land. When the wage rate increases, labour-saving and machine-using production methods become efficient. If machinery and land are complementary and machines are indivisible to some extent, large-scale mechanized farms become more efficient, which tends to weaken the inverse farm size-productivity relationship.

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.

Towards a structured approach to support responsible scaling of innovations in the context of agrifood systems

F&BKP Office — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 16:19:04 +0000

This booklet (PDF) by the Centre of Development Innovation (CDI) is part of a series of legacy products of the CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics). It structures key findings from earlier research towards an approach that connects a theory of change perspective specifically to the question of ‘how scaling happens’. By doing so, it offers a way of thinking systemically and systematically about how scaling happens and could happen in the context of agrifood systems. Over the years, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) became so important that M&E experts were trained to support related processes. Scaling processes are both considered extremely important in the context of agrifood system innovation and relate to a multifaceted picture of dimensions and dynamics. This guidance document is a first attempt to apply theory-of-change thinking to the specific conditions and processes involved in scaling. The purpose is to provide a structured approach to enriching perspectives on what scaling initiatives need to take into account in order to support effective and responsible scaling of innovations. This is done with a particular eye on conditions relating to agrifood systems, although it may be applied more widely. This booklet may provide initial ideas on how to strengthen capacity in this field through a curriculum along the lines of a Theory of Scaling.

Land debate on open data and land governance

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:14:42 +0000

This report (PDF) by Land Portal summarizes the main themes on potential impacts and challenges in opening land data for land governance. Across most contexts, government data sources on land are largely inaccessible, from land administration data, such as parcel data and ownership information to land investments, contract data and even policy information. However, with an ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there is an increasing need to pool data resources toward solving global challenges, while protecting the rights of vulnerable populations. In September 2016, Cadasta Foundation and the Land Portal Foundation teamed up to facilitate a conversation on these issues. Throughout the three-week Land Debate the points of view of 26 participants from government land agencies, international institutions and NGOs were heard. The aims were to better understand the current landscape, potential impacts as well as illustrate the unique challenges in opening land data in order to begin figuring out the solutions. Accessibility is a key factor to be addressed. While open data has potential uses for a wide range of stakeholders, each audience has specific needs and open data tools should be tailored to the user group. “Accessible data” to a researcher may mean that the data is available as a shapefile. While a shapefile is useless to a smallholder farmer, being able to access data for free may be hugely important.

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.

Towards a shared vision: action plans for adapted advisory services in West Africa’s rice irrigation schemes

F&BKP Office — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 11:31:09 +0000

This briefing (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) highlights how farmer organisations and government agencies managing large scale irrigation systems in West Africa need to collaborate to agree on a vision for agricultural services that increases scheme viability while meeting the needs of different types of farmers. Currently however, there is no institutional mechanism in place that enables different groups of actors – with different levels of power – to engage at a strategic level or to negotiate and take forward such a common position. The briefing describes a process piloted in three large scale irrigation schemes in the region and draws lessons from this for future investments in irrigation.

Find also this IIED report “Towards a shared vision: Advisory services that work for smallholders and government in West Africa’s large irrigation schemes“, which summarises three years of action research on the institutional and governance aspects of Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS) in three government-managed largescale irrigation schemes in West Africa – Niandouba/Confluent in Senegal, Sélingué in Mali and Bagré in Burkina Faso. The report offers practical recommendations on how improved services can better respond to farmers’ needs, and how the empowerment of farmer organisations is essential if they are to effectively represent the interests of their members.

Can sub-Saharan Africa feed itself?

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 10:11:51 +0000

This article (PDF), published by the PNAS Journal, presents a study that provides insight about the challenge in meeting the projected tripled cereal demand by 2050 due to expected population growth and modest changes in diets in 10 sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries, through scenarios of yield gap closure. Recent studies indicate that the global increase in food demand by 2050 can be met through closing the gap between current farm yield and yield potential on existing cropland. however, the authors of this article estimate that it will not be feasible to meet future SSA cereal demand on existing production area by yield gap closure alone. The agronomically robust yield gap analysis for 10 countries in SSA, using location-specific data and a spatial upscaling approach, reveals that in addition to yield gap closure, other more complex and uncertain components of intensification are also needed, that is to say, increasing cropping intensity (the number of crops grown per 12 mo on the same field) and sustainable expansion of irrigated production area. If intensification is not successful and massive cropland expansion is to be avoided, SSA will depend much more on imports of cereals than it does today.

Subnational distribution of average farm size and smallholder contributions to global food production

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 09:08:08 +0000

This article (PDF), published in the Environmental Research Letters journal, presents a map of mean agricultural area in the developing world. It is classified by the amount of land per farming household, at subnational resolutions across three key global regions using a novel integration of household microdata and agricultural landscape data. This approach provides a subnational estimate of the number, average size, and contribution of farms across much of the developing world. By the authors estimates, 918 subnational units in 83 countries in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and East Asia average less than five hectares of agricultural land per farming household. These smallholder-dominated systems are home to more than 380 million farming households, make up roughly 30% of the agricultural land and produce more than 70% of the food calories produced in these regions, and are responsible for more than half of the food calories produced globally, as well as more than half of global production of several major food crops. This approach provides the ability to disaggregate farming populations from non-farming populations, providing a more accurate picture of farming households on the landscape than has previously been available. These data meet a critical need, as improved understanding of the prevalence and distribution of smallholder farming is essential for effective policy development for food security, poverty reduction, and conservation agendas.

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.

Building Africa’s great green wall: Restoring degraded drylands for stronger and more resilient communities

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 11:00:31 +0000

This publication (PDF) by FAO presents efforts by FAO and partners on mapping the intervention area of the Great Green Wall initiative and restoration opportunities based on data gathered through Collect Earth and in support of presenting FAO’s effort at COP22 in Marrakech on 14. November 2016. The great green Wall for the sahara and the sahel initiative is Africa’s flagship initiative to build prosperity and resilience in over 20 countries around the Sahara. It was built to combat the effects of climate change and desertification and address food insecurity and poverty. Endorsed by the African Union in 2007 as a game-changer in Africa’s drylands, the initiative aims to transform the lives of millions of people by creating a great mosaic of green and productive landscapes across north Africa, sahel and the horn. A wide range of actors and stakeholders in African countries north and south of the Sahara are involved, and many international organizations are lending their support.

Family farming in sub-Saharan Africa: its contribution to agriculture, food security and rural development

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 10:02:11 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the International Policy Centre for inclusive growth (IPC) elaborates on the strategic role of family farms to accelerate agricultural transformation towards achieving food security and nutrition, as well as sustainable and inclusive rural development. Considering that 75% of the SSA population is involved directly or indirectly in farming and related employment, the strategic role of family farms in such a transformation is increasingly being recognized by key actors. However, there is less agreement on the nature of and prospects for family farms in SSA, the scope of their contributions to agriculture, food security and rural development, and the measures required to address their most critical challenges. This paper finds that family farms are pervasive in the economic life of the largely agrarian SSA region, and shape the social organisation and play a key role in social protection. The authors argue that the scramble for control over agricultural land in SSA threatens the reproduction of family farming, without offering alternate sources of employment, income and food for poor household. The authors argue that the capabilities and markets that serve family farms, need to be enhanced to transform agricultural productivity towards reducing food insecurity and malnutrition, limiting costly food imports and enhancing social protection in the context of sustainable rural development. Realizing this goal requires inclusive policymaking processes that recognize the role of women and young people in agriculture, and build the organisational capabilities of small-scale family farms. There appears to be some ambivalence over focusing on promoting family farms versus the potential role of corporate farming.

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.

Changing agro-food systems: The impact of big agro-investors on food rights

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 11:34:48 +0000

This book (PDF) by PLAAS presents case studies on changing agro-food systems in Southern Africa within the context of large-scale land-based and agri-business investments. By capturing the testimonies of local people in rural settings, with a particular focus on small-scale farmers, it aims to provide vivid accounts of the micro-level changes underway in agro-food systems in Southern Africa, and to reflect on the experiences and perspectives of local people. This project is a response to the need to understand, and generate knowledge and effective partnerships to respond to the rapid changes underway in African agro-food systems. The case studies show the growing food insecurity for poorer households in the context of increasing levels of agro-investment. In Mozambique and Zambia, both at national and district level, governments view the promotion of new crops and new seed varieties by agro-investors as a means of improving food security and livelihoods, under the assumption that cash crops bring substantial wage and employment opportunities to the rural economy. However, the case studies in both countries reveal that specialisation in cash crops by small-scale farmers is also associated with the depletion of natural resources, the disappearance of traditional foods due to the growing use of agro-chemicals like herbicides, and the reduction of the range of diversity of seed varieties as a result of the growing prominence of hybrid seeds that offer small-scale farmers higher yields.

After the consent: Re-imagining participatory land governance in Massingir, Mozambique

Nynke — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 13:19:20 +0000

This article in Geoforum argues that participatory land governance and consultation processes need follow-up mechanisms since new actors, claims and strategies emerge after consent has been reached. In the study area Massingir, Mozambique, foreign private and domestic investments in the agribusiness, tourism, and conservation sectors in the district have been on the rise. This resulted in events that scholars and activists have come to describe as land, water, and green grabs. The discussions have urged the government to implement the policy and legal frameworks that oblige investors to undertake community consultations (based on Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC)). However, little has been clarified about how the consulted communities actually have experienced the consequences of their consent after they agreed to resettle or to concede parts of their communally managed land to investors. This article elaborates on a case study of a communities near Limpopo National Park, which, after struggling to secure land, began to reflect on their initial consent, interact with various actors, and craft strategies for expressing dissent and re-negotiating the initial deal. The article argues that the current emphasis on consultation for the purposes of building consent overlooks the importance of paying systemic attention to these strategies that are emerging from the community’s everyday experiences with the consequences of their act of giving consent. Inclusive land governance entails an institutional mechanism that closely responds to people’s experiences with policy practices.

This work was part of an Applied Research Fund project in Mozambique, please find more information and also policy briefs about the project here.

Land-use choices follow profitability at the expense of ecological functions in Indonesian smallholder landscapes

Nynke — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 16:23:47 +0000

This article in Nature Communication elaborates on the decision-making of Indonesian smallholder farmers and their impact on ecological functions. It finds that land-use choices of Indonesian smallholders predominantly favor farm portfolios with high economic productivity but low ecological value. Smallholder-dominated agricultural mosaic landscapes are highlighted as model production systems that deliver both economic and ecological goods in tropical agricultural landscapes, but trade-offs underlying current land-use dynamics are poorly known. The authors use comprehensive quantification of land-use change and associated bundles of ecosystem functions, services and economic benefits to investigate the decision-making of the farmers. The more profitable option for farmers (oil palm and rubber monocultures) replace forests and agroforests critical for maintaining above- and below-ground ecological functions and the diversity of most taxa. Between the monocultures, the higher economic performance of oil palm over rubber comes with the reliance on fertilizer inputs and with increased nutrient leaching losses. The authors argue that strategies to achieve an ecological-economic balance and a sustainable management of tropical smallholder landscapes must be prioritized to avoid further environmental degradation.

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.

Recent trends in the global governance of food and nutrition security: Policy implications for the EU

Nynke — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 13:59:47 +0000

The paper (PDF) published by IDDRI examines the complexity and fragmentation of the governance regime for FNS and the policy implications for the European Union and the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). It shows that the current governance regime is still highly fragmented and tends to privilege the best resourced actors and specific (political) approaches to FSN, and hence, risks impairing the input legitimacy of governance. The fragmentation is mainly linked to the existence of two types of arenas: multilateral ones and multistakeholder ones. Different international platforms that were set up show this fragmentation and other difficulties. The first difficulty relates to the issue of inclusiveness of international processes. Often civil society organisationss are not included in the platform as well as small private companies, or least developed countries. A second set of difficulties lies in the existing of overlapping and conflicting rules/norms (both formal and informal) that emanate from these platforms. The ways in which food security issues are framed indeed differ significantly from one platform to the other, along with the solutions that are proposed, which raises at least the question of which platform is to rule over which others when competing interpretations and policy options are on the table. This results in a lose control of the CFS over international policies and negotiations that impacts FSN. Against this backdrop, this policy brief concludes with two main recommendations for EU policies.

