Voltaire once said that “no problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking”.

In this book, we put that statement to the test. The problems plaguing food systems are well researched and well known. But how can we support transformation towards sustainable and just food systems?

One thing is clear,  the objective of future food systems can no longer be to simply maximise productivity

We are very pleased to announce that our new book, Sustainable Food Futures: Multidisciplinary Solutions, has just been published. The book includes proposals for solutions to move us toward more sustainable food futures.  The solutions, which are based on concrete cases, are organised around 4 themes:

1. Recognizing place
2. Enhancing participation
3. Challenging markets
4. Designing sustainable food futures

The solutions proposed in this book can be read as an atlas of possibilities.

There are multiple roads we can, and must, travel to bring us towards our…

Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo today in Port Harcourt inaugurated a giant world-class fertilizer plant, built by Indorama ([www.Indorama.com](http://www.indorama.com/)) Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited at the cost of $1.5 billion. The acting President used the opportunity to remind all Nigerians that time has come for them to grow whatever they eat and produce whatever they consume. “What… Read more on https://africa-newsroom.com/press/acting-president-vice-president-osinbajo-inaugurates-15-billion-usd-fertilizer-plant-in-nigeria?lang=en

The inaugural Women Advancing Africa (WAA) Forum is a new Pan-African flagship initiative launched by the Graça Machel Trust to acknowledge and celebrate the central role women play in shaping Africa’s development agenda and by driving social and economic transformation. The Forum will take place from 9-12 August in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania at the Hyatt Kilimanjaro. Mrs. Graça Machel says, “Africa… Read more on https://africa-newsroom.com/press/women-advancing-africa-placing-women-at-the-centre-stage-of-africas-economic?lang=en

I am very pleased to share that a new special issue of Sociologia Ruralis edited by Damian Maye and me is now online: Understanding Sustainable Food System Transitions: Practice, Assessment and Governance.

The Special Issue provides theoretical insights and advancements into sustainability transitions through empirically grounded and informed investigations of food system practices. The papers confirm, following Hinrichs (2014, p. 143), that ‘numerous opportunities exist to forge more productive links between work on food systems change and the broad and growing sustainability transitions field’.

The Special Issue brings together 8 articles grouped together around two themes:

1.  Examining relations between AFN practices and transition;
2. Opening up measures and assessment practices for sustainability transitions.

Taken as a whole, the Special Issue advances discussions and thinking on alternative food practices and sustainability, opening up the debate not only on how to identify and analyse ‘alternative food practices’ in Europe, and beyond…

To resist the droughts that decimate rural livelihoods, researchers and farmers in Tanzania are testing different forage grass and legume species to discover which management and grass combinations can boost the quantity and quality of forages in local conditions.

They are testing different methods of planting like intercropping and contour planting, varying height and frequency of cutting, and applying different types and amounts of manure.

Producers, local governments and the private sector share tips and advice on improving livestock and milk production through “Innovation Platform” groups.

Since 2014, data from field trials monitored by TALIRI and CIAT, has been collected on forage biomass, soil nutrients and rainfall. The aim is to advise farmers which forages suit their conditions and can be integrated into their farm system in ways that don’t compromise their own food security.

Read the full story from CIAT

This research is part of the CGIAR Research…

The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish has been operational since January 2012. It seeks to improve the diets of poor people for healthy productive lives, and sustainably increase the productivity of small and medium-scale livestock and fish producers for food secure futures.

The program has implemented several approaches across different sites in nine countries, including in-depth analysis of livestock and fish value chains. Among the approaches is use of tools designed and developed to systematically collect information from different actors at different levels in the value chains. Over the past five years, several tools for value chain assessment have been produced, covering different aspects of assessment including gender issues.

Livestock and Fish value chains are unique and have distinct features. For instance, the products, such as milk and meat, are of higher value and in some cases are bulky and highly perishable. Also, delivery of some inputs and services…

Participants in the synthesis ‘fishbowl’

On 19 September 2016, the CGIAR Livestock and Fish Research Program hosted a side workshop at the 2016 Tropentag conference. It brought together partners from across the Program to examine the approach it uses to accelerate agricultural research for development. Some 60 people participated.

For the past five years, Program partners have worked in a solution-driven approach to agricultural research for development that combines technical upstream interventions in animal health, animal feeding and animal genetics with interventions along value chains in 8 countries. Special attention has been given to inclusive value chain development, by and for the poor, targeting women and people facing environmental and public health issues.

