Agroforestry, food and nutritional security

Agroforestry supports food and nutritional security through : (1) the direct provision of tree food s such as fruit s and leaf y vegetables and by supporting staple crop production ; (2) by raising farmers' incomes through the sale of tree products and surplus staples ; (3) by providing fuel s for cook ing ; and (4) by supporting various ecosystem services such as pollination that are essential for the production of some food plants . While challenges for agroforestry in supporting food and nutritional security include policy and market constraints and an underinvestment in research , strong opportunities exist to promote multi functional , climate - smart agricultural methods involving trees . To better support food and nutritional security, development s in agroforestry policies are required to reform tree and land tenure for the benefit of s mall - scale farmers, to reform how smallholders obtain agroforestry inputs such as tree seed and seedlings , and to recognise agroforestry as an important investment option. Research should support tree domestication to improve the yields of tree foods , and seek to enhance the complementarity and stability of food production in smallholders' agroforestry systems. (Résumé d'auteur

Agroforestry for a Changing Climate

The brief tackles the role of agroforestry in achieving food and nutritional security, climate change mitigation and environmental resilience. The publication is based on the small agroforestry project in Guinayangan Climate-Smart Village in Quezon Province, Philippines implemented by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and CCAFS Southeast Asia

Ensuring Smallholder Farmers’ Food Security through Homegarden Agroforestry System in Ethiopia

Homegarden is one form of traditional agroforestry systems and involving deliberate management of multipurpose trees and shrubs in close association with annual and perennial agricultural crops and livestock within the compounds of individual houses managed by family labor. The presence of trees in the homegarden agroforestry system gives multiple services of timber, firewood, food and fodder and improving ecosystems and nutrient cycle through litter fall and decomposition. Homegardens are characterized by high species diversity and usually 3-4 vertical canopy strata tree layers; upper story, herbaceous layer near the ground and intermediate layers in between with the main purpose of subsistence production and sale for cash income. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the multiple role of homegarden agroforestry system for ensuring and improving food security of smallholder farmers’ in Ethiopia. The reason for homegarden agroforestry system includes; potential for climate change adaptation and mitigation, more diversity of species and their multifunctional roles, utilization efficiency, productivity and social value. Homegardens practice serves critical functions in fulfilling community and household needs ranging from food provision and food security to supplementing the family nutritional status, ensuring primary healthcare, income generation and other utility functions. It plays an important role in the food security by supplying of varied products throughout the seasons. Identify appropriate intervention strategies for the introduction and expansion of the homegarden to other crop producing areas; improving the production, processing, handling, and marketing of products from homegarden agroforestry systems, improving nutrition and health of households through fruit tree based homegarden agroforestry systems in the cereal dominated production system will need further consideration and integration of homegarden agroforestry systems. Keywords:Agroforestry, Homegarden, Role of homegarden DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/14-7-03 Publication date:May 31st 202

Sustainability of food security in different cacao production systems: A land, labour, energy and food quality nexus approach

The present work analyses the sustainability of food security in cacao monocultures and agroforestry systems under organic and conventional management. Using a novel approach, we developed indicators to assess crucial dimensions of food security, including land and labour productivity, the nutritional quality of food, and their nexus with energy efficiency and consumption. Our ten-year data showed that monocultures, especially conventional ones, are more productive (in terms of land and labour) when only the main crop (cacao) is considered and energy consumption is not assessed. When all the crops produced and the demand for non-renewable energy are included, agroforestry systems are more productive (kg, kcal, proteins and fats and nutritional quality index) and more energy efficient than monocultures according to all the indicators analysed. Therefore, encouraging policies that take into consideration the positive externalities of agroforestry and organic management is crucial for the sustainability of food systems

Understanding the links between agriculture and health:

CONTENTS: 1.Overview / Corinna Hawkes and Marie T. Ruel; 2. Agriculture, Food, and Health: Perspectives on a Long Relationship / Tim Lang; 3. Agricultural Technology and Health / Michael Lipton, Saurabh Sinha, and Rachel Blackman; 4. Agriculture and Nutrition Linkages: Old Lessons and New Paradigms / Corinna Hawkes and Marie T. Ruel; 5. Agriculture, Food Safety, and Foodborne Diseases / Ewen C. D. Todd and Clare Narrod; 6. Agriculture, Malaria, and Water-Associated Diseases / Clifford M. Mutero, Matthew McCartney, and Eline Boelee; 7. Agriculture and HIV/AIDS / Stuart Gillespie; 8. Occupational Health Hazards of Agriculture / Donald Cole; 9. Livestock and Health / Maria Angeles O. Catelo; 10. Fish and Health / Nanna Roos, Md. Abdul Wahab, Chhoun Chamnan, and Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted; 11. Agroforesty, Nutrition, and Health / Brent Swallow and Sophie Ochola; 12. Agrobiodiversity, Nutrition, and Health / Timothy Johns, Ifeyironwa Francisca Smith, and Pablo B. Eyzaguirre; 13. Urban Agriculture and Health / Diana Lee-Smith and Gordon Prain; 14. Agriculture, Environment, and Health: Toward Sustainable Solutions / Rachel Nugent and Axel Drescher; 15. Agriculture and Health in the Policymaking Process / Todd Benson; 16. Opportunities for Improving the Synergies between Agriculture and Health / Robert Bos.Agriculture, Agroforestry, Health and nutrition, Agricultural technology, Food safety, Malaria, Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Sustainability, Biodiversity, Agrobiodiversity, Environmental management,