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.

Economic and agricultural transformation through large-scale farming

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 08:03:23 +0000

This PhD dissertation (PDF) published by Leiden University examines the impacts of large-scale farming in Ethiopia on local economic development, household food security, incomes, employment, and the environment. The study adopted a mixed research approach in which both qualitative and quantitative data were generated from secondary and primary sources. Three large-scale farms (two foreign and one domestic) operating in Oromia, Gambella, and Benshanguel Gumuz regional states were selected as case studies. The result of the study indicated that large-scale farms generally undermined local level food security and incomes, generated little employment opportunities for the local population, deteriorated the local environment, especially in terms of vegetation cover and soil quality, and contributed little to local economic development, such as infrastructure construction, technology transfer, and generating fiscal revenue and foreign currency. The study concluded that the approach of large-scale mechanized farming contributes little to the economic and agricultural transformation of the nation. Local people generally lose out in respect of land transactions and investments, and they are expropriated from their customary land rights to the benefit of national goals. The outcome contradicts with the ethno-linguistic federal state arrangement of the country in which federated states manage their resources to improve their local development.

The effect of education on household food security in two informal urban settlements in Kenya: a longitudinal analysis

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:18:19 +0000

This article (PDF), published in the Food Security journal, investigates the effect of household education attainment on food security among poor urban households, using longitudinal data collected between 2007 and 2012 in Kenya. Poverty and food insecurity continue to feature prominently in the global agenda, with particularly close attention being paid to the determinants of food insecurity. However, the effect of education is mixed and remains understudied in low income countries. In this study household food security was constructed from a set of four key items while education was the average years of schooling for individuals aged 18 years and above in a household. The prevalence of severe food insecurity ranged from 49 % in 2008 to 35 % in 2012. The ordered probit results showed a significant effect of education on food security. The probability of being food insecure decreased by 0.019 for a unit increase in the average years of schooling for a given household. The effect of education, remained significant even after controlling for household wealth index, a more proximate determinant of food security in a cash-based economy such as the urban slums. The findings highlight the need to focus on the food security status of the urban poor. Specifically, results suggest the need for programs aimed at reducing food insecurity among the urban poor and enhancing household livelihoods. In addition, investment in the education of the slum households may, in the long term, contribute to reduction in the prevalence of food insecurity.

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.

Innovative markets for sustainable agriculture: How innovations in market institutions encourage sustainable agriculture in developing countries

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 11:29:32 +0000

This book (PDF) written by the FAO and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) is about innovative approaches that enable markets to act as incentives in the transition towards sustainable agriculture in developing countries. It is based on a survey study done between 2013 and 2015. 15 cases from around the world provide insights into how small-scale initiatives that use sustainable production practices are supported by market demand, and create innovations in the institutions that govern sustainable practices and market exchanges. These cases respond to both local and distant consumers’ concerns about the quality of the food that they eat. The book evidences that the initiatives rely upon social values to adapt sustainable practices to local contexts, while creating new market outlets for food products. Specifically, private sector and civil society actors are leading partnerships with the public sector to build market infrastructure, integrate sustainable agriculture into private and public education and extension programmes, and ensure the exchange of transparent information about market opportunities. The study concludes with four results on how market based solutions can help with the transition towards sustainable agriculture: 1) System innovations that allow new rules for marketing and assuring the sustainable qualities of products; 2) New forms of organization that permit actors to play multiple roles in the food system; 3) New forms of market exchange, such as box schemes, university kiosks, public procurement or systems of seed exchanges; and 4) new technologies for sustainable agriculture.

Evidence-based opportunities for out-scaling climate-smart agriculture in East Africa

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 10:59:00 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by CGIAR contains a systematic review of 175 peer-reviewed and grey literature studies, to gauge the impact of over 70 potential climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices on CSA outcomes in Tanzania and Uganda. Climate-smart agriculture is being widely promoted as a solution for food insecurity and climate change adaptation in food systems of sub-Saharan Africa, while simultaneously reducing the rate of greenhouse gas emissions. Governments throughout Africa are writing policies and programs to promote CSA practices despite uncertainty about the ability for practices to meet the triple CSA objectives of CSA. . Using a total of 6,342 observations, the researchers found that practice impacts were highly context (i.e. farming system and location) specific. Nevertheless, practice effect across CSA outcomes generally agreed in direction. While the authors results suggest that CSA is indeed possible, lack of mitigation data precludes a more conclusive statement. Furthermore, the inclusion of potential adoption rates changes the potential of CSA practices to achieve benefits at scale. Given the uncertainty and variable impacts of practices across regions and outcomes, it is critical for decision makers to prioritize practices based on their desired outcomes and local context.

Systemic perspectives on scaling agricultural innovations. A review

F&BKP Office — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 14:59:34 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Agronomy for Sustainable Development Journal, conceptualizes scaling processes as an integral part of a systemic approach to innovation, to anticipate on the possible consequences of scaling efforts. Agricultural production involves the scaling of agricultural innovations such as disease-resistant and drought-tolerant maize varieties, zero-tillage techniques, permaculture cultivation practices based on perennial crops and automated milking systems. Scaling agricultural innovations should take into account complex interactions between biophysical, social, economic and institutional factors. Actual methods of scaling are rather empirical and based on the premise of ‘find out what works in one place and do more of the same, in another place’. These methods thus do not sufficiently take into account complex realities beyond the concepts of innovation transfer, dissemination, diffusion and adoption. As a consequence, scaling initiatives often do not produce the desired effect. They may produce undesirable effects in the form of negative spill-overs or unanticipated side effects such as environmental degradation, bad labour conditions of farm workers and loss of control of farming communities over access to genetic resources. Therefore, the authors propose a method that connects the heuristic framework of the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP) to a philosophical ‘modal aspects’ framework, with the objective of elucidating the connectedness between technologies, processes and practices. The resultant framework, the PRactice-Oriented Multi-level perspective on Innovation and Scaling (PROMIS), can inform research and policymakers on the complex dynamics involved in scaling. This is illustrated in relation to three cases in which the framework was applied: scaling agro-ecological practices in Nicaragua, farmer field schools on cocoa cultivation in Cameroon and ‘green rubber’ cultivation in Southwest China.

Quality and innovation in food chains

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 14:02:17 +0000

This book (PDF), published by Wageningen Academic, presents a set of case studies on food quality improvement and innovation in food chains, with cases from South Africa, Ethiopia, Benin, Uganda and Senegal. The book is based on interdisciplinary collaborative research projects. An interdisciplinary approach leads to better insights in the opportunities and constraints for quality improvement, and helps public and private actors in seizing the opportunities and removing the constraints. This publication shows how a co-innovation perspective can be developed and applied. Co-innovation entails the combination of technical, organisational and institutional changes, the involvement of various chain actors, and the introduction of complementary innovations at different levels of the food chain. Quality and innovation in food chains: lessons from Africa is an essential read for anyone involved in studying, supporting and implementing quality improvements and innovations in food chains.

International land deals for agriculture

Nynke — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 13:05:53 +0000

This report (PDF) by Land Matrix provides detailed information on who is buying up farmland in which regions of the world and how this land is being used. It elaborates on differences in food security impacts of land deals in different countries. Food crops continue to play the major role in land deals. The report explains that food security impact is distinct in two group of countries. The first group consists of countries with a high Global Hunger Index (GHI) and a high dependence on their agricultural sectors, like Laos, Cambodia and Sierra Leone. Here impact is mixed. On the one hand, land acquisitions can attract investments in agriculture, with the aim of producing more food and creating jobs. However, it can also ensure loss of land to small-scale producers and indigenous peoples, who are often highly dependent on land for their own food security and have few alternatives for income generation. The second group of countries have a much lower GHI and agriculture is proportionally less important to their national economies, such as Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and Uruguay. Here, the context and hence the process is very different from those in the first group. For instance, in Eastern Europe land acquisitions take place in the context of a transition from centrally planned state economies to more capitalist and free market economies, which has involved unique challenges also in the field of food security. In South America, unlike other continents, land acquisitions mostly involve the purchase of land in transactions between private land-owners, without the involvement of the state as an intermediary. The direct impact on food security is therefore also less.

Improving sustainable commodity supply chains in Amazonia

F&BKP Office — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 12:21:52 +0000

Agricultural commodity supply chains – such as beef, soy and palm oil – are a multi-billion-dollar segment of the global economy, driving development in many tropical forest jurisdictions1 . However, the production of these commodities is linked to significant social and environmental impacts and risks. This brief (PDF) by Global Canopy Programme and The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) draws on innovative trade-flow modelling and analysis for three key agricultural supply chains in the Amazon region – soy in Brazil, palm oil in Peru and beef in Colombia – alongside multi-stakeholder interviews and group discussions to: (1) explore the role of supply chain transparency modelling tools in transforming agricultural commodity production; and (2) discuss some of the challenges (trade-offs and barriers) and opportunities for implementing more sustainable productive landscapes in the Amazon region. A key point from the brief is that safeguarding and sustainably managing natural resources in Amazonia is a complex issue that will require marshalling coalitions of public and private actors that have a shared stake in responsible management of the same production landscapes. Furthermore, by building effective coalitions of supply chain actors who can work together alongside regional and national governments in producer nations, it becomes possible to lower costs and distribute responsibilities more fairly and appropriately.

Africa Agriculture Status Report 2016

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 13:29:44 +0000

This status report (PDF) by AGRA is the fourth volume of the Africa Agriculture Status Report series focusing on progress towards African agricultural transformation. The series has the objective of producing an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of emerging issues and challenges being faced by Africa’s smallholder farmers (see also the 2014 and 2015 report). The 2016 report has tracked the progress made in the last decade with the MDGs and the Maputo Declaration as critical benchmarks, and analyses the current status of agriculture in Africa with consideration of the Malabo Declaration and the SDG agenda. According to the report Africa is making steady progress towards agricultural transformation. There is a noticeable upward shift in expenditure on agriculture by national governments in African countries. There is evidence of faster growth in agricultural productivity, improved nutrition, and greater job creation even in the non-farm segments of their economies. The private sector is increasingly investing in agriculture, and the foundations have been laid for a renaissance in Africa’s agriculture. The authors state that these glimpses of success offer an inspiring new vision of a future Africa in which farming as a struggle to survive gives way to farming as a business that thrives. Much more remains to be done to sustain these gains and truly drive the agricultural transformation needed for Africa’s development, and to ensure better life for all of its people.

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.

Land sharing vs land sparing to conserve biodiversity: How agricultural markets make the difference

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 12:34:02 +0000

This article (PDF), published in the Environmental Modeling & Assessment journal, models the supply and demand for agricultural goods and assess and compares how welfare, land use, and biodiversity are affected under intensive and extensive farming systems at market equilibrium instead of at exogenous production levels. As long as demand is responsive to price, and intensive farming has lower production costs, there exists a rebound effect (larger market size) of intensive farming. Intensive farming is then less beneficial to biodiversity than extensive farming is, except when there is a high degree of convexity between biodiversity and yield. On the other hand, extensive farming leads to higher prices and smaller quantities for consumers. Depending on parameter values, it may increase or decrease agricultural producer profits. Implementing “active” land sparing by zoning some land for agriculture and other land for conservation could overcome the rebound effect of intensive farming. Although, the authors show that farmers have then incentives to encroach on land zoned for conservation, with higher incentives under intensive farming. The authors also show that the primary effect of the higher prices associated with extensive farming is a reduction of animal feed production, which has a higher price elasticity of demand, whereas less of an effect is observed on plant-based food production and almost no effect is observed on biofuel production if there are mandatory blending policies.

Land tenure reforms, tenure security and food security in poor agrarian economies: Causal linkages and research gaps

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 14:13:56 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the Global Food Security Journal reviews the literature to identify the relationship between tenure security and food security. The literature on tenure issues and food security issues are not well connected and the scientific evidence on the causal links between tenure security and food security is very limited. The paper explores the conceptual linkages between land tenure reforms, tenure security and food security and illustrates how these vary across diverse contexts. The paper then reviews the limited number of high quality studies that contribute to a causal chain analysis between tenure security and food security and identifies important research gaps. According to the authors, tenure security and food security should be put into the broader perspective of livelihood security to facilitate comprehensive research that takes on board the new challenges of a rapidly changing world. Also a mixed methods approach is needed that can utilize natural experiments as well as randomization where feasible in combination with increasing flows of spatial and time-series data from diverse sources. Household-farm panel data collected over longer periods of time, combined with simulations can also provide valuable insights about the linkages between tenure security and food security.

