Knowledge Portal

This report elaborates on the reasons for large amount of food waste in Kenya’s horticulture sector. It reveals that Kenyan farmers are being subjected to unfair trading practices such as last minute cancellation of orders and unnecessarily strict cosmetic standards by European retail buyers resulting in massive amounts of food waste. The study finds that retailer practices, especially cosmetic standards for produce and order cancellations, are resulting in 45% of produce in Kenyan horticultural supply chains being rejected before shipment. »

This article scrutinizes the urban consumer demand for nutritious foods in the context of bio-fortified iron beans as a public health intervention in Africa. The increasing urbanization process in developing countries creates current and future challenges for the global food system to deliver high quality nutritious foods and provide equitable access for the urban poor. This paper examines the role of habit, poverty and information for urban consumer demand of nutritious foods. »

This report of an expert meeting that gathered over fifty experts and focused on best practices and methodological issues related to crop monitoring and food security. Estimates and forecasts of crop area and yield are of critical importance to policy makers for the planning of agricultural production and monitoring of food supply. The possible links between poverty and crop yields, which depend upon a variety of factors such as cultivation practices, availability of irrigation, access to resources to buy agricultural inputs for adoption of new technology, cannot be fully understood without reliable estimates of crop area and yields. »

This working paper summarizes projected climate change impacts on livestock across Africa. It argues that an enabling technical and policy environment will be needed to ensure livestock keepers can adapt to climate change and enhance their livelihoods and food security. »

This blog by Joseph Glauber , Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI, asks the question: are lower prices a good thing for the world? The author highlights that lower food prices could mean that households will have more money to spend on food and other household expenditures, but the impact for many will likely be small. »

This book “Cities and agriculture: developing resilient urban food systems” by the RUAF Foundation, provides urban planners, specialists, local policy makers and urban development practitioners with an overview of crucial aspects of urban food systems based on up-to-date review of research results and practical experiences in both developed and developing countries. »