Innovative matrix for applying a food systems approach for developing interventions to address nutrient deficiencies in indigenous communities in India: a study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Indigenous communities retain knowledge of the land and food resources rooted in historical continuity within their region of residence. Food systems research can be leveraged to identify strategies to encourage sustainable use of complex multi-species agroforestry systems by indigenous communities contributing to nutritional needs while simultaneously preserving the ecosystems and their benefits to society. Till date, the analyses of food systems have predominantly focused on high income countries often overlooking the alternatives (dietary and production) that would be most relevant to low and middle income countries (LMIC). Thus, innovative methodological approaches are needed to comprehensively characterize diverse food systems in LMICs with special reference to indigenous communities. DESIGN: This protocol paper describes a food systems approach that will be employed to understand diverse and dynamic food systems of vulnerable tribal communities of Jharkhand, India and leverage their agroforestry systems to improve dietary diversity, nutrition status and address food security. Four tribal groups namely Santhal, Ho, Munda and Sauria Paharia of Godda, West Singhbhum and Khunti districts of Jharkhand would be studied. This will be an exploratory cross-sectional study design, along with a longitudinal component to capture seasonality in dietary intake and agricultural diversity. A mixed methods approach will be used based on a conceptual framework on drivers of food systems, food supply chain, food environment (both wild & cultivated, and market food environments), as well as consumer behaviour and maternal and child health outcomes in tribal communities. The quantitative surveys will be conducted on socio-economic, demographic profile of households, their availability of, access to and utilization of food environment and nutritional status of reproductive age group women and children under 5 years. Qualitative enquiries will examine barriers and facilitators to increase sustainable production, procurement and consumption of indigenous foods. The final outcome would be development of interventions to promote indigenous food consumption. DISCUSSION: By utilizing a combination of value chain analysis and 'Optifoods linear programming software' that will use above information on indigenous community, dietary intake, nutritional status and food environment, evidence based interventions promoting indigenous food systems aimed at addressing food and nutritional security of tribal communities will be developed

The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems

Almost every ecosystem has been amended so that plants and animals can be used as food, fibre, fodder, medicines, traps and weapons. Historically, wild plants and animals were sole dietary components for hunter–gatherer and forager cultures. Today, they remain key to many agricultural communities. The mean use of wild foods by agricultural and forager communities in 22 countries of Asia and Africa (36 studies) is 90–100 species per location. Aggregate country estimates can reach 300–800 species (e.g. India, Ethiopia, Kenya). The mean use of wild species is 120 per community for indigenous communities in both industrialized and developing countries. Many of these wild foods are actively managed, suggesting there is a false dichotomy around ideas of the agricultural and the wild: hunter–gatherers and foragers farm and manage their environments, and cultivators use many wild plants and animals. Yet, provision of and access to these sources of food may be declining as natural habitats come under increasing pressure from development, conservation-exclusions and agricultural expansion. Despite their value, wild foods are excluded from official statistics on economic values of natural resources. It is clear that wild plants and animals continue to form a significant proportion of the global food basket, and while a variety of social and ecological drivers are acting to reduce wild food use, their importance may be set to grow as pressures on agricultural productivity increase.</jats:p

Biomass production and management practices in mixed crop-livestock systems in the west African Sahel: Opportunities and constraints

The Sahel is characterized by a marked inter-annual climate variability and has experienced a number of food security crises following the severe droughts during the 1970s and 1980s. Due to recent challenges such as rapid population growth, climate change, environmental concerns and market changes which cause major impacts to their production systems, the sahelian people have been shifting and adapting their production systems and the way they live to cope with uncertainties. The objective of the present report is to review the various biomass production and management issues in the mixed crop-livestock systems in West African Sahel. An elaborated literature survey of peer reviewed papers mostly, was conducted. The studies were based on the Sahel scale research, more specifically research that had been published on the West African Sahel, including studies published between 1990s and 2016. Results show that many factors have contributed to the changes, among which, rainfall variability, population growth, human induced-activities, land tenure systems and the effects of globalization. Various biomass production and management practices are employed in West African Sahel for both on-farm and off-farm biomass improvements. Some of the best practices are mulching, soil and water conservation techniques, composting, farmer managed natural regeneration, agroforestry, etc. These practices have overall contributed to increase agricultural productivity, ecosystem services provisioning and have sometime deepened the difference between men and women, rich and poor, young and old people. Most of the constraints associated with large adoption of the best practices in the Sahel are land tenure systems, the huge gap between inputs and output investment costs but, the climate conventions are offering new opportunities that will ultimately contribute to positive changes. This will be possible only when land tenure systems in the region are reinforced, institutional linkages are strengthened, and new information systems are used to inform farmers on climate issues and new agricultural practices

Enset‐based agricultural systems in Ethiopia: A systematic review of production trends, agronomy, processing and the wider food security applications of a neglected banana relative

Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) is the major starch staple of the Ethiopian Highlands, where its unique attributes enhance the food security of approximately 20 million people and have earned it the title “The Tree Against Hunger”. Yet enset‐based agriculture is virtually unknown outside of its narrow zone of cultivation, despite growing wild across much of East and Southern Africa. Here, we review historical production data to show that the area of land under enset production in Ethiopia has reportedly increased 46% in two decades, whilst yield increased 12‐fold over the same period, making enset the second most produced crop species in Ethiopia—though we critically evaluate potential issues with these data. Furthermore, we address a major challenge in the development and wider cultivation of enset, by reviewing and synthesizing the complex and fragmented agronomic and ethnobotanic knowledge associated with this species; including farming systems, processing methods, products, medicinal uses and cultural importance. Finally, we provide a framework to improve the quality, consistency and comparability of data collected across culturally diverse enset‐based agricultural systems to enhanced sustainable use of this neglected starch staple. In conclusion, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for enset cultivation beyond its restricted distribution, and the regional food security potential it could afford smallholders elsewhere in Southern and East Africa