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.

Towards developing scalable climate-smart village models: approach and lessons learnt from pilot research in West Africa

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 11:34:09 +0000

This report (PDF) by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and CCAFS-CGIAR provides lessons learned on a project on “Developing community-based climate smart agriculture through participatory action research in CCAFS benchmark sites in West Africa”. After three years of implementation, the document is describing the approach used and the lessons learnt. The project used participatory action research approach to test combinations of innovations to address the triple goal of climate smart agriculture which are adaptation to climate change, mitigation of the effects of climate change and attaining food security. An evaluation of the project through two consultants reported that the project was well designed and was very relevant in the context of climate change as its objectives are in line with local needs especially national research/ development goals. From their assessment, the most promising and sustainable outputs were found to be the individual, low cost and locallygrounded technologies/innovations. In addition, farmers demanded soil and water conservation techniques, agroforestry practices (e.g.,Farmer-managed Natural Regeneration, fodder banks and fruit tree planting) and crop diversification (leafy vegetables). The main weaknesses of the project according to the consultants include lack of systematic baseline and actions about assessing greenhouse gas as indicated in the project document. Based on these weaknesses and achievements, recommendations for future actions have been formulated to be used to adjust the activities, particularly for the second phase.

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.

Community innovations in sustainable land management

Nynke — Sat, 20 Aug 2016 13:25:30 +0000

This book published by Routledge analyses community initiatives in sustainable land management in four contrasting African countries. It is increasingly recognized that land can be managed most sustainable through involving local communities. This book highlights the potential of a new methodology of uncovering and stimulating community initiatives through analyzing the countries Ghana, Morocco, South Africa and Uganda. Results show that as communities directly face the challenges of land degradation, they are likely to develop initiatives themselves in terms of sustainable land management. These initiatives (or ‘innovations’) may be more appropriate and sustainable than those emanating from research stations located far from the communities. The book describes the rationale of the approach used, the set of steps followed, how the project managed to engage the communities to understand the importance of the activities they were undertaking, and how they were stimulated to improve and extend their initiatives and innovativeness. Examples covered include soil fertility, community forestry, afforestation, water, invasive species and grazing land management. Central to the book is the way communities, and scientists, interacted between the four countries and learnt from each other. The book also shows how the initiatives were outscaled locally.

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.

State of the world’s forests 2016

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 14:14:34 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO explores the challenges and opportunities represented by the complex interrelationship between forests, agriculture and sustainable development. It demonstrates that the sustainable management of both forests and agriculture, and their integration in land-use plans, is essential for achieving the SDGs, ensuring food security and tackling climate change. Forests and trees support sustainable agriculture. They stabilize soils and climate, regulate water flows, give shade and shelter, and provide a habitat for pollinators and the natural predators of agricultural pests. They also contribute to the food security of hundreds of millions of people, for whom they are important sources of food, energy and income. Yet, agriculture remains the major driver of deforestation globally, and agricultural, forestry and land policies are often at odds. The authors argue that it is possible to increase agricultural productivity and food security while halting or even reversing deforestation, highlighting the successful efforts of Costa Rica, Chile, the Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Tunisia and Vietnam. Integrated land-use planning is the key to balancing land uses, underpinned by the right policy instruments to promote both sustainable forests and agriculture.

GODAN Success stories issue 1

F&BKP Office — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 08:40:11 +0000

Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN) published its first issue of the Success Stories brochure (PDF). In this issue, fifteen success stories are shared on the use of open data for agriculture and nutrition. GODAN supports the proactive sharing of open data to make information about agriculture and nutrition available, accessible and usable to deal with the urgent challenge of ensuring world food security. They argue that the next level of global efficiency in agriculture can be reached through open data. Open data allows governments, private sector and civil society to work together in a true participative manner. The cases share insights from Asia and Africa as well as global initiatives. For example, orchard water management in South Africa through a satellite based service that extracts open data to help improve irrigation and water management. Another example is connecting soil sensor technology to the knowledge of experienced growers and open data for a better control of water and improved irrigation and the fine-tuning of growing environments for all participating farms. Other success stories can be found here.

Targeting, out-scaling and prioritising climate-smart interventions in agricultural systems: Lessons from applying a generic framework to the livestock sector in sub-Saharan Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 14:55:50 +0000

In this paper in the Agricultural Systems Journal, the authors provide climate smart agriculture (CSA) planners and implementers at all levels with a generic framework for evaluating and prioritising potential interventions. This entails an iterative process of mapping out recommendation domains, assessing adoption potential and estimating impacts. Through examples, related to livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa, each of the steps is demonstrated and how they are interlinked. The framework is applicable in many different forms, scales and settings. It has a wide applicability beyond the examples presented and stimulates readers to integrate the concepts in the planning process for climate-smart agriculture, which invariably involves multi-stakeholder, multi-scale and multi-objective decision-making.

Scaling impact: Zambia profit case study

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 10:22:08 +0000

This case study (PDF) by USAID analyzes the extent to which dynamics between input suppliers and smallholders have changed in Zambia. This includes the extent to which input suppliers’ focus on smallholders as a viable market has persisted, reversed, or evolved, and what this means for smallholders; what external economic and policy factors supported or hindered smallholder input market growth; and what lessons policymakers and practitioners can draw from the evolution of the Zambian input supply sector over the past ten years. This is the final report on the activities of the USAID/Zambia Production, Finance, and Improved Technology (PROFIT) project. The study found that smallholders are a continued and growing target market for interviewed input suppliers. A majority of input suppliers attributed their original investment and focus on smallholders to the enduring lessons, mentalities, and models learned through PROFIT. Input suppliers across the board are competing aggressively for a share of the smallholder market, and continue innovating ways to expand their geographic reach. While there is evidence that the market has expanded to include relatively poorer farmers over time, the extent to which these expansions have benefited women, youth, and extremely poor farmers is less clear.

From uniformity to diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems.

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:13:54 +0000

This report (PDF) by IPES-Food is about the changes that the agricultural sector should make to move towards a diversified agroecological system. Today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in supplying large volumes of food to global markets, but are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts: widespread degradation of land, water and ecosystems; high GHG emissions; biodiversity losses; persistent hunger and micro-nutrient deficiencies alongside the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related diseases; and livelihood stresses for farmers around the world. The uniformity at the heart of these systems, and their reliance on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preventive use of antibiotics, leads systematically to negative outcomes and vulnerabilities. To change this type of agriculture, and the food system that goes with it, the agricultural sector needs a fundamentally different model of agriculture based on diversifying farms and farming landscapes. Changes are already happening but are not big and fast enough. Therefore, political incentives must be shifted in order for these alternatives to emerge beyond the margins. The authors conclude with 7 recommendations that can collectively shift the centre of gravity in food systems. Such as, more support for short supply chains & alternative retail infrastructures.

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.

Food security, food systems, and environmental change

F&BKP Office — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 15:28:22 +0000

In this article in Solutions (volume 7 issue 3), it is argued that with limited global resources, and in the face of environmental changes, meeting future food security challenges will first require a shift in thinking from just ‘producing food’ (and other sectoral interests) to ‘food systems.’ Solutions will need to be applied at local and regional levels, but still be interlinked through dialogue and alliances between all food system actors, including producers, processors, retailers and consumers, policy makers, NGOs, and other food system ‘influencers’ such as civil society groups. Though progress is being made, the current level of thinking around cross-sectoral dialogue and solutions is far from adequate. Policy strategies are required at all points in the system—on both the demand and supply side. While constructive engagement with industry and individuals is crucial, change is essentially being left up to voluntary actions. Future solutions should aim to find synergies between climate mitigation and adaptation and between health and environmental goals, with inevitable trade-offs that will need careful management. However, a holistic approach should also create opportunities that may help to smooth the transition from business-as-usual to a more sustainable food system.

Sustainable intensification of agricultural systems in the Central African Highlands: The need for institutional innovation

F&BKP Office — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:43:17 +0000

This study in the Agricultural Systems Journal identifies entry points for innovation for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems. An agricultural innovation systems approach is used to provide a holistic image of (relations between) constraints faced by different stakeholder groups, the dimensions and causes of these constraints, and intervention levels, timeframes and types of innovations needed. The data shows that constraints for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems are mainly of economic and institutional nature. Constraints are caused by the absence, or poor functioning of institutions such as policies and markets, limited capabilities and financial resources, and ineffective interaction and collaboration between stakeholders. Addressing these constraints would mainly require short- and middle-term productivity and institutional innovations, combined with middle- to long-term Natural Resource Management (NRM) innovations across farm and national levels. Institutional innovation (e.g. better access to credit, services, inputs and markets) is required to address 69% of the constraints for sustainable intensification in the Central Africa Highlands. This needs to go hand in hand with productivity innovation (e.g. improved knowhow of agricultural production techniques, and effective use of inputs) and NRM innovation (e.g. targeted nutrient applications, climate smart agriculture). Constraint network analysis shows that institutional innovation to address government constraints at national level related to poor interaction and collaboration will have a positive impact on constraints faced by other stakeholder groups. We conclude that much of the research for development (R4D) investments and innovation in the Central Africa Highlands remain targeting household productivity at farm level. Reasons for that include (1) a narrow focus on sustainable intensification, (2) institutional mandates and pre-analytical choices based project objectives and disciplinary bias, (3) short project cycles that impede work on middle- and long-term NRM and institutional innovation, (4) the likelihood that institutional experimentation can become political, and (5) complexity in terms of expanded systems boundaries and measuring impact.

Scaling up climate-smart agriculture: lessons learned from South Asia and pathways for success

F&BKP Office — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 14:38:23 +0000

This World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) working paper builds on a series of workshops and eight of the latest climate-smart agriculture case studies from South Asia. It identifies seven key ‘ingredients’ and several pathways for successfully scaling up climate-smart agriculture. The paper aims to help policy makers and rural development practitioners strategically plan scaling up of successful climate-smart agriculture practices. Seven key elements provide practical guidance for thinking through challenges and opportunities in the process of scaling up CSA: (1) landscape analyses and approaches, (2) context-specific drivers and spaces, (3) partnerships and knowledge management, (4) strategic and adaptive participatory project management, (5) multidimensional monitoring and evaluation, (6) capacity development through co-learning within a research in development paradigm (7) focus on gender and other disadvantaged groups. One of the key messages of the paper is that scaling up CSA is complex because it involves more than scaling up technological innovations in agriculture. Envisioning, implementing and monitoring CSA requires integrating biophysical, socioeconomic and institutional dimensions, with careful attention to the issues and interactions of these dimensions at different scales.

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.

Shrimp, prawn and the political economy of social wellbeing in rural Bangladesh

F&BKP Office — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 13:15:27 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Journal of Rural Studies operationalizes the concept of social wellbeing (comprised of interlinked material, subjective and relational dimensions) as a framework for understanding the effects of agrarian change, as experienced by inhabitants of two villages in rural Southwest Bangladesh. Production of two ostensibly similar high value export crops (tiger shrimp and freshwater prawn) resulted in radically different trajectories of agrarian change and social wellbeing outcomes in the two villages. These were broadly positive in the village producing prawn, but broadly negative in the village producing shrimp. The paper links these divergent wellbeing outcomes to the ways in which peasant livelihoods became commodified in each village. Different patterns of commodification are shown to be linked to differences in the biological characteristics of the two organisms farmed. The paper demonstrates the theoretical, methodological and analytical utility of integrating social wellbeing and political economy of agrarian change perspectives in the study of rural development.

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.

Six steps to success: Lessons learnt from five years of CCAFS

F&BKP Office — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 07:47:44 +0000

This brochure (PDF) by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), focuses on how to make 500 million farmers climate-resilient in 10 years while also reducing their agricultural emissions. It includes lessons learnt from five years of CCAFS work. Steps 1 includes putting the right technology into farmers’ hands. Step 2 is about getting farmers insured. Step 3 is about getting climate information and advice into the hands of farmers, to help them make informed decisions on their farms. Step 4 highlights the importance of enhancing the national enabling environment. Step 5 is on informing global policies and processes. And step 6 highlights the scaling up of investments to support farmer investment in climate-smart activities. All of these steps include examples from the work of CCAFS in different countries.

