How important are supermarkets for the diets of the urban poor in Africa?

Many developing countries are undergoing a profound transformation of food systems and retail environments. Especially in urban areas, a rapid growth of supermarkets is observed, which can affect consumer food choices and diets. Supermarkets may improve access to diverse foods at affordable prices, but may also encourage a switch from unprocessed to highly-processed and energy-dense foods that contribute to obesity. However, the use of supermarkets is positively correlated with income. That supermarkets already play an important role for the diets of many urban consumers does not necessarily mean that this is also true for the poorest population segments that are of particular interest for development policy. This article analyzes the diets and food purchase patterns of poor urban consumers in Kenya and Uganda. Representative data were collected from households in the slums of Nairobi and Kampala. The data show that the majority of these households are undernourished. They buy most food items in unprocessed form from various traditional retail outlets, including mom-and-pop shops, local markets, and kiosks. Relatively few sample households buy any of their food in supermarkets. Supermarkets account for only 3% and 0.4% of all food expenditures of slum dwellers in Nairobi and Kampala, respectively. Reasons for the low supermarket use of these poor households are discussed. The findings suggest that a focus on the modern retail sector alone will not suffice to ensure food and nutrition security for all

Impact of COVID-19 on diets of poor consumers in Africa: Evidence from the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted food systems worldwide, and this is likely to have negative implications for food and nutrition security. The vulnerable poor, especially those in the urban areas, are likely to feel a bigger impact. More than half of Africa’s urban population lives in slums. Little is known about the impact of the current pandemic on their consumption behavior and diets. This study analyzes effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumption of nutritious foods (including fresh fruits and vegetables and animal source foods) and diets of poor slumdwellers and middle-income non-slum dwellers in Nairobi, Kenya, using primary data collected from 2,465 households between April and May 2020. Food (in)security assessment and consumption behavior questions are asked to capture before and during pandemic using recall. In addition, household dietary diversity scores are calculated based on 7-day food consumption recalls. Both descriptive and econometric regression analyses are conducted. Households in the slums are affected more than the non-slum middle-income households. More than 40% of slum households do not have jobs, their average monthly household income is very low, at USD78. About 90% of households in the slums reported dire food insecurity situations. They were not able to eat the kind of foods they preferred, they ate a limited variety of foods, a smaller meal than they felt they needed and fewer number of meals in a day. Slum households have a lower dietary diversity score (4 out of 9) compared to the non-slum (5 out of 9). In addition, slum dwellers show larger negative effects on consumption of nutritious foods especially fresh fruit and vegetables and animal source foods. Several factors associated with quality food consumption during the pandemic period are highlighted. Mitigation measures should pay close attention to slums as they are deeply impacted by the pandemic. In addition, policy design and implementation should be inclusive of the vulnerable poor consumers in the slums

Does retail food diversity in urban food environments influence consumer diets?

The food environment influences consumer diets in significant yet underexplored ways. In this study, we assess the way in which the Nairobi urban food environment—availability, accessibility, affordability, desirability, convenience and marketing—influences the dietary choices and quality of poor urban consumers, by combining market-level diversity scores (MLDS) with household and individual data collected from resource-poor (slum) neighbourhoods in Nairobi, Kenya. We find that urban-poor settings are characterized by a variety of food retail venues, including informal markets such as kiosks, mom-and-pop shops and tabletop vendors, as well as modern retail outlets such as supermarkets. Most of these food outlets predominantly sell unhealthy, highly-processed and energy-dense foods rather than nutritious foods such as vegetables, fruits and animal products. Our analyses show that supermarkets have the highest MLDS, yet they do not significantly influence the diets of resource-poor households. However, a high MLDS among informal retail outlets has a positive association with diet quality; conversely, open-air markets have a negative association. The nutritional status of urban-poor consumers can be improved by promoting the diversification of healthy, nutritious foods across traditional retail outlets and improving accessibility of the outlets to consumers

Performance evaluation of an inflatable solar dryer for maize and the effect on product quality compared with direct sun drying

Maize is an important staple in Africa, which necessitates immediate drying to preserve the postharvest quality. The traditional drying of maize in the open sun is prone to adverse weather and extraneous contamination. In this study, the drying performance of an inflatable solar dryer (ISD) was compared to direct sun drying (DSD) in Gombe Town, Wakiso District (Uganda) by analysing the moisture content, yeasts, moulds, aflatoxin, and colour. The maximum temperature inside the ISD reached 63.7 °C and averaged 7 °C higher than the ambient temperature. Maize was dried using both methods to a moisture content below 14% after two days. In one of the received maize lots that was already heavily contaminated after harvest, drying with DSD and ISD reduced the aflatoxin content from 569.6 μg kg−1 to 345.5 μg kg−1 and 299.2 μg kg−1, respectively. Although the drying performance in terms of drying time and product quality regarding colour, yeast, and mould was similar for both drying methods, the advantage of ISD in reducing the risk of spoilage due to sudden rain is obvious. A strategy for the early detection of aflatoxins in maize is recommended to avoid contaminated maize in the food chain

Spatial estimation of flood residual water cultivation (FRWC) potential for food security in Sédhiou and Tambacounda regions of Sénégal

