Paper

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. Currently, research and extension approaches based on agricultural innovation systems are becoming more popular. »

This paper by FAO develops a conceptual framework about how agricultural and rural development policies can reduce the need for distress migration of rural youth; and how rural youth migration and remittances can contribute to sustainable agriculture and rural development, poverty reduction and food security in the areas of origin. »

This article, published in the Agriculture and Food Security journal, was synthesized from several scholarly literature and aimed at providing information on climate change impacts, adaptation strategies, policies and institutional mechanisms that each agriculture subsector had put in place in dealing with climate change and its related issues in West Africa. »

This paper in the Science of the Total Environment journal assesses the impact of urban expansion on the CNPP in China from 1992 to 2015 in a spatially explicit manner. The authors concluded that rapid urban expansion from 1992 to 2015 caused stress to China’s food security. It is still vital for China to effectively protect cropland to improve the urbanization level to 60% by 2020. »

This paper reviews evidence of the role of small towns in the ‘virtuous circle’ of rural-urban linkages, and distils the key lessons for equitable food security policy that is spatially and context specific. Drawing on lessons from a set of case studies from Tanzania and other examples, this paper aims to contribute to this debate by uniting a food systems approach with an explicit focus on small towns and large villages that play a key role in food systems. »

This paper in the Global Food Security journal analyses global livestock feed rations and feed conversion ratios, with specific insight on the diversity in production systems and feed materials. Livestock contribute to food security by supplying essential macro- and micro-nutrients, providing manure and draught power, and generating income. But they also consume food edible by humans and graze on pastures that could be used for crop production. »