The effect of an objective weighting of the global food security index’s natural resources and resilience component on country scores and ranking

Composite indicators have gained popularity in various research areas. However, the determination of an appropriate weighting method is challenging. Subjective weighting methods are criticised for their potential bias that may reduce stakeholders’ trust in the results of a composite index. By contrast, objective weighting processes are perceived to provide unbiased results that may overcome trust issues. The Global Food Security Index (GFSI) is a composite indicator that measures the comparative level of food insecurity for 113 countries. The initial components of the GFSI included the affordability, availability and quality and safety components. In 2017, the GFSI added a fourth component for natural resources and resilience (NRR) as a risk to food security. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) panel of experts uses a subjective weighting of indicators in the GFSI model. This study set out to assess whether an objective weighting of the NRR component of the GFSI significantly changed the country scores and ranks compared to the subjective weighting process. The GFSI data was analysed using a principal component analysis (PCA) to derive objectively weighted NRR scores and ranks. The objectively and subjectively weighted NRR ranks were strongly correlated (rho = 0.831), implying that the GFSI model was not strongly statistically biased. The study concluded that subjective weighting of the NRR component of the GFSI may still provide relatively fair country scores and ranks. However, an objective weighting of the NRR component could improve the reliability of the NRR component of the GFSI and build greater trust.http://link.springer.com/journal/125712022-06-14hj2022Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmen

Supporting Food Security Indicator by Village Production Results Data Management for Rajaiyang Village Apparatus with Inventory Application Training

Background: Rajaiyang Village is one of the villages in Indramayu Regency which has agricultural commodities in the form of rice production. In the current condition, even though it has a fertile area, welfare data of the community is not good enough from the management of these commodity products. The village government strategy requires support of information technology and knowledge development due to support regional food security and village sustainable development goals indicators. Contribution: Increased understanding and ability to manage the availability of commodity results using information technology to support food security strategies. Method: Inducting inventory training with an internet-based inventory application system for farmer groups and village apparatus. Results: The ability of residents and village apparatus to become better, more prepared with the system and product inventory management process, together with BUMDes support as a village owned enterprise. Conclusion: Implementation strategies and supporting facilities for village food security can be improved by using updated technology, as well as collaboration between village agencies for integrated decision

Framing food security and food loss statistics for incisive supply chain improvement and knowledge transfer between Kenyan, Indian and United Kingdom food manufacturers

The application of global indices of nutrition and food sustainability in public health and the improvement of product profiles has facilitated effective actions that increase food security. In the research reported here we develop index measurements further so that they can be applied to food categories and be used by food processors and manufacturers for specific food supply chains. This research considers how they can be used to assess the sustainability of supply chain operations by stimulating more incisive food loss and waste reduction planning. The research demonstrates how an index driven approach focussed on improving both nutritional delivery and reducing food waste will result in improved food security and sustainability. Nutritional improvements are focussed on protein supply and reduction of food waste on supply chain losses and the methods are tested using the food systems of Kenya and India where the current research is being deployed. Innovative practices will emerge when nutritional improvement and waste reduction actions demonstrate market success, and this will result in the co-development of food manufacturing infrastructure and innovation programmes. The use of established indices of sustainability and security enable comparisons that encourage knowledge transfer and the establishment of cross-functional indices that quantify national food nutrition, security and sustainability. The research presented in this initial study is focussed on applying these indices to specific food supply chains for food processors and manufacturers

Prospects for sustainable intensification of smallholder farming systems in Ethiopian highlands