A new politics of development cooperation? Chinese and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture

F&BKP Office — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 12:08:00 +0000

This paper in the World Development Journal, introduces a Special Section on Chinese and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture. The paper asks if a new paradigm for development cooperation is emerging, and argues that we must move beyond the simplistic narratives of either “South–South” collaboration or “neo-imperial” expansion of “rising powers” to look at the dynamic and contested politics of engagement, as new forms of capital and technology enter African contexts. Historical experiences in Brazil and China, as well as domestic political and economic debates, affect how interventions are framed, and by whom, and so influence what technologies are chosen, which investments are funded, and who gets trained. There are both political and economic drivers at the heart of these choices, but these are not uniform or uncontested, either in Brazil and China or in Africa. The Special Section argues for a focus on the encounters on the ground, moving beyond the broader rhetoric and generic policy statements. A key feature of Brazilian and Chinese engagements in African agriculture is the role of state–business relations in shaping and steering development, suggesting new forms of developmentalism. The paper concludes that there is a growing opportunity for learning from the Brazilian and Chinese experience, as this will be a long-run feature of African agricultural development.

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.

A case study of health and agriculture social enterprises in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Fri, 27 May 2016 15:02:00 +0000

This case study (PDF) by the Overseas Development Institute reviewed social enterprises (SEs) operating in the agriculture and health sectors in Kenya to examine how the lack of a widely-accepted social enterprise definition influences activity in Kenya, identify niches within which agriculture and health sector social enterprises are operating and summarise key findings from discussions with key informants. The study confirmed the assumption that social enterprise in Kenya is a dynamic space at the moment, but that there is a lack of common terminology and understanding of how SEs fit into wider sectoral contexts. SE Models have filled gaps between government, NGOs and mainstream private sector goods and service provision. Yet their interrelations with other sectors, and self-identification as a coherent sector themselves, remains nascent. At a sectoral level, SEs have found niches within which their entrepreneurial and social skills and focus are enabling them to tackle intractable problems. Stakeholders are seeing a shift in mindset, towards seeing people in the lowest economic groupings as consumers of goods and services. Obstacles that SEs in Kenya are facing include recruiting and retaining staff who are talented and sufficiently commited to the social vision of the SE. Recommendations for governments are to differentiate SEs from regular businesses and incentivise SEs efforts. Furthermore, government engagement could be increased through the establishment of an advisory body that could encourage mutual government-SE understanding. For support organisations it is of importance that they do not provide readymade solutions but that hey evaluate and understand needs before offering solutions. Instruments for providing finance are important in order for SEs to be able to develop and scale. Cross-organisational best practice and knowledge sharing might be beneficial. SE engagement can be best driven by SEs. Lastly, SE engagement can be best driven by SEs as well as engagement with necessary stakeholders.

Multifunctionality and agrarian transition in alternative agro-food production in the global South: The case of organic shrimp certification in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

F&BKP Office — Mon, 16 May 2016 13:44:43 +0000

Processes of globalisation in the conventional food provision system have had widespread negative impacts on small-scale farmers. Yet, alternative food networks, which are characterised by more sustainable production/consumption practices and fairer trade relations, have increasingly been ‘going global’ and, in the process, have been integrating small-scale farms in the South. One such high-value export-led commodity is certified organic shrimp. International third-party certification schemes are becoming popular as a tool to verify the intangible attributes of such commodities. Using concepts of multifunctionality and agrarian change, this paper examines the implications of introducing an international environmental certification programme to a site where the ‘peasantry’ has been preserved and has limited integration in the global agro-food system. Drawing on a case study that examines the first certified organic shrimp production project in Vietnam, this paper concludes that the current movement towards post-productivism in the global North has potential to keep local farming practices in the global South by justifying the value of peasant-like production methods through international certification. As a result, the development path of agrarian transition might be reshaped into a form not necessarily pursuing industrialisation. This leads to the new interpretation of pre- and post-productivism beyond the North and South divide.

Agricultural mechanization and south-south knowledge exchange: What can Ghanaian and Nigerian policymakers learn from Bangladesh’s experience?

Nynke — Wed, 11 May 2016 15:19:01 +0000

This policy note (PDF) from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) shows to what extend mechanization efforts from Bangladesh can be used as an example for these transformations in Ghana and Nigeria. The notes elaborates on the experiences of past efforts in these countries have mostly focused on the styles of machinery used in western countries or Latin American countries, where average farm sizes are much larger. In Bangladesh recent fast growth in agricultural mechanization has spread among smallholder farmers that own an average of 0.5 hectares. While there are still difference between Ghana and Bangladesh (Ghana is still relatively land abundant compared to Bangladesh), the authors suggest that learning from experience of agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh can offer useful inspiration on how widespread mechanization can happen for smallholders in Ghana and Nigeria. While South-South knowledge exchange on agricultural mechanization has benefits, it remains important to strike the right balance across the various models from various countries available to achieve growth across diverse types of farms.

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.

Assessment of upgrading strategies to improve regional food systems in Tanzania

Babs — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 11:28:00 +0000

This article in the Outlook on Agriculture journal, assesses the feasibility and potential success of upgrading strategies (UPS) as well as their assessment criteria as developed by German and Tanzanian agricultural scientists. The results form part of a larger participatory research project conducted in two climatically representative regions of Tanzania: semi-arid Dodoma and subhumid Morogoro. This paper presents the findings with respect to food processing, waste management and bioenergy, along with income generation and market participation. The assessments for food processing revealed preferences for preservation techniques, oil extraction processes and food storage devices for the semi-arid region. In contrast, in the subhumid region, the experts favoured food storage devices and preservation techniques. Assessments of waste management and bioenergy UPS for both regions indicated the importance of animal feed from crop residues, crop residues as mulch and compost from food waste, although with somewhat different priorities. Assessments on income generation and markets in both regions revealed preferences for savings and credit cooperatives and communication techniques, but also indicated that warehouse receipt systems and guarantee systems had a high impact. Assessments differed between the two different climatic regions, and to some extent also between the nationality of experts and their gender. The authors therefore attach importance to integrating different South–North and female–male awareness in assessments among scientists. Moreover, local and/or regional stakeholders and experts should be involved in developing site-adapted UPS for enhancing food value chains.

Cooperatives, economic democratization and rural development

Babs — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:00:27 +0000

This recent book by Jos Bijman from Wageningen University, Roldan Muradian from Universidade Federal Fluminense and Jur Schuurman, formerly Agriterra, focuses on agricultural cooperatives and producer organizations as institutional innovations which have the potential to reduce poverty and improve food security. This book presents a raft of international case studies, from developing and transition countries, to analyse the internal and external challenges that these complex organizations face and the solutions that they have developed. The contributors provide a greater understanding of the transformation of traditional community organizations into modern farmer-owned businesses. They cover issues including: the impact on rural development and inclusiveness, the role of social capital, formal versus informal organizations, democratic participation and member relations, and their role in value chains. Students and scholars could find the book’s multidisciplinary approach useful in their research. It can also be of interest to policy-makers seeking to understand the wide diversity of organizational forms and functions. NGOs, donors and governments seeking to support rural developments can benefit from the discussions raised in this book.

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.

Developing gender‐equitable legal frameworks for land tenure: A legal assessment tool

Nynke — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:57:33 +0000

This legal paper (PDF) from the FAO argues that effective policy and legal advice requires a clear understanding of the gaps and discrepancies in the policies and legislation pertaining to gender and land. It aims to deepen the understanding on women’s access to land and to analyse how adjustments in the legal framework regulating women’s land tenure can promote their economic empowerment and ultimately generate more productive agricultural systems. The paper introduces a Legal Assessment Tool (LAT) for gender-equitable land tenure, developed under the Gender and Land Rights Database of the FAO. Its purpose is to provide prompt, targeted and effective policy and legal advice to countries working towards gender-equitable land tenure. It describes the main features of a tool specifically designed to measure the extent to which the legal framework fosters gender-equitable land tenure and provides the results from the application of the LAT to three African countries – Sierra Leone, Madagascar and Morocco. It further reflects on the added value of such a tool in the broader context of rural development and poverty alleviation, with a special focus on the implementation of the voluntary guidelines.

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.

Scaling up Agroecology through Market Systems

F&BKP Office — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:30:02 +0000

This paper by Practical Action uses the three pillars of Technology Justice (access, local innovation, and sustainable use of technologies) to assess the range of agricultural development pathways available. Agroecology emerges as the strongest pathway for leaving no one behind and meeting the triple challenge of productivity, sustainability and poverty eradication, as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals. This policy briefing presents existing evidence and research in agroecology alongside case studies of successful initiatives with scalable potential, particularly where market systems are at the core of development practices. Considering the barriers to scaling up agroecology, the paper recommends that development actors work together to identify incentives to enable systemic change, through facilitating market systems and private-sector engagement in agroecological production and value chains.

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.

Unleashing rural economies

F&BKP Office — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 09:03:06 +0000

This publication by the The Economist Intelligence Unit, highlights the overlooked value of rural economies for food security and poverty reduction. The authors state that rural economic development holds the key to ensuring that the nutritional needs of a growing global population are met, and poverty in rural areas is eased, narrowing the gaps between rural and urban populations. The focus of this research project is a better understanding of the macro- and microeconomic conditions that would enable rural economies to deliver a more significant contribution to economic growth. The research modelled how global GDP, rural GDP and rural populations could evolve up to 2030, according to various scenarios. This includes rural growth being unleashed as policymakers implement measures to stimulate development and overcome underlying barriers. Getting the right drivers in place could boost rural growth by over 13% above its current trajectory. Rather than from a mere poverty alleviation or food security perspective, rural economies have the potential to significantly improve the long-term economic growth of nations around the world. To achieve this growth, the report identifies several main obstacles: 1) Policy. Many of the world’s rural areas are not adequately supported by their own governments. A lack of focus on rural development could be addressed through increased attention from political leaders, stronger rule of law and enhanced enforcement of rural policies; 2) Operational infrastructure. Transportation, telecommunication, power and water infrastructure need significant investment. This would boost the productivity of rural supply chains and have positive spill over effects across sectors and 3) Social infrastructure. Improvements are needed in healthcare and education system to make rural areas more attractive as places to live, work and invest.

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.

Who owns the right to food? Interlegality and competing interests in agricultural modernisation in Papua, Indonesia

Nynke — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 15:31:53 +0000

This article in Third World Quarterly discusses the extend to which competing and conjoined interests in agricultural modernization reshape the right to food since actors, norms and practices change. This is partly due to economic globalization that has transformed the politics regarding the right to food. The authors use the concept of interlegality, which considers dynamic perspectives of plural legal orders. The discussion focuses on, first, existing norms linked to the wider understanding of the right to food and, second, the interplay of interests supported by the state, corporations and civil society organisations. The Indonesian agricultural modernisation project in Papua is used as a case study.

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.

Local food for global future : Classification, governance and knowledge for sustainable food security

F&BKP Office — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 08:48:21 +0000

A critical analysis of the post World-War II industrial agriculture and food system showed a number of drawbacks. To overcome these difficulties a new paradigm is needed: sustainable food security that requires a focus on local resources. Starting from recently published articles and new research the book presents a structured approach, which offers opportunities and challenges for local and regional food systems, that we see re-emerging globally. Based on a new classification of local food systems the book goes into adequate governance structures. This is demonstrated by a number of examples chosen from all over the world. Special attention is given to developments in The Netherlands and in Russia. A thorough overview is presented of the specific types of knowledge and innovation that is needed for a strong development of the local food systems. The book uncovers the power of local food beyond the local territory. Questions are answered about the consequences when developing regional food systems worldwide. A clear vision is presented on local and regional food and its significance and potential impact on global future, with a fascinating perspective for all people involved.

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.

