ARF

The Dutch Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) and the Applied Research Fund (ARF) and Global Challenges Programme (GCP) research projects have made a lot of progress in improving the link between research and policy. With most of the 75 ARF/CGP research projects well under way, it is time to take stock. This was the purpose of the conference “Research & policy: two peas in a pod? A dialogue for food security impact” organized by F&BKP and NWO-WOTRO. »

What can food and nutrition security (FNS) interventions contribute to transforming conflict and promoting stability? Half of the world’s hungry live in contexts of fragility, where violent conflict has destroyed livelihoods, farms, and capital, driving up the price of food. Meanwhile, high food insecurity in these contexts greatly increases the chance of violence returning. Thus, food security programming has a unique role to play in the prevention of conflict. The afternoon session on “Food security, conflict and resilience” sought to draw on lessons from FNS interventions to highlight their interaction with the key drivers of conflict and stability. »

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as heat stress, droughts and floods. This could cause crop and livestock losses and increase food insecurity and vulnerability. East Africa is categorized as the most vulnerable global region to climate variability and change. Climate smart agricultural (CSA) is an integrative approach for transforming agriculture that offers unique opportunities to meet the multiple objectives of improving food and nutrition security, enhancing adaptation to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a local scale. »

Urban food systems are becoming increasingly important as a way of feeding the world’s growing urban population. In the session on urban food systems, Nicky Pouw from the University of Amsterdam urged participants to build in circular economy objectives and become more socio-economically viable and sustainable in order to grow urban food systems. She pointed out that the contribution by urban agriculture is vital to poor urban dwellers, but limited in scale due to the limited space in cities and the inefficiency of urban agriculture. She added that Dutch policies should focus more on regional rural-urban interfaces to support urban food systems. »

Despite its nutritious value and capacity to provide a livelihood for many in the developing world, fish are surprisingly missing from strategies for food security. The afternoon discussion session, “Capture fisheries, aquaculture and food security”, sought to address the “orphan status” of fish and explore ways in which this nutritious protein can be moved up the food agenda. »

Carrying out research through multi-stakeholder partnerships, such as in the Global Challenges Programme (GCP) and Applied Research Fund (ARF) research projects, is relatively new, both in the Netherlands and its partner countries in the Global South. Knowledge co-creation is defined as joint learning and knowledge exchange processes through which actors create and negotiate new knowledge. It corresponds with the idea that not only scientific knowledge is relevant to finding solutions to persistent and ‘wicked’ problems such as food security, but that knowledge from other actors, such as farmers, the private sector and policymakers, is also important. Furthermore, bringing together different perspectives allows for knowledge that is not only scientifically reliable, but is also accepted and applicable in different social contexts. »