2017 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation examines the prospects of sustainable agricultural intensification by rural farming households in Ethiopia. Although widely accepted as the new paradigm for agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa, several research and empirical questions still surround the concept of sustainable intensification, particularly its operationalization. Efforts to promote, measure and monitor progress towards sustainable intensification are hampered by the lack of quantifiable indicators at the farm level, as well as the uncertainty over the relationship between intensification and sustainability. This dissertation contributes to this knowledge gap by examining the relationship between agricultural intensification and sustainability, with a view to determine if sustainable paths of agricultural intensification are possible within the smallholder farming systems of Ethiopian highlands. To help better execute the research inquiry, and achieve the main goal of this study, the themes of this dissertation are addressed through three separate but interrelated essays, on top of the introductory and conclusion chapters. The first essay, presented in chapter two, examines the drivers and processes shaping agricultural intensification by smallholder farmers. This chapter contributes to the literature by providing evidence of how agricultural intensification depends on a wide range of factors, whose complex interactions give rise to different intensification pathways. The implication is that, even in a region that is undergoing the process of agricultural intensification, households are likely to respond differently to intensification incentives and production constraints, and thus pursue different paths of agricultural intensification. The second essay, chapter three, develops a methodological framework for defining elements of sustainability based on observed, context-specific priorities and technologies. Farm-level indicators of agricultural sustainability are developed using insights drawn from literature, and adapted to the Ethiopian context through consultations with agricultural experts and key stakeholders in the agricultural sector. A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) framework is applied to synthesize the selected indicators into a relative farm sustainability index, thus reducing subjectivity in the sustainability index. A generalized linear regression model applied on the computed sustainability scores shows that farm size, market access, access to off farm income, agricultural loans, access to agricultural extension and demonstration plots are key drivers of agricultural sustainability at the farm level. Despite being applied to the Ethiopian context; the methodology has broader policy implications and can be applied in many contexts. The third essay, chapter four, examines the relationship between agricultural intensification and relative farm sustainability, and identifies four clusters of farmers depending on their relative levels of intensification and sustainability. The main thrust of this essay is to examine whether farmers who are highly productive are also sustainable, and whether systems that are relatively more sustainable are mostly on the highly productive farms. The results show that of the farms that are relatively most intensive, in terms of the gross value of crop output per hectare, only 27 percent are relatively more sustainable. Of the farms that are relatively most sustainable, about 60 percent are more intensive. Overall, only 10 percent of the farms were both highly intensive and relatively more sustainable. In order to understand the typology of farmers that are likely to embark on sustainable paths of agricultural intensification, multivariate methods of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) were used to cluster farmers according to their common characteristics. Multinomial Logit (MNL) regression models were used to model the probability of cluster membership as well as the likelihood of farmers embarking on different intensification trajectories. is used to analyze the odds of embarking on a sustainable intensification path. The results suggest that increasing farmers' access to technical information through demonstration plots and government extension services, addressing farm liquidity constraints, improving market access, as well fostering crop-livestock interactions, significantly increases the likelihood of sustainable intensification

The environmental sustainability of diets: insights from life cycle and optimisation approaches

Current diets and food production practices are causing substantial environmental degradation on a global scale. The impacts caused by food production jeopardise ecological and climate stability and contribute to the transgression of environmental limits. Meanwhile, consumption of low-quality, nutrient-poor diets worldwide lead to different forms of malnutrition. One solution that could alleviate both environmental damage and malnutrition is dietary change. Research on the sustainability of diets often employ interdisciplinary approaches which consider multiple criteria framed in wider environmental and socio-economic contexts. This thesis contributes to this body of research by advancing the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and mathematical optimisation techniques. Insights are uncovered through three approaches which examine the environmental sustainability of dietary patterns using various methods and underlying concepts. First, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)–a linear programming (LP) method–is employed to provide a global environmental and nutritional assessment of national food supplies and gauge how efficiently food supply compositions convert environmental impacts into calories and nutrients. In the second analysis, an LP model is developed to identify nutritionally-adequate optimal diets within the environmental limits of the planet defined by the ‘planetary boundaries’ framework. Lastly, the global ecological and socio-economic externalities of national dietary patterns are estimated using a ‘true cost accounting’ method based on the monetarisation of life cycle impacts. The global assessment using DEA reveals significant scope for countries to reduce the environmental impacts from their food without also having to decrease calorie and nutrient supply, particularly upper-middle- and high-income countries. Optimising the average diet of the UK–a high-income country with environmentally unsustainable food consumption patterns–yields diet compositions which meet, or close to meeting, downscaled planetary boundaries, but may have trade-offs with affordability. Finally, the global costs of food production to health, ecosystems and resource scarcity embedded in diets are revealed to be substantial but could be significantly reduced via shifts to more plant-based diets in developed regions.Open Acces

Assessing the Vulnerability of the Human and Natural Systems and Prioritizing Alternatives to Reduce Vulnerability at Mt. Kasigau, Kenya.

