R4D Food and Hunger

The economics of agrobiodiversity conservation for food security under climate change

Tue, 22 May 2012 01:42 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Pascual, U.; Narloch, U.; Nordhagen, S.; Drucker, A.G. The economics of agrobiodiversity conservation for food security under climate change. Economía Agraria y Recursos Naturales (2011) 11 (132) 191-220.

Summary: Subsistence-based and natural resource-dependent societies are especially vulnerable to climate change. In such contexts, food security needs to be strengthened by investing in the adaptability of food systems. This paper looks into the role of agrobiodiversity conservation for food security in the face of climate change. It identifies agrobiodiversity as a key public good that delivers necessary services for human wellbeing. We argue that the public values provided by agrobiodiversity conservation need to be demonstrated and captured. We offer an economic perspective of this challenge and highlight ways of capturing at least a subset of the public values of agrobiodiversity to help adapt to and reduce the vulnerability of subsistence based economies to climate change.

Food Security and Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific Region: Evaluating Mismatch between Crop Development and Water Availability

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:53 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Huda, S; Sadras, V.; Wani, S.P.; Mei, X.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Huda, S; Sadras, V.; Wani, S.P.; Mei, X. Food Security and Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific Region: Evaluating Mismatch between Crop Development and Water Availability. International Journal of Bio-resource and Stress Management (2011) 2 (2) 137-144.

Summary: Phenological development is the single most important attribute of crop adaptation to shifting climates. Climate change may alter the rate of phenological development and the amount and distribution of rainfall during the growing season. These changes may in turn result in mismatch between water demand by crops and water availability from rainfall. This paper illustrates how an understanding of the impact of climate shifts on key crops will enable the Asia-Pacific farmers, community workers and policy agencies to better prepare and adapt to climate change. Strategies include changes to existing policy and practices, for example, timing of planting, managing rainwater resources, use of new varieties, disease management protocols, alternate crops and shift in geographic distribution of crops. An international project is described which combines a new analysis of realized changes in meteorological parameters, and use of estimates from published work on future climates to assess temporal shifts in crop phenology, likely shifts in the pattern of rain and water availability, mismatch between crop phenology and water availability, and the expected consequences of this mismatch for food security.

Food security: why plant health matters.

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:29 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Flood, J.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Flood, J. Food security: why plant health matters. Science in Parliament (2010) 67 (4) 30.

Summary: This brief article highlights the importance of making sure that we lose less of what we already grow so that we can feed millions more people, without the need for extra land, water, fertilisers, or chemicals. It focuses on the need for early detection of plant pests and diseases and on the work CABI is conducting to build a knowledge bank and develop the Plant Health Clinics, which provide advisory services to the hardest to reach smallholder farmers.

The importance of plant health to food security.

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:14 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Flood, J.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Flood, J. The importance of plant health to food security. Food Security (2010) 2 (3) 215-231. [DOI: 10.1007/s12571-010-0072-5]

Summary: Rapid food price rises have highlighted serious concerns about food security globally and have had a huge impact on achieving Millennium Development Goal 1. Since 2007, an estimated 100 million more people have fallen into absolute poverty. Most live in developing countries where low incomes (less than $1 per day) make it difficult to access food. Access to sufficient food for dietary needs and food preferences defines food security. However, whilst price rises have brought food security into sharp focus, underlying problems need to be addressed. Over the last three to four decades, there has been chronic under-investment in agriculture at all levels. Development aid to agriculture has declined and often in-country policies do not support the sector. Low crop yields are common in many developing countries and improved productivity is vital to reducing rural poverty and increasing food security. Whilst the causes of low productivity are complex, one major contributory factor is crop losses due to plant health problems. Often accurate information on the extent of these losses is missing but estimates of 30–40% loss annually from “field to fork” are common. Any future solution regarding improved global food security must address these losses and that means improving plant health. Two trans-boundary diseases, wheat stem rust race Ug99 and Coffee Wilt Disease of Coffea are highlighted. CABI has a number of plant health initiatives and one radical approach (Global Plant Clinic) involves partnership with in-country services to deliver plant health advice to farmers at the point of demand. Such innovations are entirely consistent with a proposed new “Green Revolution” which would need to be “knowledge intensive”.

Zero child hunger: breaking the cycle of malnutrition.

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 05:52 GMT

Document Type: Briefing
Creator: Daniel, L.; Chapoy, C. (Editors)

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Daniel, L.; Chapoy, C. (Editors). Zero child hunger: breaking the cycle of malnutrition. Evidence Matters (2012) Issue 1, March 2012, 3ie, London, UK, 5 pp.

Summary: This policy brief, produced by 3ie with support from IDS Knowledge Services, is based upon "Masset, E.; Haddad, L.; Cornelius, A.; Isaza-Castro, J. A systematic review of agricultural interventions that aim to improve nutritional status of children. EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK (2011) 65 pp. ISBN 978-1-907345-09-8." It includes a viewpoint from one of the authors of the systematic review, Lawrence Haddad, which goes beyond the evidence in the systematic review to draw out policy recommendations and provide useful directions and advice for programme design and implementation.

insights 82. Innovative approaches to gender and food security.