The barriers to scaling up/out climate smart agriculture and strategies to enhance adoption in Africa

F&BKP Office — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 12:15:05 +0000

This report by FARA identifies barriers to scaling up/out climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices and proposes strategies and practical actions to remove the barriers and enhance adoption of CSA in Africa. Section one of the report provides the background, rationale and objectives. Section two presents the African context of climate change and climate smart agriculture. Section three identifies and discusses the barriers that limit scaling-up and out of CSA practices. Section four outlines a number of strategies and practical actions to remove the barriers to adoption. Conclusions and recommendations are presented in Section five. The publication highlights that Early Warning Systems (EWS) are critical for monitoring major uncertainties when making decisions regarding the bio-physical, management and ecological barriers to adoption of CSA. Successful CSA practices at farm, landscape and entire food system levels are essential to be up and out-scaled.

Spaces for dialogue as a strategy to integrate the right to food in rural municipalities of Latin America: Recommendations for establishment and strengthening

Nynke — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 15:51:23 +0000

This report in Spanish (PDF) from FAO provides guidance to authorities and municipal officers to establishing and strengthen policy dialogue between municipal governments and civil society. This is done as a strategy to integrate the obligations and principles of the right to food in rural municipalities related to food and nutrition security in Latin America. The report focuses on the implementation of two principles; participation and empowerment. These are seen as fundamental principles for the establishment and operation of spaces for dialogue. These principles are seen as the basis to discuss and develop other right to food principles. From the experiences of municipalities in Latin America, the advantages, limitations, achievements and challenges of the dialogue spaces are described. The conditions and processes for the creation, organization and dynamics of spaces for dialogue are also presented. Activities that can be carried out to promote greater participation and empowerment of local actors, especially women, are proposed. The report concludes with proposing actions that can be taken to respect, protect and fulfill the right to food and questions are suggested that can guide discussions within spaces for dialogue.

Published in 2015

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.

Right to Food Journal: Supporting the struggle for the Human Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition

Nynke — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 15:35:05 +0000

This journal (PDF) of FIAN International elaborates on the increasing influence of transnational corporations over policy-making and the impact on the realization of the human right to food and nutrition. It was published on the occasion of Human Rights Day and features political and legal analyses of corporate influencing and stories from the ground. In general, the authors argue that the influence of transnational corporations are increasingly eroding the political power of people to demand their right to food. The critical reflection on the role of transnational corporations in tackling malnutrition, hunger and food insecurity, urges readers to rethink assumptions on private sector involvement. The FIAN Right to Food Journal is an annual online magazine which provides experts with information and analysis on the right to food and on important trends concerning economic, social and cultural rights.

Avoiding bioenergy competition for food crops and land

Nynke — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 13:18:49 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from the World Resources Institute (WRI) shows that any dedicated use of land for growing bioenergy inherently comes at the cost of not using that land for growing food or animal feed, or for storing carbon. In the past decade, governments have pushed to increase the use of bioenergy—the use of recently living plants for energy—by using crops for transportation biofuels and increasingly by harvesting trees for power generation. Although increasing energy supplies has provided one motivation, the belief that bioenergy use will help combat climate change has been another. However, bioenergy that entails the dedicated use of land to grow the energy feedstock will undercut efforts to combat climate change and to achieve a sustainable food future. The authors recommend several policy changes to phase out forms of bioenergy that use crops or that otherwise make dedicated use of land: 1) the set targets for biofuels need to be phased-out and no new policies should be established; 2) Governments should switch from low-carbon fuel standards to other measures of encouraging purchases of electric or hydrogen cars; 3) Exclude whole trees or introduce greenhouse gas accounting for wood from renewable energy standards to discourage their burning for reaching renewable energy standards; 4) Kyoto does not include the greenhouse gas emissions from burning biomass, this “accounting error” should be fixed. It concludes that much of the case for bioenergy is grounded in technological optimism and that a more realistic optimism must recognize the inherent limitations in photosynthesis by plants that will keep bioenergy’s land-use efficiency low, even under the most optimistic scenarios.

Food Wars: The global battle for mouths, minds and markets, 2nd edition

Babs — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 13:40:28 +0000

A new edition of Food wars, a book written by Tim Lang and Michael Heasman, was published by Routledge. Food wars can be understood as a war declaration against nowadays food-world. This new edition brings new developments since the first edition fully up to date within the original analytical framework of competing paradigms or worldviews shaping the direction and decision-making within food politics and policy. The authors place more emphasis on the tricky task of how to address cross-cutting issues. Their core argument remains that the food system is in trouble, but it is possible to make sense of this situation and to unpick the barriers to profess. The evidence for system change has grown stronger. The authors propose quite concrete solution for a new food policy and draw a new frame for food policy and public health.

The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:52:36 +0000

The New Harvest, written by Calestous Juma, is a product of the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The book argues that Africa can feed itself in a generation and help contribute to global food security despite its history of persistent food shortages and the rising threat of climate change. To achieve this, the continent must harness scientific and technological advances, invest in infrastructure, foster higher technical training, and create regional markets. It must also produce a new crop of entrepreneurial leaders dedicated to the continent’s economic improvement. This new edition provides ideas on how to place agriculture at the center of the continent’s long-term economic transformation. It demonstrates how policy coordination can help realize agriculture’s full potential as a motherboard for other economic activities. Incorporating lessons from academia, government, civil society, and private industry, The New Harvest outlines how African countries can work together at regional levels to generate new knowledge and resources, harness technological advancement, encourage entrepreneurship, increase agricultural output, create markets, and improve overall economic performance.

Reaching more farmers: Innovative approaches to scaling up climate-smart agriculture

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 11:41:44 +0000

The working paper (PDF) by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), aims to provide insight into how we can use novel approaches to scale up research findings on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) to meaningfully address the challenges of poverty and climate change. The approaches described include those based on value chains and private sector involvement, policy engagement, and information and communication technologies and agro-advisory services. The paper draws on 11 case studies to exemplify these new approaches to scaling up. These are synthesised using a simple conceptual framework that draws on a review of the most important challenges to scaling up. This provides the material for a discussion around how particular scaling up approaches can help to address some of the challenges of scaling up. The analysis offers insights into scaling approaches, challenges and some opportunities for scaling CSA practices and technologies. We conclude that multi-stakeholder platforms and policy making networks are key to effective upscaling, especially if paired with capacity enhancement, learning, and innovative approaches to support decision making of farmers. Projects that aim to intervene upstream at higher leverage points can be highly efficient and probably offer cost-effective dissemination strategies that reach across scales and include new and more diverse partnerships. However, these novel approaches still face challenges of promoting uptake, which remain contextualized and thus require a certain level of local engagement, while continuously paying attention to farmer’s needs and their own situations.

A rights-based food security principle for biomass production

Nynke — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 08:35:32 +0000

This working paper (PDF) published by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and Welthungerhilfe aims to show how the right to food can be ensured in local biomass production and through certification systems in food insecure regions. The authors argue that until now food security aspects of biomass-based economies are hardly addressed because practical criteria and indicators are lacking. The authors therefore develop a conceptual framework to integrate the right to adequate food in biomass production, processing and trade. They identify the appropriate criteria to ensure that this right is not violated. Based on this framework, the authors develop a right-based food security principle. They propose 45 criteria, classified in the 17 themes from the voluntary guidelines that exist now to ensure that the right to food is not adversely affected by certified biomass production and trade.

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.

Realising the right to social security and the right to food

Babs — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 14:35:36 +0000

This paper (PDF) by ILO identifies conceptual synergies and dissonances between food security and income security. It considers the contribution of mainstream social protection instruments, such as cash transfers, to food security. The paper presents specific food security policies that would strengthen the ability of national social protection floors to address food insecurity. The paper explores the links between other policies necessary to ensure food security and the national social protection floors. The paper also presents the experiences of Ethiopia and India on the implementation of extensive social protection programmes with explicit food security objectives. The author argues that national social protection floors need to be adapted to the specific sociocultural and political contexts prevailing in each country.

Innovation platforms: expriences with their institutional embedding in agricultural research for development

Babs — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 12:42:04 +0000

This article in the Experimental Agriculture Journal highlights ‘Innovation Platforms’ (IPs) as a promising vehicle to foster a paradigm shift in agricultural research for development (AR4D). By facilitating interaction, negotiation and collective action between farmers, researchers and other stakeholders, IPs can contribute to more integrated, systemic innovation that is essential for achieving agricultural development impacts. However, successful implementation of IPs requires institutional change within AR4D establishments. The objective of this paper is to reflect on the implementation and institutionalisation of IPs in present AR4D programmes. Experiences from sub-Saharan Africa are used to demonstrate how the adoption and adaptation of IPs creates both opportunities and challenges that influence platform performance and impact. Niche-regime theory is used to understand challenges, and anticipate on how to deal with them. A key concern is whether IPs in AR4D challenge or reinforce existing technology-oriented agricultural innovation paradigms. For example, stakeholder representation, facilitation and institutional embedding determine to a large extent whether the IP can strengthen systemic capacity to innovate that can lead to real paradigm change, or are merely ‘old wine in new bottles’ and a continuation of ‘business as usual’. Institutional embedding of IPs and – more broadly – the transition from technology-oriented to system-oriented AR4D approaches requires structural changes in organisational mandates, incentives, procedures and funding, as well as investments in exchange of experiences, learning and capacity development.

Transforming a broken food system: an interview with Raj Patel

Babs — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 08:14:32 +0000

In its ‘Social justice in the food sector’ series, Fairfood International is interviewing experts on their views on how to create fair and sustainable food supply chains. Raj Patel is an award-winning British academic, journalist, activist and writer. He is known for his book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, he also wrote New York Times bestseller The Value of Nothing, an analysis of the financial crisis and critique of the neoliberal, free-market economics that caused it. He is currently working on a new documentary, book and multimedia project, called Generation Food, which documents a broken food system and highlights better ways of growing food, and feeding the world. In this interview with Fairfood’s Richard Glass, he shares his view on corporate control of the food system and the systemic change needed to create a fairer future.

Climate change and human rights: Adapting food production to climate change – An inclusive approach

Nynke — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:32:27 +0000

In this column, Christian Timmermann and Georges Félix claim that we need to focus our attention on creating innovations that can be reproduces with spare local parts and as little external inputs as possible, to ensure that the innovations reach the neediest. The authors argue that to address the human right to adequate food in the upcoming years and decades, policy-makers have assigned the globalized knowledge economy the task to deliver the necessary technological solutions. However, this approach fails to include the inventive capacity and active involvement of smallholders. The authors argue that while adaptation is portrayed as solely coming from the scientific laboratories in the Global North, an inclusive approach in which smallholders are actively involved is necessary to ensure food security for the most deprived. They argue that the promotion of research schemes that include indigenous knowledge to develop locally-adapted options is needed. Three cases (in Burkino Faso, Mexico and Costa Rica, Indonesia) are presented in which farming families have come up with their own innovations to counter climatic variability while maintaining crop production.

The column is part of a Global Policy’s e-book in which different columns from academics and practitioners are bundled, leading up to the 2015 Paris Conference. Other columns of the series can also be found here. You can join the twitter debate #GPclimatechange.

Unlocking Africa’s agricultural potential for transformation to scale African livestock development

Babs — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 12:51:05 +0000

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the African Union-Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) prepared a policy brief for the three-day high-level meeting on ‘feeding Africa’ held October 2015 in Dakar, Senegal. Improved livestock genetics, health and feed—guided by policies geared towards enabling a sustainable and business-friendly environment—are key to unlocking the potential of agriculture in Africa, according to the policy brief prepared by Barry Shapiro, senior livestock development advisor at ILRI and Simplice Nouala, chief animal production officer, AU-IBAR. The brief (PDF) underlines the importance of smallholder mixed crop/livestock and pastoral systems in much of the continent where 60-80 % of rural households keep livestock as mobile and liquid assets, income generators, and for household food security and nutrition. Goals for African livestock transformation over the next 15 years include a doubling of livestock production, of the contribution of livestock inputs into domestic industrial sectors and of exports and export earnings, a halving of domestic livestock product prices and the achievement of livestock relevant sustainable development goals (SDGs).

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.

Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty

Babs — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 15:08:24 +0000

This edition of FAO‘s “The State of Food and Agriculture 2015″ (PDF) makes the case that social protection measures will help break the cycle of rural poverty and vulnerability, when combined with broader agricultural and rural development measures. The report finds that in poor countries, social protection schemes – such as cash transfers, school feeding and public works – offer an economical way to provide vulnerable people with opportunities to move out of extreme poverty and hunger and to improve their children’s health, education and life chances. The report stresses that the notion that social protection reduces people’s work effort is a myth. Rather, recipients often respond to social protection positively, including improving the nutrition and education of their children, relying more on home production rather than poorly paid wage work and also increasing their participation in existing networks such as funeral societies, a common form of risk management in many traditional communities. Still, the report stresses how social protection alone cannot sustainably eradicate hunger and rural poverty. It therefore underscores the importance of combining and coordinating public investment in social protection with public and private investments in the productive sectors of agriculture and rural development.

Ending rural hunger: Mapping needs and actions for food and nutrition security

Babs — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 12:41:58 +0000

The Ending Rural Hunger project was created by the Global Economy and Development division of the Brookings Institution. This report “Ending Rural Hunger: Mapping Needs and Actions for Food and Nutrition Security” (PDF) argues that a new approach is needed to achieve Global Goal 2: Zero Hunger: the international community must shift from a pattern of erratic political attention and inadequate measurement of the underlying issues to a sustained, strategic, and evidence-based commitment to food and nutrition security (FNS). This implies systematic and quantitative review of how well individual countries are doing in FNS, the strategies being undertaken, and the investments being made, especially in the developing world. In turn, this information needs to be aligned with an assessment of what developed countries are doing to contribute to—or detract from—progress. Such a mapping can help identify priorities and promote actionable follow-up at global, regional, and national levels. This report focuses on one core element of the new global goal for 2030: ending rural hunger. The report is accompanied by an interactive website, www.endingruralhunger.org, – that presents the full results of the analysis alongside all the underlying data.

From lessons to practice and impact: Scaling up pathways in peoples’ biodiversity management

Babs — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 11:13:10 +0000

This briefing note (PDF) by Oxfam highlights lessons learned form the three-year global programme ‘Putting lessons into practice: Scaling up People’s Biodiversity Management for Food Security’. The note presents short case studies from Peru, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe, each providing examples of innovation and learning within the programme. They provide a model for scaling up and form the basis of the local to global, evidence-based, policy recommendations on Farmers’ Rights and the sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) . The programme is being scaled up further to a total of eight countries as part of the global programme, ‘Sowing Diversity=Harvesting Security’ (SD=HS). Findings on innovation and learning from the three partner countries have been consolidated into a global framework, and further conceptualised into six scaling up pathways, to ensure widespread impact—in such a way that social, environmental, or economic conditions can be enhanced beyond the context of this programme.

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.

The role of knowledge in building food security resilience across food system domains

Babs — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 13:30:47 +0000

This paper in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences compares knowledge generation, transmission, access, and use in four food system domains (global industrial, independent commercial, local and sustainable, and fair trade) discriminated on dimensions of globalization and multifunctionality. The objective of these comparisons is to understand connections among the resilience of food systems, food security, and knowledge systems. The paper concludes with a case study of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The CFS embodies and facilitates many of the attributes of resilient knowledge generation and access; some of the tensions within the CFS reflect whether knowledge used by the Committee will have attributes of resilient knowledge. The author argues that forms of knowledge generation, transmission, and access must be participatory, multi-actor, iterative, and transparent in order to build food security resilience. It is also argued that knowledge at multiple scales must be resilient and interlocking in order to protect social organizations from food shortages and impaired food security.

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”.

Towards a comprehensive strategic framework to upscale and out-scale ecosystem based adaptation (EbA) driven agriculture in Africa

Babs — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 13:32:08 +0000

This article on weADAPT is based on the report “Towards a comprehensive Strategic Framework to Upscale and Out-scale Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EbA) driven agriculture in Africa”, which was released ahead of the 2nd Africa EbA for Food Security Conference, hosted by the UNEP in Nairobi in July 2015. This strategic framework (PDF) by Ebafos seeks to build on the key theme of enhancing productivity of Africa’s food systems, by proposing a holistic approach that considers productivity of the agriculture value chain as a continuum. It contrasts the proposed approach with conventional systems by discussing both paradigms. Under conventional approaches to food production, increased production is achieved through ‘intensification’, – expanding cropland through clearing more land, and misusing mineral fertilizers, without considering the impacts of such practices on ecosystems. The proposed paradigm shift framework put forward policies suggestions which seeks to enhance productivity of the entire value chain by applying ecosystems based approaches to enhance on-farm production, which results in not only increased yields, but also enhances the productivity of ecosystems and consequently builds community resilience against climate change. A strategic framework to operationalize the new agriculture paradigm that imbeds ecosystem based adaptation approaches is documented. This framework captures key operational aspects of institutions, financing, knowledge management and monitoring & evaluation.

Global or local food chains? Uncovering the dilemmas in Senegal and Peru

Babs — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:26:37 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), examines whether local or global food chains are better at delivering food security and safety, decent employment, protecting the environment and contributing to economic growth. Using case studies from Senegal and Peru, the authors show a new and complex reality that challenges ideological views about re-localising food production and consumption. It points to the dilemmas but also to the potential and limits of national policies and food chain practices in a context of market globalisation. Despite many differences, both country case studies show that changes in domestic consumption, business and policy strategies are contributing to reshaping global trade. The paper highlights that international food trade is a key component of world food security. According to the authors, global and local food-chain performance must be assessed against national and global concerns related to food security and safety, employment, natural resource constraints and environmental impact to make markets work for the many and in the long term.

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.

Scaling success: Lessons from adaptation pilots in the rainfed regions of India

Babs — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 11:46:54 +0000

This report (PDF) by the World Resources Institute (WRI) aims to accelerate scaling of adaptation in rainfed India by providing a framework to enable project implementers, funding agencies, and policy makers to identify good adaptation practice, determine what is ready to be scaled, and understand the process of scaling and the conditions necessary to support it. The four parts of the adaptation scaling framework include: 1) Good adaptation practice indicators; 2) Scaling readiness; 3) Scaling pathways; and 4) Conditions for scaling. The authors applied the framework to twenty-one adaptation projects and conducted four deep dive case studies to assess the scaling potential of adaptation projects in rainfed regions of India. The twenty-one projects showed mixed results with regard to the good practice indicators. Several projects address all these areas of good practice, while others address only on one or two. Of the indicators, knowledge sharing had the strongest showing (20 projects), while climate information service provision had the weakest (7 projects). The authors highlight that when determining if an adaptation intervention is ready for scaling, implementers face the challenge of identifying the right indicators of good adaptation practice to ensure effective adaptation activities are scaled. This is challenging for several reasons, such as adaptation activities in different contexts look very different from each other, which makes it difficult to determine what is “good”. The authors suggest more research is needed on what adaptation activities work, in order to help clarify what is “good” and fit for scaling. See also the executive summary.

Realizing the right to food in an era of climate change

Babs — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:04:13 +0000

This report (PDF) by Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) highlights the role of small-scale farmers as innovators and custodians of food system diversity, a critical resource in ensuring the realization of the right to food in an era of climate change. Taking an innovation systems perspective, it proposes a new framework for the design of collaborative agricultural research projects and agendas, and notes the need for pro-active policy measures in creating an enabling environment for such partnerships. The authors recommend that the right to food should be interpreted to include the diversity that underpins future food security. Proactive measures need to be undertaken to protect agrobiodiversity, local knowledge and the diversity of farm management practices employed by small-scale farmers around the world, recognizing their ability to adapt. Having a rights-based legal framework and national strategies in place could help facilitate this.

Scaling up aquaculture development through triangular cooperation between Namibia, Spain, Viet Nam and FAO

Babs — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 12:52:53 +0000

Aquaculture production remains low in sub-Saharan Africa, with per capita consumption of only 9.1 kg/year. But there is great potential to expand the sector on the African continent, particularly through the use of south-south cooperation programmes. This project (PDF) by FAO is finding innovative ways to produce fish in remote areas. Farmed fish can provide additional income and could guarantee a steady supply to rural communities which currently have limited access to fish as part of their diet. One innovative programme is helping to improve aquaculture production in the Republic of Namibia through triangular cooperation between Namibia, Spain, Viet Nam and FAO.

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.

Shifting cultivation, livelihood and food security: New and old challenges for indigenous peoples in Asia

Nynke — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 16:32:20 +0000

This extended report (PDF) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showcases the changes in livelihood and food security among indigenous shifting cultivation communities in South and Southeast Asia. It focuses on the challenges for indigenous peoples in countries that experience rapid socio-economic transformations with case studies from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal and Thailand. The case studies identify external and internal factors that hinder and facilitate livelihood creation and food security. The case studies document good practices and identify intervention measures to support and promote good practices in adaptive changes among shifting cultivators. All case studies highlight the need to assist indigenous shifting cultivators by improving their agriculture-based livelihood systems for better food security. One of the priority areas relates to security of land tenure. Another important recommendation of the relates to the need to improve farming systems and natural resource bases for shifting cultivation-based food production and cash crop cultivation. Desired supports include linking indigenous producers with buyers (Cambodia), provision of market information (Laos) and storage facilities (Bangladesh), and market exploration of high value crops, such as organic vegetables (Thailand). The studies illustrate how shifting cultivation was and still remains a suitable and for some communities indispensable form of land use in upland areas in Asia, and that it can continue to be managed sustainable from the viewpoints of both natural resource management and household food security under conditions of sufficient and legally recognized access to land.

Rural and agricultural mechanization

Babs — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 15:46:34 +0000

The past 50 years witnessed a remarkable spread of smaller-scale rural mechanization in some regions of South Asia, mostly characterized by the spread of single-cylinder diesel engines. These engines have been used for multiple purposes, such as providing power for shallow tubewell pumps, riverboats, two-wheel tractors, road and track transport vehicles, harvesters, threshers, grain mills, timber mills, and processing equipment. Diverse local market institutions for the buying and selling of water, tillage, transport, and many other services have been associated with the spread of smaller-scale rural equipment. Alongside these smaller-scale patterns of rural mechanization there have been significant increases in the intensity of agricultural production and in broader-based rural development. Despite this evidence, international and local policy debates do not reflect the significance of these patterns of rural mechanization for agricultural and rural development. This paper by IFPRI starts with a discussion of three main generalizations arising from the spread of smaller-scale technology. This is followed by policy issues and starts by identifying four themes that explain why this smaller-scale mechanization transformation remained below the horizon in policy debates outside the regions where these changes have been taking place. The paper ends by discussing five ways forward in policy analysis.

Transforming Africa’s agriculture for sustainable inclusive growth, improved livelihoods and shared prosperity.

Babs — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 15:37:01 +0000

This Background Note (PDF) by AGRA was intended for the High-Level Side Event on African Economic Transformation held in the margins of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, 13-16 July, Addis Ababa Ethiopia. It highlights potentials and challenges for transformation of African agriculture for sustainable growth. The performance of African agriculture has been encouraging. Nonetheless, the vast potential of African agriculture remains largely untapped. African agriculture attracts very little commercial lending, a strong signal that the majority of investors are not yet buying into the potential of the sector. There are a number of reasons for this anemic interest, but agriculture policies and institutions that exist at all levels have been named among the most critical deficiencies. The note highlights that there are examples in several countries where targeted reforms and a focus on attracting private sector investment to commercial agriculture opportunities have achieved rapid results. Concluding that it is critical for governments, business and international institutions to pursue policies, incentives and interventions that direct a greater share of this financing to African farmers and agriculture businesses. Making the right investment and policy decisions now will determine whether the fruits of Africa’s enormous agriculture potential are harvested for the benefit of the majority of the African people who depend on agriculture for food and incomes.

Farmers’ strategies as building block for rethinking sustainable intensification

Babs — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 15:36:24 +0000

Agricultural intensification, now commonly referred to as sustainable intensification, is presented in development discourse as a key means to simultaneously improve food security and reduce rural poverty without harming the environment. Taking a village in Laos as a case study, we show how government agencies and farmers could perceive the idea of agricultural intensification differently. The study illustrates how farmers with the opportunities for groundwater use typically choose to grow vegetables and high valued cash crops rather than intensify rice production. This contrasts with government and donor supported efforts to promote rice intensification as a means to increase food security and reduce rural poverty. This article’s main message is that farmers’ differing strategies are related to a variety of household characteristics and that farmers’ strategies should be central to the current discussion on sustainable intensification.

