Policy considerations for African food systems : towards the United Nations 2021 Food Systems Summit

Achieving food and nutrition security and ending hunger is a complex and multi-faceted global challenge, which requires urgent attention, particularly in Africa. To eliminate hunger, the continent needs to transition to new sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food systems that deliver nutritious food and a healthy planet for all. This paper discusses challenges and opportunities highlighted during the “Food Systems Transformation to Address the SDGs” session convened by the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and partners at the 8th World Sustainability Forum (WSF2020) held in September 2020. The paper reflects on how African food systems need to change to achieve the food systems related and interconnected the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also presents issues for consideration at the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit. Key considerations include (i) the realization that nutrition insecurity is not food insecurity, (ii) the need for Africa to actualize its potential, (iii) the need to demystify policy development processes; (iv) the need to invest in better measurements and indicators; and (v) the need to create nature-based climate-smart solutions.The U.K. Research and Innovation the Global Challenges Research Fund.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainabilityam2022Centre for the Advancement of Scholarshi

Appropriate Climate Smart Technologies for Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nearly 70 per cent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) live in rural areas and rely mainly on agriculture for livelihood security. Low agricultural productivity in the region keeps this population under constant pressure, even though investment in agriculture is a proven way to reduce regional poverty. Studies have shown that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as GDP growth originating outside agriculture. It is therefore necessary to develop and implement appropriate agricultural policies to support proven practices to alleviate poverty in this region where the majority of the population live on less than US$ 2 per day

Climate Smart Agriculture: More Than Technologies Are Needed to Move Smallholder Farmers Toward Resilient and Sustainable Livelihoods

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is defined as agricultural practices that sustainably increase productivity and system resilience while reducing greenhouse gas emissions1. CSA helps ensure that climate change adaptation and mitigation are directly incorporated into agricultural development planning and investment strategies. Our perspective on CSA is sustainable agriculture, based upon integrated management of water, land and ecosystems at landscape scale. CSA is being widely promoted as the future of African agriculture and as a viable answer to climate change. Because agriculture remains key to development in Africa, CSA has the potential to increase productivity and resilience while reducing the vulnerability of hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers. CSA can benefit smallholder farmers directly by increasing efficiency of precious inputs such as labour, seeds and fertilizers, increasing food security, and opportunities for income generation. By protecting ecosystems and landscapes, CSA helps protect natural resources for future generations. Yet, CSA technologies and approaches alone will not increase resilience or improve livelihoods of significant numbers of small holders who survive within complex systems. Decades and hundreds of millions of dollars invested in research, development and technology transfer have not transformed African smallholders. Evidence shows that top down command and control systems for technology diffusion do not generate sustainable change

Actions needed to halt deforestation and promote climate-smart agriculture

Integrated action across Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and agriculture is necessary to achieve mitigation and food security outcomes

SARS-CoV-2 serological testing in front line health workers in Zimbabwe

BackgroundIn order to protect health workers from SARS-CoV-2, there is need to characterise the different types of patient facing health workers. Our first aim was to determine both the infection status and seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in health workers. Our second aim was to evaluate the occupational and demographic predictors of seropositivity to inform the country's infection prevention and control (IPC) strategy.Methods and principal findingsWe invited 713 staff members at 24 out of 35 health facilities in the City of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Compliance to testing was defined as the willingness to uptake COVID-19 testing by answering a questionnaire and providing samples for both antibody testing and PCR testing. SARS-COV-2 antibodies were detected using a rapid diagnostic test kit and SAR-COV-2 infection was determined by real-time (RT)-PCR. Of the 713 participants, 635(89%) consented to answering the questionnaire and providing blood sample for antibody testing while 560 (78.5%) agreed to provide nasopharyngeal swabs for the PCR SARS-CoV-2 testing. Of the 635 people (aged 18-73) providing a blood sample 39.1% reported a history of past COVID-19 symptoms while 14.2% reported having current symptoms of COVID-19. The most-prevalent co-morbidity among this group was hypertension (22.0%) followed by asthma (7.0%) and diabetes (6.0%). The SARS-CoV-2 sero-prevalence was 8.9%. Of the 560 participants tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection, 2 participants (0.36%) were positive for SAR-CoV-2 infection by PCR testing. None of the SARS-CoV-2 antibody positive people were positive for SAR-CoV-2 infection by PCR testing.Conclusion and interpretationIn addition to clinical staff, several patient-facing health workers were characterised within Zimbabwe's health system and the seroprevalence data indicated that previous exposure to SAR-CoV-2 had occurred across the full spectrum of patient-facing staff with nurses and nurse aides having the highest seroprevalence. Our results highlight the need for including the various health workers in IPC strategies in health centres to ensure effective biosecurity and biosafety

Devising effective strategies and policies for CSA: insights from a panel of global policy experts

In this section, we present the results of a consultation with a panel of leading thinkers on agricultural and climate change policy. We interviewed these experts using a set of questions based on the main findings, conclusions, insights and questions that emerged from our set of case studies and conceptual papers. This section is divided into four parts, each focusing on a set of questions relating to the conclusions that emerged from the case study and conceptual chapters. (i) Focus on changes in production systems as adaptation: priorities and policy actions; (ii) Incorporating climate change into agricultural research and extension; (iii) Taking a close look at national policies affecting risk management: index insurance, safety nets and input subsidies and (iv) Priorities for the future and summary of main points. Overall, there is a fairly high level of agreement amongst the panel members in responding to most of the interview questions, although with some difference in emphasis or applications. However there are also some differences of opinion that emerge from their responses. In this chapter, we discuss the main points made on each of the issues addressed, highlighting the areas of agreement, as well as differences. (Résumé d'auteur

The impact and poverty reduction implications of foot and mouth disease control in southern Africa with special reference to Zimbabwe

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Market food diversity mitigates the effect of environment on women's dietary diversity in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) study, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: In Ethiopia, women's dietary diversity is low, primarily due to poor food availability and access, both at home and market level. The present study aimed to describe market access using a new definition called market food diversity (MFD) and estimate the impact of MFD, crop and livestock diversity on dietary diversity among women enrolled in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) trial. DESIGN: Baseline cross-sectional data collected from November 2016 to January 2017 were used for the analysis. Availability of foods in markets was assessed at the village level and categorized into nine food groups similar to the dietary diversity index for women. Bivariate and multivariate mixed-effects regression analyses were conducted, adjusted for clustering at the village level. SETTING: Chicken-producing farmers in rural Ethiopia.ParticipantsWomen (n 2117) aged 15-49 years. RESULTS: Overall, less than 6 % of women met the minimum dietary diversity (≥5 food groups) and the most commonly consumed food groups were staples and legumes. Median MFD was 4 food groups (interquartile range: 2-8). Multivariate models indicated that women's dietary diversity differed by livestock diversity, food crop diversity and agroecology, with significant interaction effects between agroecology and MFD. CONCLUSIONS: Women's dietary diversity is poor in Ethiopia. Local markets are variable in food availability across seasons and agroecological zones. The MFD indicator captures this variability, and women who have access to higher MFD in the highland agroecological zone have better dietary diversity. Thus, MFD has the potential to mitigate the effects of environment on women's dietary diversity