Paper

This paper by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACBIO) reviews the farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs) within countries belonging to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), to ascertain whether input subsidies have benefited small-scale farmers, have increased food security at the household and national levels, and have improved the incomes of small-scale farmers. »

This study measures the willingness of male and female farmers to pay for climate-smart technology in rice. Rice is the most important crop in India in terms of area, production,and consumption. It is also the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions among all crops. Direct-seeded rice (DSR)with drum seeder, a climate-smart technology, requires less labor and water and is more climate friendly than transplanted rice; yet, its adoption is slow in India. The authors of this study carried out a discrete choice experiment with 666 farmers from the Palghar and Thane districts of Maharashtra to measure their willingness to pay for drum seeders—a key piece of equipment for adopting DSR. »

This paper by the Global Food Security Journal reviews the literature to identify the relationship between tenure security and food security.The paper explores the conceptual linkages between land tenure reforms, tenure security and food security and illustrates how these vary across diverse contexts. »

In this study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the value chains of cassava (Belize), quinoa (Bolivia), corn (Guatemala) and the regional cultivation of cotton are examined from a gender perspective, to enhance their sustainability. The FAO study notes that participation of women is more pronounced in activities that involve time and physical effort, such as planting, weeding and harvesting. »

This paper 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 have 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. »

This paper presents an aligned yet customizable framework of indicators for measuring farm-level sustainability in smallholder agricultural supply chains. These indicators are proposed primarily in the context of performance measurement, but can also be useful for more in-depth impact evaluation studies. The ideas presented here are drawn from recent fieldwork of food and beverage companies, standards organizations, NGOs, and development agencies, and were synthesized as part of a community of practice led and facilitated by the Sustainable Food Lab. »