Editorial: Achieving nutrition security in Tanzania by improving production, education and economics: Methods, tools and applications

Peer Reviewe

Human adaptation to climate change in the context of forests: A systematic review

We assessed how people adapt to climate change in the context of forests through a systematic review of the international empirical research literature. We found that drought, precipitation variability, extreme precipitation and flooding, and extreme heat were the climatic stressors to which responses were most frequently documented. Individuals and households received the most research attention, followed by national government, civil society, and local government. Europe and North America were the geographic foci of more research than other regions. Behavioral responses were more reported than technical and infrastructural responses and institutional responses. Within these types of responses, actors used a wide variety of practices such as replanting, altering species composition, and adopting or changing technology. Adaptation efforts in early planning and advanced implementation received some attention, but early implementation and expanding implementation were most reported. While connections between responses and risk reduction were discussed, there is limited evidence of risk reduction. Our review contributes to the scholarly and practical understanding of how people adapt to climate change in the context of forests. The review also identifies opportunities for future research on adaptation to other climatic stressors, such as wildfires and tree pests and pathogens, adaptation in other geographic areas, especially Oceania, and adaptation by actors beyond the individual and household level and through institutional adaptation efforts

Outlook for the biomass energy sector in Mozambique: Policies and their challenges

To overcome the negative impacts of unsustainable exploitation of forest resources, the Mozambican government has been trying to regulate the supply and demand of biomass, the main source of energy for the majority of the population. This paper reviews policies implemented in Mozambique aimed at increasing domestic energy production while promoting a sustainable use of biomass. Despite the efforts to reduce the level of biomass energy use, it remains the most attractive to local populations and, therefore, still has great importance in the national energy mix. Thus, rather than looking at woodfuels as an environmental problem, regulations should also recognise the dependence of local communities on these resources. Firewood remains the main energy source in rural areas, and approximately 0.36% of the forest in Mozambique is lost every year. The replacement of firewood and charcoal by other renewable sources of energy is still far from reality. Charcoal production continues to be carried out in traditional low-yield ovens and the levels of forest degradation are still alarming. As such, improvements to the existing regulation framework are still needed

Understanding the drivers of food security among agriculture-based households in Gurué District, Central Mozambique

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of food insecurity in Mozambique is alarming, despite progress made during the 2010s. Several studies apply different proxy indicators of food security (FS) to assess the FS situation. However, these studies overlook the factors affecting FS, using only a single data point that results in an incomplete picture of FS. Food security is expected to fluctuate, being better and worse than what studies suggest. Using a sample of 296 households to assess FS, key drivers conditioning households’ capacity to achieve FS in Gurué District, Central Mozambique, are identified. Data were collected in the pre-harvest period and during the harvest period to capture relevant interseasonal variation of FS. Household FS is assessed using three standard indicators: Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS), and Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning (MAHFP). RESULTS: Each household was classified into a specific FS status depending on the indicator applied. Generally, most households were classified as being severely or moderately food insecure during the pre-harvest season, while during the harvest season, medium and high levels of FS predominated. Nevertheless, varying outcomes were found depending on the indicator used to assess FS. MAHFP and HDDS are more related to the consumption of farm-sourced food, while HFCS responds more strongly to purchased food. Gender and age of the household head, geographic location, size and quality of land, staples production (especially cassava), livestock and crop diversity, as well as cash crops had a statistically significant effect on FS indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that the decision whether farmers should rely on staple foods production for increasing their FS status or specialize on cash crops production to generate income and buy food depends on the indicator used to assess FS, since each indicator captures a specific domain of food security. Thus, one central recommendation derived from our results is that policy makers should promote a balance between market-oriented agriculture and subsistence production to achieve FS

Passive solar dryers as sustainable alternatives for drying agricultural produce in sub-Saharan Africa: advances and challenges