Nearly 90% of farming households in Senegal rely on rainfed agriculture; in recent years, climate change-induced disruptions to rainfall patterns and the ensuing depletion of water resources have had adverse effects on agricultural production, livelihoods, and food security. Recent studies recommend further assessment of the viability of and potential for Flood Residual Water Cultivation (FRWC) as an alternative growing strategy (i.e., to supplement or extend natural growing seasons). This study utilizes satellite imagery, GIS mapping, and crop analysis to identify areas with high potential for FRWC in Senegal's Sédhiou and Tambacounda regions, and recommends key crops that can be grown using FRWC and support food security. By calculating the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) values based on historical data for the rainy season (September) and the first dry month after the rainy season (November) over a 9-year period, areas with flooding potential were identified and mapped. To assess the crop-growing potential for these mapped areas, we used crop reference evapotranspiration (ET) and determined daily water requirements for the select crops included in our analyses. indicated suitable FRWC areas along river valleys in both regions, with specific locations identified along the Gambia River, the Senegal River in the Bakel Department, and low-lying plains near Kidira and Gourel Bouri. It was observed that regions closer to the Sahara Desert required more water for crop production due to higher temperatures and evapotranspiration rates. Our study identified a total potential FRWC area of 20.7 km² and recommends short-duration crops like okra, French beans, and drought-tolerant crops such as sorghum for FRWC. The integration of FRWC with climate-smart management practices can aid in climate adaptation and economic empowerment in the studied regions, and in Sub-Saharan Africa at large

Honduras food system profile: Better understanding food systems at country level

Country profiles are more than a simple compilation of national indicators. They are constructed and designed around a common framework and methodology to identify hotspots of unsustainability in the food systems and prioritize interventions at multiple scales to address these through targeted actions and investments. An important feature of the country profiles is that they are co-produced with key public and private food system stakeholders engaged in both identifying the data and validating results and emerging key messages. The use of a common framework also offers an opportunity for a global comparative analysis on food system transitions and transformations – not just at national but also international level – thus generating insights and lessons for decision-makers. We expect these profiles to contribute to relevant international processes, following the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021. This Honduras food system profile (also available in Spanish) is composed of three main blocks of information: (a) system drivers; (b) system components; and (c) system outcomes

Ethiopia Food System Profile

This Ethiopia food system profile is composed of three main blocks of information: (a) system drivers; (b) system components; and (c) system outcomes. The first main block recognizes how environmental, demographic, technological, political, economic, social, and cultural drivers influence the food system—from production to consumption. The second block considers three components of the system: its actors and activities, the food environment, and consumer behavior. The third block, which is the last, corresponds to the system's outcomes in terms of the nutritional and health status of the population, food security, and the country's environmental and socioeconomic conditions. This profile also presents a comparison of Ethiopia's data against three groups: the country's geographic neighbors (Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, and South Sudan), countries with similar GDP per capita (Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Uganda, and Zambia), and the world average

Survey data on income, food security, and dietary behavior among women and children from households of differing socio-economic status in urban and peri-urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya

This article describes data collected to analyze consumer behaviors in vulnerable populations by examining key access constraints to nutritious foods among households of differing socio-economic status in urban and peri‑urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya. The key variables studied include wealth status, food security, and dietary behavior indicators at individual and household level. Household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS), livelihood coping strategies (LCS), food expenditure share (FES), food consumption score (FCS), household dietary diversity score (HDDS), minimum dietary diversity-women(MDD-W), and child dietary diversity score (CDDS) indicators were used to measure food security. Household assets were used to develop an asset-based wealth index that grouped the study sample population into five wealth quantiles, while income levels were used to estimate FES. The hypothesis that guided the cross-sectional survey conducted to generate these data is that vulnerability to food insecurity and poverty are important drivers of food choice that influence household and individual dietary behavior. Data from this study was thus used to assess direction and strength of association between; household food insecurity, wealth status, women, children, and household dietary behavior in both urban and peri‑urban populations sampled

Sustainable food system country profiles for low- and middle-income countries. Methodology outline

There is a need to find a “middle ground” whereby the complexity, dynamic, and multi-sectoral/multi-actors nature of food systems is captured and boiled down to a handful of key indicators that help prioritize entry points for interventions. Furthermore, the process of identifying those selected indicators needs to follow a clear, transparent, and reproducible protocol/methodology so that comparison between countries (and over time) is also possible. The ambition of the “Sustainable Food System Country Profile” project is to design, field-test and demonstrate the feasibility of such a “middle ground” approach, initially in three countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Honduras). The final product, which will include this protocol plus three Food System Country Profiles, will offer a tool to facilitate more informed and evidence-supported decisions around food systems. We envisage that this tool will form part of the “SFS Toolbox” of the One Planet (10YFP) Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Programme and will then pave the path for the development of similar country profiles in a larger number of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the near future

Technical Performance of an Inflatable Solar Dryer for Drying Amaranth Leaves in Kenya

The technical performance of an inflatable solar dryer (ISD) to dry amaranth leaves (Amaranthus spp.) was investigated. To handle the drying of lightweight materials, modification was made by adding an air deflector and trays inside the ISD. Computational performance of the ISD solar energy system was evaluated using MATLAB Simulink. The estimated air mass flow in the inlet of the ISD was 0.75 kg/s. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the uniformity of air distribution in the ISD was evaluated. The solar radiation reported during good drying performance ranged between 510 and 950 W/m2. In a controlled charging system, a 100 Wp PV module typically generated voltage between 10.22 and 18.75 V. Drying conditions at temperatures of 40 °C or above were typically achieved in the ISD from 12:00 to 16:00. Temperature inside the ISD could reach up to 69.4 °C during the day and 13.4 °C during the night. The highest relative humidity of 97.4% was recorded during the night. Opening the ISD while mixing the product could lead to considerable heat loss. Fluctuation of solar radiation and shaded areas in the ISD appeared to be the major factors affecting the drying performanc