The goal of this research was to examine the vulnerability of the human and natural systems to anthropogenic threats and environmental changes at five villages (Kiteghe, Makwasinyi, Jora, Bungule, and Rukanga) in Mt. Kasigau, Kenya. To accomplish this goal, three research objectives were pursued: (1) to assess the vulnerability of the human system, (2) to assess the vulnerability of the natural system, and (3) to assist the community in identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing ways for reducing vulnerability. These three objectives linked together and are structured in three manuscripts in this dissertation.This study adapted a vulnerability framework that conceptualized vulnerability as a function of ‘exposure’, ‘sensitivity’, and ‘adaptive capacity’. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is a multi-criteria decision-making tool is used to structure vulnerability into a hierarchical format and to build a vulnerability assessment and reduction model based upon the benefits, costs, opportunities, and risks criteria in order to evaluate each alternative.Results from this study illustrated that adaptive capacity and exposure played a critical role in determining the social and environmental vulnerability among the five villages. Therefore, measures to reduce vulnerability should emphasize these two components of vulnerability, especially for the most vulnerable village. Additionally, the vulnerability reduction model that was used by the community identified environmental conservation as the most preferred alternative for reducing vulnerability. The information derived from this research can help local policymakers, non-governmental organization, and other practitioners who are interested in developing policies that promote sustainable development.Lastly, this place-based dissertation research contributes to the discipline of geography by emphasizing how vulnerabilities vary across space and time. It also advances the body of knowledge in vulnerability and sustainability studies through bridging the gap between socio-ecological and biophysical dimension of vulnerability. The need to understand the issue of vulnerability was essential if we are to realize sustainable development. Hence, this study advances sustainability literature by identifying the economic, social, and environmental factors of vulnerability that create barriers to sustainable development at the community level (e.g., village). In this regard, this study could play a vital role in creating a platform for scholars who are interested in vulnerability and sustainability studies

Poverty measurement : a theoretical contribution and application to Portugal 2007

Doutoramento em Economia.Neste trabalho apresenta-se uma história do pensamento económico na medição de pobreza - desde o que pode ser considerado o inicio da economia da pobreza ate a era de redescoberta da pobreza durante a década de 1960 - bern como uma revisão da literatura sobre as principais ferramentas de medição da pobreza apresentadas pela Ciência Económica. E ainda apresentado, no âmbito da abordagem multidimensional, uma proposta de um índice de medição de pobreza, inovadora quanto a ponderação dos diferentes atributos considerados como elementos de privação. 0 propósito do indice proposto e o de medir a pobreza na sua multidimensionalidade, sendo que cada dimensão de privação e ponderada no indice de acordo com a Hierarquia de Necessidades de Maslow. Esta forma de ponderação faz com que o indice proposto seja diferente dos ja existentes pelo facto de se incorporarem elementos de uma teoria psicológica consolidada na sua estrutura. Por fim, o indice apresentado e aplicado atraves de dados do European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) para Portugal em 2007 e comparado com dois outros metodos multidimensionais de medi9ao da pobreza.This work presents a history of the economic thought on poverty measurement - from what can be considered the beginning of the Poverty Economics until the "Rediscovering Poverty" era during the 1960s - as well as a review of the literature on the main poverty measurement tools presented by the Economic Science. We also present, having the multidimensional approach as background, a proposal for a poverty measurement index, somehow innovative regarding the weighting of different attributes considered as elements of deprivation. The aim of the proposed index is to measure poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon, where each dimension of deprivation is weighted in the index according to the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. This way of weighting makes the proposed index different from the existing indices given that it incorporates elements of a consolidated psychological theory in its structure. Finally, the index is applied using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) microdata for Portugal in 2007, and compared with two other methods of measuring multidimensional poverty

Sustainable Assessment in Supply Chain and Infrastructure Management

In the competitive business environment or public domain, the sustainability assessment in supply chain and infrastructure management are important for any organization. Organizations are currently striving to improve their sustainable strategies through preparedness, response, and recovery because of increasing competitiveness, community, and regulatory pressure. Thus, it is necessary to develop a meaningful and more focused understanding of sustainability in supply chain management and infrastructure management practices. In the context of a supply chain, sustainability implies that companies identify, assess, and manage impacts and risks in all the echelons of the supply chain, considering downstream and upstream activities. Similarly, the sustainable infrastructure management indicates the ability of infrastructure to meet the requirements of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to address their needs. The complexities regarding sustainable supply chain and infrastructure management have driven managers and professionals to seek different solutions. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with the most recent research results on the aforementioned subjects. In addition, it offers some solutions and also raises some questions for further research and development toward sustainable supply chain and infrastructure management