The lack of adequate techniques for food processing is among the reasons underlying food losses and high levels of hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa; the application of solar energy to dry agricultural products is one potential solution. However, the total replacement of traditional uses of solar energy is still far from reality. Therefore, in this study, we systematically review the academic literature testing passive solar drying systems in order to assess their performance. Then the main limitations and challenges for passive solar dryers developed in Sub-Saharan Africa are derived. The literature search reveals very limited research and a lack of standardized methods to assess solar dryer performance. Studies mainly report parameters related to dryers’ thermal performance and physical features, thus neglecting parameters related to the quality of dried products and economics. Standardized and robust methodologies are urgently needed for more accurate conclusions and comparability of study results. Moreover, successfully applying passive solar dryers as an alternative to the traditional use of solar energy requires overcoming challenges such as time consumption, limited quantities of dried products, and the periodic nature of solar radiation. Thus, given its ability to significantly improve the self-life of food and overcome the current limitations for effective utilization of solar dryers in SSA, the use of mixed mode passive greenhouse dryers is proposed

Experimental evaluation of a passive indirect solar dryer for agricultural products in Central Mozambique

ABSTRACT: Post-harvest losses are one of the major livelihood challenges for farmers in the Global South. The use of drying technologies to preserve agricultural products has been promoted as a particular solution to address this challenge. In this regard, we designed and tested a passive indirect solar dryer for drying agricultural products as an alternative to open sun drying (OSD) in Gurue district, Central Mozambique, using amaranth leaves and maize. In addition, a sensorial analysis was conducted by randomly selecting a group of 60 adults who evaluated the texture, aroma and color of dried amaranth and maize grains. Compared to OSD, the passive indirect solar dryer reduced drying time and increased the thermal efficiency. Evaluation of sensory quality attributes showed that passive indirect solar drying outperforms OSD. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This study evaluates the performance of a passive indirect solar dryer, a sustainable alternative to conventional food preservation technologies (e.g., refrigeration) that are not affordable to resource-constrained communities. The use of passive solar dryers, if carried out correctly, creates the possibility for poor rural households to safely store and increase shelf life of food. In addition, the acceptability of products dried in the passive indirect solar dryer is evaluated. Thus, the study also provides insights on passive solar dryer potential for preserving the quality of the final product

Climate change vulnerability and smallholder farmers’ adaptive responses in the semi-arid Far North Region of Cameroon

Climate change and variability contribute to exacerbating poverty and social unrest in poor countries. Therefore, it becomes important to assess vulnerability and adaptation measures to raise awareness and monitoring of climate change adaptation policy for better decision-making. This research examines how farmers perceive their vulnerability and how they respond to climate change in the semi-arid Far North Region of Cameroon. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, data on perceptions with regards to vulnerability and adaptation responses to climate change related hazards were collected based on expert opinions, individual farmers’ interviews, and focus group discussion. The qualitative data were triangulated with direct observations in the field. The results reveal that farmers are mostly concerned about drought and decrease in rainfall. Thus, they have mainly implemented behavioral and locally-made options such as short-cycle varieties, terrace farming, half-moon, and bunds, among others, to overcome water shortages. Nevertheless, these measures were not solely driven by vulnerability; the socioeconomic context might play a role. Moreover, farmers perceive a limited capacity to adapt to climate change, which suggests that the government and policy-makers should focus, not only on implementing planned adaptation strategies, but also on the improvement and promotion of farmers’ autonomous adaptation strategies

Effect of passive solar drying on food security in rural Mozambique

Achieving food security in Mozambique is critical, since 80% of the population cannot afford an adequate diet. While increasing agricultural production is a necessary effort to address this challenge, inadequate post-harvest treatment leads to storage losses and quality degradation, with repercussions for food security. The use of solar drying is promoted as a solution to provide efficient and reliable access to food preservation that improves the food security situation in rural communities. However, there is a lack of clear evidence on how the use or access to solar drying affects food security. This study identifies the determinants of farmers’ choice to use solar drying and evaluates the effect of a passive solar dryer on food security using survey data from 634 households. We allocated solar dryers to selected communities and all interested individuals belonging to these communities were eligible to use it. Propensity score matching and endogenous switching poisson regression are used to estimate the average effect. The use of solar drying with associated training significantly increases the food security status of participants by increasing household food availability, women’s dietary diversity, and months of adequate household food provision and by decreasing the household food insecurity access scale