Africa-EU research collaboration on food security: A Critical Analysis of the Scope, Coordination and Uptake of Findings

Babs — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 12:10:16 +0000

This report (PDF) by CAAST-NET Plus presents the key findings from an analysis of research cooperation between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Two issues were investigated: first, the extent to which joint EU-SSA research cooperation has impacted on Africa-EU joint FNS priorities; and, second, the extent to which research outputs have been used in policy-making and implementation, are contributing to knowledge generation, and supporting innovation in products, processes and markets for increasing impact on FNS outcomes. The report has identified gaps in the capacities and funding for Africa-Europe food security research collaborations, and the need to strengthen such networks and research uptake. An important finding is that there is little involvement in research of large businesses and small-scale farmers, which hinders research adaptation. Important recommendations include: 1) Strengthen research networking and priority setting by establishing a high-level Africa-EU think tank; 2) Scientific publications should not only be published in peer-reviewed journals but also converted into policy briefs and working papers for wider dissemination to other stakeholders so as to better influence policies and programmes; and 3) Joint research priorities should be co-funded and co-owned.

Scaling up nutrition actions – nutrition sensitive agriculture and rural development

Babs — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 12:36:36 +0000

In partnership with A4NH, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) developed a note outlining ways to scale up results in nutrition-sensitive agriculture and rural development. The note (PDF) offers guidance to help implementers maximize agriculture and rural development interventions to eliminate malnutrition. Some key recommendations from the research include developing a scaling-up strategy at the project design stage, engaging the private sector in a way that makes business sense, and including nutrition education and behavior change communications in the project design.

Catalysing innovation: from theory to action

Babs — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 12:16:39 +0000

This paper (PDF) by KIT looks at the process of agricultural innovation and the realistic contribution agricultural research can make. To be able to analyse the process of agricultural innovation, three elements are distinguished: 1) opportunity assessment to identify ‘entry points for change’; 2) experimentation, leading to ‘tested and tried promising new practices’; and 3) bringing into routine use, for ‘impact at scale’. The authors comment that any intervention aiming at impact at scale would do well to work on these three elements simultaneously. Attention should be given to building the ‘capacity to innovate’ to contribute to future results. Based on the analysis of the agricultural innovation process, a number of recommendations are formulated on how agricultural research can contribute to impact at scale, such as: i) Avoid the notion of ‘research results ready to use; and ii) Be open to good ideas from as many diverse sources as possible and draw on the expertise and opinions of many actors.

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.

Scaling up Regreening: Six steps to success: A practical approach to forest and landscape restoration

Babs — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:01:28 +0000

In a world grappling with the challenges of food insecurity, climate change, landscape degradation, and rural poverty, regreening offers a path forward, especially in dryland areas. The transformation of degraded landscapes—restoring productivity and increasing resilience through the widespread adoption of agroforestry and sustainable land management practices—can deliver food, climate, and livelihood benefits. This report (PDF) by the World Resources Institute (WRI) sets out a six-step framework for scaling up regreening, each step accompanied by a list of practical, on-the-ground activities to guide development practitioners and regreening advocates. Regreening occurs at the landscape level through a variety of agroforestry and sustainable land management practices. In this report, the focus is on a specific agroforestry practice: farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR).

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.

Changing the food game: Market transformation strategies for sustainable agriculture

Babs — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 12:50:10 +0000

In his book “Changing the Food Game”, author Lucas Simons argues that the challenge of feeding the world’s population can only be solved by effective market transformation to achieve sustainable agriculture and food production. In the first part of the book, Simons explains about system dynamics and system failures. Lucas Simons explains clearly how we have created a production and trading system that is inherently unsustainable. In the second part of the book, Simons describes the steps through which a market transformation strategy must pass. Several case studies of transformations in process are explained. A key message in the book on dealing with system complexity is overcoming fragmentation and isolation in the system, creating transparency about everyone’s role and contribution, and having actors work together. The book clearly lays out the power of systems for understanding and addressing problems, the challenges in doing so, and the analytical framework for seeing the key phases and important pressure points to understand and encourage market transformation in agriculture. The first chapter of the book can be read here. Read a report of the F&BKP of a presentation by Simons on his book here.

Source: Lucas Simons, November 2014

Challenging food governance models: Analyzing the food citizen and the emerging food constitutionalism from an EU perspective

Babs — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 08:16:17 +0000

Critical analyses of current food systems underline the need to respond to important challenges in questions of nutritional health, environmental sustainability, socio-economic development and protection of the cultural wealth. A wide range of perspectives and methodologies were used to carry out those analyses yielding a significant variety of proposals to undertake the challenges. In most of those analyses, the need to transform our current food systems both from the local to the global level is emphasized, paying attention to food chain processes as well as to decision-makers. The analysis presented in this paper (PDF) in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, reflects specifically on those proposals based on a common aspect: the need to transform the governance of the EU present-day food system, that is, who makes decisions, how are those decisions made, and which changes need to be made to empower food consumers. The introduction of reforms to change these models is proposed.

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.

Scaling up dissemination and adoption of agricultural technologies using innovation platforms—lessons from Eastern and Central Africa

Babs — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 09:53:23 +0000

This publication (PDF) by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and partners, aims to contribution to the growing body of knowledge on the application of innovation platforms and value chain framework in agricultural research for development in the region. The book provides practical experiences, lessons learned and guiding principles of the project “Dissemination of New Agricultural Technologies in Africa” (DONATA) between 2008 and 2013. The book is organized into three parts. Part I introduces approach and processes and reviews theoretical frameworks. Part II summarizes 19 case studies, which provide an in-depth description of country experiences from DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The case studies are clustered into four themes: (i) seed systems; (ii) grain and root production; (iii) product transformation, marketing and income; and (iv) nutrition and health. Part III draws an analytical synthesis of the different country experiences and discusses similarities and differences in the way the innovation platforms have functioned and supported scaling out and up of technologies for each crop and how these processes contributed to observed outcomes.

The New Science of Sustainable Food Systems: Overcoming Barriers to Food Systems Reform

Babs — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 09:10:01 +0000

The report of IPES-Food, entitled The New Science of Sustainable Food Systems: Overcoming Barriers to Food Systems Reform (PDF), makes the case for reaching beyond the traditional bounds of the scientific community in conducting this analysis. According to the authors, to accelerate the shift towards sustainable food systems, a new science of sustainable food systems is needed. This paper traces out the contours of a new analytical framework for sustainable food systems (Section 1). It then describes the principles of transdisciplinary science that must be applied in order to generate the types of knowledge that can support the transition to sustainable food systems (Section 2). Finally, it considers previous and ongoing attempts to address sustainable food systems at the interface of science, policy and practice, in order to identify where initiatives have succeeded, where challenges remain, and how these energies can be harnessed and combined to support the transition to sustainable food systems (Section 3). The sustainable food systems framework proposed here enables an understanding of specific food systems problems as the component parts of wider systemic problems, and as functions of particular logics and dynamics running all the way through a food system. Such a framework can help to identify synergies and leverage points for implementing solutions aimed at strengthening the resilience and sustainability of food systems as a whole.

Food Security Governance Empowering Communities, Regulating Corporations

Babs — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 08:26:51 +0000

This book by Nora McKeon explores the global food governance at a crossroads. It proceeds to explain how actors link up in corporate global food chains and in the local food systems that feed most of the world’s population. It unpacks relevant paradigms – from productivism to food sovereignty – and highlights the significance of adopting a rights-based approach to solving food problems. The author describes how communities around the world are protecting their access to resources and building better ways of producing and accessing food, and discusses the reformed Committee on World Food Security, a uniquely inclusive global policy forum, and how it could be supportive of efforts from the base. The book concludes by identifying terrains on which work is needed to adapt the practice of the democratic public sphere and accountable governance to a global dimension and extend its authority to the world of markets and corporations. Besides being a contribution to re-thinking the theorizing of the messiness of scales and how global paradigms are being contested and shaped, the book provides empirical proof that transformations are underway. The book can be of interest to students of food security, global governance, development studies and critical security studies in general.

Stuck on the road to the market: Why Kenya suffers from stunted innovations

Babs — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:48:59 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by Scinnovent Centre, sought to interrogate the challenges facing innovators in Kenya with a view to making recommendations to the various actors within the national innovation system on the various kinds of support required to ensure Kenyan innovators meet their full potential. A research survey was conducted to capture views on a range of issues including intellectual property rights; financing; market access; receptivity of the market to local innovation; policy support; role of the private sector and role of universities and other training institutions. The paper recommends the need for government to (i) fast-track the establishment of venture capital to fund innovation and provide tax credits for investments in R&D; (ii) spearhead preferential purchasing of locally manufactured products through its procurement policies; (iii) entrench technology and business incubation centres in all the technical training facilities; and (iv) enhance awareness, sensitization, and support for intellectual property rights protection.

Land policies and their implications for smallholder agriculture in Africa

Nynke — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 13:13:26 +0000

This report (PDF) from AGRA presents a review of national land and agricultural policies and policy formulation and implementation processes in Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Zambia. The report presents lessons on good and bad practice of agricultural policy formulation and implementation in Africa and recommends strategies. It demonstrates that in the countries there is awareness of the link between land tenure security and the promotion of smallholder agriculture. The policies recognize that tenure insecurity is one of the major constraints to the growth of the agriculture sector, and propose policy options to clarify and strengthen tenure security as a strategy for improving smallholder productivity. Land titling and registration feature strongly in the policies as the means for improving tenure security, although actual details of how this is done vary from country to country. However, improved tenure security alone is not sufficient to address the challenges of smallholder productivity. Assassociated reforms in agricultural technologies, agricultural extension services, rural credit, rural transport, market access and other building blocks of the rural economy are equally important.

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.

Sustainable sector transformation: How to drive sustainability performance in smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors?

Babs — Mon, 18 May 2015 15:23:49 +0000

This paper by Aidenvironment, NewForesight and IIED (PDF) presents a sustainable sector transformation model for smallholder dominated agricultural commodity sectors which takes a holistic approach to transformation. It begins with an explanation of some of the dynamics of sector transformation. It then presents the limits of purely public or market-driven models, before finally presenting the five building blocks that make up the model. The research conducted took place in two phases. Phase 1 of the project reviewed the scope and impact of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) to date and asked how VSS are best scaled up, given that most agricultural sectors in developing countries are dominated by small-scale farmers who are typically unorganized and lack access to inputs, credit, and technical assistance. Phase 2 of the research took a more comprehensive look at how to scale up sustainability in smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors by developing a model for sustainable sector transformation. The model was developed and tested using a number of country-sector case studies: cocoa in Ivory Coast and Ghana; coffee in Vietnam; cotton in Mali; and palm oil in Indonesia. The model consists of five building blocks: sector alignment and accountability, strengthening of market demand, public sector governance, organization of the production base, and organization of the service sector. The extent to which the building blocks need to be strengthened is context specific, but a focus on only one or two dimensions is bound to lead to a failure to completely transform sectors where there are many smallholders. This model is intended as a framework for policy-makers, donors and the private sector to develop roadmaps for sustainability for specific countries and sectors.

The role of voluntary sustainability standards in scaling up sustainability in smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors

Babs — Mon, 18 May 2015 14:41:17 +0000

This paper (PDF) by Aidenvironment, NewForesight and IIED presents the value proposition of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) and the challenges they face in obtaining scale and impact in sectors dominated by unorganized smallholders. It explores their potential role in scaling sustainability within a more holistic sector transformation model. The paper highlights that while VSS try to respond to a call for increased scale and impact – at low cost – creating fully sustainable sectors demands complementary or alternative approaches. This is especially necessary in sectors dominated by unorganised smallholders where increased capacity building, input delivery and finance, as well as other systemic changes such as land tenure, are prerequisites for a viable and sustainable sector. Mainstreaming sustainability in such sectors requires a more holistic model that achieves scale beyond individual supply chains. The paper begins with an introduction to VSS’s current value proposition, some of the challenges they are confronted with and how their typical response to these challenges. It then presents a more holistic model to scale sustainability in smallholder dominated agricultural sectors and explores the potential role VSS can play within such model.