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:54 GMT

Document Type: Briefing
Creator: Susanne Turrall (Editor)

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Susanne Turrall (Editor). insights 82. Innovative approaches to gender and food security. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK (2012) 8 pp.

Summary:

This issue of insights is the result of a collaborative process involving experts working in policy, research and practice on gender and food security in four global regions. At the centre of the process was a dynamic online discussion, which raised many issues and questions around the gender power dynamics of food production, consumption and governance. Particularly interesting, was the extent to which participants identified transformative development pathways that promote food security and poverty reduction while also enabling shifts in gender power relations. Focusing on six projects in South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, the articles in this issue illustrate some of these pathways:

Transforming gender relations in homestead food production in Bangladesh (Emily Hillenbrand)
Challenging cultural values that affect food security in India (Suniti Neogy)
Equal access for women to seeds and food security in Syria (Alessandra Galié)
Engaging the whole family in food security planning in Zambia (Cathy Rozel Farnworth)
Women's groups versus households. Approaches to achieve food security and gender equality (Agnes Quisumbing and Neha Kumar)
Food sovereignty and women’s rights in Latin America (Pamela Caro)

Regional Scenarios for Food Security, Environments and Livelihoods in West Africa. Workshop Report, Dakar, Senegal. 2-4 November 2011.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:22 GMT

Document Type: Meeting Report
Creator: CCAFS

Production Year: 2011

Citation: CCAFS. Regional Scenarios for Food Security, Environments and Livelihoods in West Africa. Workshop Report, Dakar, Senegal, 2-4 November 2011. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Copenhagen, Denmark (2011) 62 pp.

Summary: A CCAFS workshop in Dakar in November 2011 focused on developing plausible alternate narratives of the future of West Africa in terms of socio-economic and political change and the effects of these futures on food security, environments and livelihoods. This report provides a first overview of the content generated within the workshop, encompassed by presentations, discussions in plenary and in breakout groups per day.

Training Guide: Gender and climate change research in agriculture and food security for rural development

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:25 GMT

Document Type: Report
Creator: Nelson, S.; Chaudhury, M.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Nelson, S.; Chaudhury, M. Training Guide: Gender and climate change research in agriculture and food security for rural development. FAO, Rome, Italy (2011) 136 pp.

Summary: FAO and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) have jointly developed the Training Guide for Gender and Climate Change Research in Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development. The Guide provides users with resources and participatory action research tools for collecting, analysing and sharing gender-sensitive information about agricultural communities, households and individuals who are facing climate changes.

The Training Guide is divided into three parts. Each part contains different modules. Part I provides an overview of the importance of understanding climate change and food security issues in a gender-sensitive manner, and offers a range of possible participatory research tools. Part I includes the introduction and modules 1-3.

Part II addresses three particular research topics that are priorities of the CCAFS program: climate analogues, weather information and climate-smart agriculture. It also provides important information on how to rigorously implement research tools, use a sampling strategy and think about analysis and reporting on the findings from the beginning of study planning. Part II includes modules 4-7.

Part III contains the Annexes: Glossary, Additional Resources, Bibiliography.

Biofortification for combating ‘hidden hunger’ for iron

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:42 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Murgia, I.; Arosio, P.; Tarantino, D.; Soave, C.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Murgia, I.; Arosio, P.; Tarantino, D.; Soave, C. Biofortification for combating ‘hidden hunger’ for iron. Trends in Plant Science (2012) 17 (1) 47-55. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2011.10.003]

Summary: Micronutrient deficiencies are responsible for so-called ‘hidden undernutrition’. In particular, iron (Fe) deficiency adversely affects growth, immune function and can cause anaemia. However, supplementation of iron can exacerbate infectious diseases and current policies of iron therapy carefully evaluate the risks and benefits of these interventions. Here we review the approaches of biofortification of valuable crops for reducing ‘hidden undernutrition’ of iron in the light of the latest nutritional and medical advances. The increase of iron and prebiotics in edible parts of plants is expected to improve health, whereas the reduction of phytic acid concentration, in crops valuable for human diet, might be less beneficial for the developed countries, or for the developing countries exposed to endemic infections.

Case Study: Empowering skills training in Brazil

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:51 GMT

Document Type: Case Study

Production Year: 2011

Summary: For generations of workers in the sugar cane plantations of north-eastern Brazil, the long months between harvests have been a time of hunger. Sugar cane cutting is hard labour. Women workers rise in the early hours to prepare food for their families and leave for work before dawn, working long hours in the scorching sun. Alternatives are limited. An innovative training programme is using the time between the harvests to change women’s prospects, with transformational effects.