Facilitating Effective Food Security Policy Reform

Food Security and Poverty, Downloads December 2008 - July 2009: 10,

Improving Food Security in Africa: Highlights of 25 Years of Research, Capacity-Building, and Outreach.

Decades of research have led to substantially improved understanding of the nature of food insecurity. A combination of economic growth and targeted programs resulted in a steady fall (until the food crisis of 2007/08) in the percentage of the world’s population suffering from undernutrition (from 20% in 1990/92 to 16% in 2006). Yet over a billion people still face both chronic and/or transitory food insecurity due to long-standing problems of inadequate income, low-productivity in agricultural production and marketing, and related problems of poor health and absence of clean water. Assuring adequate food security for such a large share of the world’s population is increasingly challenging due to continuing resource degradation driven by a combination of population pressure and outdated agricultural practices, poorly functioning input markets, rapid urbanization, increased concerns about food safety, and climate change. This document contains an overview of the past 25 years of research, capacity-building, and outreach by MSU’s Food Security Group. The paper describes key elements of the FSG approach and draws lessons regarding the value of that model. Insights gained from research and outreach and their value in addressing the major current challenges facing food and agricultural systems in Africa are summarized in FSG (2009).Africa, Food Security, research, capacity building, outreach, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, q10, q18, q12, q13,

The SmartAG partner: CCAFS East Africa Bi-Annual Newsletter, July - December 2019

We are pleased to share with you our SmartAg Partner bi-annual newsletter, highlighting policy engagement, ongoing research, field updates and activities with partners from the second half of 2019

Migration, Urbanization and Food Security in Cities of the Global South: 26–27 November 2012, Cape Town, South Africa

The disjuncture between food security, migration and urbanization must be overcome. It is an institutional as well as a thematic disconnect on a global scale. Food security is primarily about access to food, not agricultural production. In an increasingly urban world, the locus of food and nutrition security will no longer be rural areas and the global perspective needs to shift appropriately. Hunger is a political as well as economic problem and requires state intervention. Increasing demand for food needs to be met in ecologically sustainable ways while ensuring that the poor have adequate access to food. Migration should be considered a normal process rather than a response to livelihood failure in rural areas. More research is needed on the impact of migrants’ remittances on food security. Urbanization is about much more than the rural poor moving to cities in search of work. In fact, urbanization and migration have the potential to reduce poverty and inequality. Policies that address urban food security need to appreciate the complex relationship between household food security and a range of variables such as income, gender and household size. Climate change is causing increased migration, especially to cities, and bringing about a complex shift in food distribution patterns that includes staple foods being sent to remote rural areas

Aquaculture, fisheries, poverty and food security

Fisheries and aquaculture play important roles in providing food and income in many developing countries, either as a stand-alone activity or in association with crop agriculture and livestock rearing. The aim of this paper is to identify how these contributions of fisheries and aquaculture to poverty reduction and food security can be enhanced while also addressing the need for a sustainability transition in over-exploited and over-capitalized capture fisheries, and for improved environmental performance and distributive justice in a rapidly growing aquaculture sector. The focus of the paper is on the poverty and food security concerns of developing countries, with an emphasis on the least developed. The emphasis is on food security rather than poverty reduction policies and strategies, although the two are of course related. The food security agenda is very much to the fore at present; fish prices rose along with other food prices in 2007-8 and as fish provide important nutritional benefits to the poor, food security has become a primary concern for sector policy

National climate, agriculture and socio-economic development policies and plans formulated with the use of scenarios across six global regions

Climate change impacts bring great uncertainty, raising the need to plan for the future. As the impacts of climate change are complex and far-reaching, it can be extremely difficult to foresee exactly what the consequences will be, and how they will affect different regions and sectors. However, by bringing together relevant stakeholders and brainstorming "what if" ideas of possible future scenarios, policy makers can prepare themselves for a variety of potential challenges. Including stakeholders from diverse backgrounds can avoid blindspots focused on a single vision of the future

What Factors Account for State-to-State Differences in Food Security?

States differ in the extent to which their residents are food secure—meaning that they have consistent access to enough food for active, healthy living. The prevalence of food security in a State depends not only on the characteristics of households in the State, such as their income, employment, and household structure, but also on State-level characteristics, such as average wages, cost of housing, levels of participation in food assistance programs, and tax policies. Taken together, an identified set of household-level and State-level factors account for most of the State-to-State differences in food security. Some State-level factors point to specific policies that are likely to improve food security, such as policies that increase the supply of affordable housing, promote the use of Federal food assistance programs, or reduce the total tax burden on low-income households.Food security, food insecurity, hunger, very low food security, State predictors of food security, Food Security and Poverty,

5th Annual Progress Reporting and Coordination Meeting on CCAFS Projects and Regional Activities in Southeast Asia

The proceedings document the results of the 5th Annual Progress Reporting and Coordination Meeting on CCAFS Projects and Regional Activities in Southeast Asia. The report tackles the progress of activities in the CSV sites and on CCAFS project implementation in 2019; the significant outputs and outcomes of FP/CSV implementation; and the knowledge, learning, and experiences across projects

A comparative analysis of alternative food security indicators, using farm workers in the Northern Cape Province as a case study

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)The concept of food insecurity is complex and difficult to measure. Food insecurity is measured at different levels – global, national, household and individual. In order to have appropriate assessments of food security status, it is important to use the correct measure. This study focused on explaining three major indicators of household food security in measuring the different dimensions of food security (availability, access, utilization and stability). The contribution of this study is to add to the literature and determine how appropriately different indicators measure food security. The study explored the relationship between the three alternative indicators of food security by comparing them, using data collected on farm workers in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. From the results of the study, it was concluded that most of the surveyed farm workers in the Northern Cape Province are food insecure. This conclusion was arrived at because of two indicators. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) reported 42.8% of farm workers as severely food insecure; 42.8% as moderately food insecure; and 13.9% as mildly food insecure. The Coping Strategies Index (CSI) reported 56.2% of farm workers as food insecure. The Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) reported a higher dietary diversity in farm workers (71.8%)

One Health in food safety and security education: Subject matter outline for a curricular framework.

Educating students in the range of subjects encompassing food safety and security as approached from a One Health perspective requires consideration of a variety of different disciplines and the interrelationships among disciplines. The Western Institute for Food Safety and Security developed a subject matter outline to accompany a previously published One Health in food safety and security curricular framework. The subject matter covered in this outline encompasses a variety of topics and disciplines related to food safety and security including effects of food production on the environment. This subject matter outline should help guide curriculum development and education in One Health in food safety and security and provides useful information for educators, researchers, students, and public policy-makers facing the inherent challenges of maintaining and/or developing safe and secure food supplies without destroying Earth's natural resources