Global food security governance: Civil society engagement in the reformed Committee on World Food Security

Babs — Mon, 18 May 2015 07:40:01 +0000

Drawing on data collected from policy documents, interviews and participant observation, this book by Jessica Duncan examines the re-organization and functioning of a UN Committee that is coming to be known as a best practice in global governance. Framed by key challenges that plague global governance, the impact and implication of increased civil society engagement are examined by tracing policy negotiations within the CFS, in particular, policy roundtables on smallholder sensitive investment and food price volatility and negotiations on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, and the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition. The author shows that through their participation in the Committee, civil society actors are influencing policy outcomes. Yet analysis also reveals that the CFS is being undermined by other actors seeking to gain and maintain influence at the global level. By way of this analysis, this book provides empirically-informed insights into increased participation in global governance processes.

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.

Making Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) work for development in tropical countries

Babs — Thu, 14 May 2015 09:15:14 +0000

This paper (PDF) in Sustainability aims to identify gaps in current capacities and the development needs as perceived by stakeholders involved in national and regional Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS). Three regional needs assessments undertaken by Tropical Agricultural Platform (TAP) and its partners. The surveyed tropical regions were Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. The paper reports the main findings of the needs assessment study, draws some general lessons on the current status of the Capacity Development (CD) initiatives and hypothesizes corrective measures to improve their impact. The findings reveal a mismatch in all three regions between the external supply of primarily individual CD and the actual demand for institutional CD. The misalignment might be addressed by strengthening south-south and triangular collaboration and by improving the institutional capacities that would render national AIS more demand-oriented and responsive to the needs of smallholders in domestic agriculture.

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.

A review of the implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines: 7 thematic studies by FAO

F&BKP Office — Mon, 11 May 2015 12:26:49 +0000

The FAO Right to Food Team has prepared seven thematic studies that document and highlight progress made over the last ten years concerning right to food, while also capturing the challenges ahead in relation to major issues covered by the Right to Food Guidelines. The studies are helpful in reflecting upon current gaps and areas of improvement for future implementation of the guidelines and could be valuable professionals that work in the context of national food security in general and the right to food in particular. The seven publications are: 1) The current status of the right to adequate food in food security and nutrition policy designs; 2) Institutional framework for the right to adequate food; 3) Legal developments in the progressive realization of the right to adequate food; 4) Natural resources governance and the right to adequate food; 5) Social protection and an enabling environment for the right to adequate food; 6) Nutrition, education and awareness raising for the right to adequate food and 7) International dimensions of the right to adequate food. For practical aid on how to implement he Right to Food Guidelines, see this Right to Food Methodological Toolbox or this dialogue towards implementation or the handbooks.

2014

Right to Food Journal 2014

F&BKP Office — Mon, 11 May 2015 12:18:08 +0000

The FIAN Right to Food Journal is an annual online magazine which provides experts with information and analysis on the right to food and on important trends concerning economic, social and cultural rights. This 2014 edition (PDF) highlights the advantages of working with the broadened concept of the human right to adequate food and nutrition. This issue includes a report and analysis of the issues covered on the seminar by FIAN and GNRTFN on “Linking social struggles: Can the path towards human rights compliant, holistic and sustainable food systems serve to unify struggles?”” held in Geneva in June 2014. Also, a real-life experience on the realization of the right to adequate food rights in Brazil is highlighted. Furthermore, it includes an article on a critical analysis of the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

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.

The need for institutional change in capacity development of tertiary agricultural education organisations

Babs — Mon, 04 May 2015 13:06:04 +0000

This publication (PDF) by KIT, ICRA and the Centre for Development Innovation (CDI), argues that Dutch-funded capacity development projects in developing countries for tertiary agricultural education organisations as they are currently carried out are not able to successfully achieve the sustained changes required. The authors suggest that long-term institutional change is needed. The report specifically analyses six case studies of capacity development projects in East and Southern Africa, and Afghanistan. Four concrete necessary conditions for institutional change were identified, namely: 1) Team building based on trust and good communication is essential to change processes; 2) Continuity is necessary to keep up the momentum for change; 3) Flexible administrative procedures are crucial for changes to take root; and 4) Institutional change is a process that takes a long time.

Food riots and food rights: the moral and political economy of accountability for hunger

Babs — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 11:45:00 +0000

This report (PDF) synthesises the findings from four country case studies produced for the DFID-ESRC project. The paper explores causes and consequences of food-related riots and right-to-food movements in Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Mozambique in the period 2007-2012. The researchers analysed media content and held in-depth interviews with protest movements and communities; and with policymakers and practitioners. The authors theorise that six collective, widely-held beliefs combine to create the conditions for a rupture in the form of a food riot or subsistence protest. A key methodological lesson from this research is that media content, international and national, cannot be relied on for ‘data’ on popular political events like riots or protests.

Blowing the seeds of innovation: How scaling unfolds in innovation processes towards food security and sustainable agriculture

Babs — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 09:49:33 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by WUR presents a summary of the results of a two year strategic research project ‘Innovation systems and scaling in practice’. This project was executed by Wageningen UR as part of the Knowledge Base research programme of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The booklet highlights three case studies from different countries. In Benin long term interventions to promote integrated soil fertility management were studied to see whether and how scaling occurred. In Kenya the substantial spreading of dairy business hubs was examined to learn what are success factors for scaling this innovation. The case in Denmark looked in detail at how a co-innovation process contributes in unexpected ways to the scaling of integrated pest management. The combination of cases broadens the scope on the role and shapes of scaling processes in innovation towards sustainable agriculture and food security and sustainable agriculture.

Institutional change towards sustainable agriculture in West Africa

Babs — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:23:00 +0000

This paper in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability describes why inter- and trans-disciplinary research, accompanied by innovation platforms, is essential in the context of agricultural development in West Africa. The authors argue that an enabling institutional context is necessary to achieve an increase in agricultural production. This will have consequences for setting priorities of agricultural research and the way research should be organized in order to have impact. Within the framework of two consecutive programmes, attempts were made to create such an enabling context. The first programme, focusing on participatory technology development, showed that smallholders can capture only limited benefits from technologies because of their constrained opportunities. The point of departure for the second programme was that institutions explain a large portion of variance in agricultural output and that multi-stakeholder innovation platforms at local, district, and national levels are needed to create change. The paper concludes with an overview of this special issue, which provides nine case studies of institutional factors that influence smallholder innovation. Each of these case studies identifies and analyses institutional mechanisms at aggregation levels higher than the household, farm, or village.

Innovating organizational systems of agricultural extension in China

Babs — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 08:35:48 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the International Journal of Agricultural Extension comprehensively examines the organizational systems of agricultural extension in China. The organizations of agricultural extension in China have been gradually diversified over 30 years’ reform and adjustment. Currently, the dominant agricultural extension organizations can be categorized into 5 types: government-run organizations, education-oriented organizations, research-oriented organizations, enterprise-run organizations and self-service organizations. Suggestions on how to optimize the internal organizational structures, how to encourage the interaction and coordination among different types of organizations, and how to coordinate the relationships between organizations and external environment are proposed.

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.

Securing customary land rights in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nynke — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 15:04:03 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from the University of Gothenburg elaborates on new approaches to land tenure reform with regard to securing customary land rights in Sub-Saharan Africa. The conventional approach for securing property rights to land is by establishing a system of private ownership through individual titling and has often not led to the intended improvements in agricultural investments and productivity. Instead it has had several negative social implications, e.g., marginalization of secondary rights holders to land, speculation and conflicts over land ans has also proven to be very costly and demanding in terms of institutional capacity. Therefore, since the end of the 1990s, there has been a shift of thinking regarding land tenure policy in Africa paying attention also to the legal recognition and formalization of already existing customary rights and communal tenure systems. The formalization of villages or communities as collective landholding units, which has attracted a growing interest, avoids many of the difficulties faced by the individual land titling model, however, it also raises its own set of challenges which need to be tackled to have an inclusive and equitable outcome at the local level. Thus, according to the authors the time is ripe for paying more research attention to the outcomes of these alternative approaches to tenure reforms so that the experiences and lessons learned can be made available to a broader audience and inform the preparation of similar reforms in other countries on the continent.

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.

Right to food and nutrition watch 2014: Ten years of the right to food guidelines: gains, concerns and struggles

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:53:59 +0000

The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch (RTFN) is an annual publication by ICCO Cooperation, FIAN International and Brot für die Welt and other partners. This 2014 report (PDF) analyses successes and shortfalls of ten-year anniversary of the FAO Council Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. It discusses key policy processes and highlights the increasing influence of companies in international food and nutrition governance as a growing challenge in the global struggle for the right to adequate food. According to the Watch, food security and human rights remain deeply threatened by concentration of land ownership, corporate domination of food systems and policy incoherence. A paper (PDF) by Oxfam also attempts to examine progress of the guidelines implementation by using country examples of Bangladesh, Pakistan, El Salvador and Mexico. Oxfam highlights democratization of the food systems and effective monitoring mechanisms as necessary conditions for effecting change. Read here another contribution to this debate by this civil society report ‘Ten Years of the Right to Food Guidelines: Progress, Obstacles and the Way Ahead‘. An important recommendation from this report is the need for further development of national and international frameworks for the adoption of the right to food as well as food sovereignty.

Source: RTFN; October 2014

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.

Towards responsible scaling up and out in agricultural development : An exploration of concepts and principles

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 10:04:58 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by the Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) was prepared for the CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics. The paper highlights that scaling up and out is a multi-faceted subject with various dimensions of challenges. It is meant to inspire discussions on the topic of processes of scaling up and out in agricultural development. Different types of approaches to scaling are described: push, pull, plant, or probe. Furthermore, a number of individual and collective competences as well as conducive spaces for appropriate strategy development and implementation are discussed.

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.

The transformative potential of the right to food

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 08:56:09 +0000

In this final report (PDF) by the former Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, main conclusions are presented on eradication of hunger and malnutrition from his country visits in thirteen countries: Benin, Cameroon, Madagascar and Malawi (low-income countries); Brazil, China, Guatemala, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, South Africa and the Syrian Arab Republic (middle-income countries); and Canada (a high-income country); and missions to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Key recommendations of the report include: 1) ensuring access to resources (land, seeds and fisheries); 2) supporting local food systems (reinvestment in agriculture, agro-ecology, support of small-holder farmers, contract farming and agricultural workers); 3) deploying national strategies (national strategies, human rights impact assessments, women’s rights, social protection and nutrition); and 4) shaping an enabling international environment (food price volatility, framework for trade and investment in agriculture, regulating agribusiness, agro fuels and food aid and development cooperation).

Developing sustainable food value chains. Guiding principles

Babs — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:17:59 +0000

Aimed at policy-makers, project designers and field practitioners, this publication (PDF) by FAO provides the conceptual foundation for a new set of FAO handbooks on sustainable food value chain development. It defines the concept of a sustainable food value chain, presents a development paradigm that integrates the multidimensional concepts of sustainability and value added, highlights ten guiding principles, and discusses the potential and limitations of the approach. By doing so, this handbook makes a strong case for placing sustainable food value chain development at the heart of any strategy aimed at reducing poverty and hunger in the long run.

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.

The Right to Food: Past commitment, current obligation, further action for the future

Nynke — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 15:42:57 +0000

This ten year retrospective on the right to food guidelines (PDF) by the FAO analyzes some of the main issues experienced while implementing the Right to Food Guidelines over the past decade and looks to possible avenues for making use of the Right to Food Guidelines to achieve the right to adequate food of all in the years to come. The report looks back and tries to understand what has worked and why, where the bottlenecks lie, and how governments and their partners can be most effective in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The report focuses on a number of main features of the Right to Food Guidelines to create the right conditions to unleash action, among which: political commitment; evidence-based decision-making; legal framework; policies and programs; coherence during implementation; governance mechanism and coordination; and external assistance. In addition, it stresses some key areas for a right to food implementation strategy, which include: nutrition; social protection; access to resources; and education and awareness-raising. The report is based on seven thematic studies that document and highlight progress made over the last decade in implementing the guidelines.
2014