This post reports on some of the discussions that took place. The session began with an introduction to the Program by Tom Randolph. Then, participants formed groups and interrogated scientists from across the Program (see topics and…

Fresh produce on sale in a local market in Malawi (photo credit: IFPRI).

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will hold a two-day online AgExchange on food safety beginning 20 June 2017 at 1000 hours EDT (GMT – 4). The online exchange will provide a forum to discuss key constraints and research priorities in food safety and overarching food safety needs, concerns and gaps in Feed the Future countries.

By taking part in the discussion, you will assist USAID to (1) identify gaps and weaknesses in global research for food safety and (2) evaluate the existing research portfolio to assess the need for research in food safety to ensure successful implementation of the United States Government Global Food Security Strategy.

The discussion will be facilitated by USAID staff. For more information, visit the event web page or email the Agrilinks Team at agrilinks@agrilinks.org.

For years we have been promoting family gardens (kitchen gardens) and school gardens, not to mention hospital gardens, in the debate on alleviation of hunger and poverty.  We have always insisted on the fact that development aid should concentrate on initiatives to boost food security through family gardens instead of food aid on which the recipients remain dependent. Since the nineties we have shown that community gardens in rural villages, family gardens in refugee camps and school gardens, where people and children grow their own produce, are better off than those who received food from aid organizationsat regular intervals.

Locally produced fresh vegetables and fruits play a tremendously important role in the daily diet of all those hungry people in the drylands.  Take for instance the possibility of having a daily portion of vitamins within hand reach.  Imagine the effect of fresh food on malnutrition of…

By Joëlla van de Griend

In-class debate on trade and food security

Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Economics, as part of the Asian Platform for Global Sustainability & Transcultural Studies (AGST), aims to contribute to sustainable development in Asia and throughout the world. Wageningen University’s Rural Sociology Group is a key partner in this platform. As a part of this partnership, Dr. Jessica Duncan has come to Kyoto University to teach a course on Global Food Security Governance.

Taking a sociological approach, the course covers a variety of angles to think about global food security governance. The course is attended by graduate students, PhD candidates and faculty members, which has contributed to rich discussions. Furthermore, amongst the participants there is a large variety of backgrounds and fields of expertise such as law, economics, development studies, business management, political science, and agricultural science with attendants coming from Asia, Europe and Africa.

On Friday, 18 January 2013, Jeroen Dijkman, an internationally recognized authority on agricultural innovation systems and rural development practice and planning, will give a ‘livestock live talk’ seminar on ‘People, the planet, and sustainable livestock’, at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya.

View the event announcement:

He was previously the director of an Enabling Innovation Theme of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the senior officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative, which was credited with influencing global thinking on policy and institutional change.

Currently, Dijkman works for the Livestock Information, Sector Analysis and Policy Branch of the FAO, from where he coordinates the Learning, Innovation and Knowledge (LINK) program, which explores and manages agricultural innovation processes, programs and policies in developing countries (www.innovationstudies.org). He also coordinates the Global Agenda of Action for Sustainable Livestock Sector Development, a…

Have you read the former posting on this blog  ?

SMALLHOLDERS, RURAL PRODUCERS KEY TO SLASHING GLOBAL HUNGER AND POVERTY – BAN (UNNews)

Please pay attention to the following parts of Mr. BAN KI-MOON’s statement :

(1) Smallholders and rural producers have a vital role to play in overcoming global hunger and poverty, and new and varied partnerships are needed, with particular emphasis on the interests of women.

(2) The growing international recognition of the role of agriculture and rural development in poverty reduction is helping to build the Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition.

(3) Despite the hardships of the global recession, last year saw an upturn in investment in agriculture, along with promises from world leaders of large additional increases over the next three years.

(4) We need to continue creating diverse and innovative partnerships that can help people and communities achieve greater productivity, nutritional health…

Read at : UNNews

SMALLHOLDERS, RURAL PRODUCERS KEY TO SLASHING GLOBAL HUNGER AND POVERTY – BAN

New York, Feb 17 2010  1:05PM

Smallholders and rural producers have a vital role to play in overcoming global hunger and poverty, and new and varied partnerships are needed, with particular emphasis on the interests of women, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

“With more than 1 billion people now suffering from hunger, the highest number in human history, there is simply no time to lose,” he told the International Fund for Agricultural Development (<“http://www.ifad.org/events/gc/33/panels/index.htm”>IFAD), a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating poverty in the rural areas of developing countries where 75 per cent of the world’s poorest – or some 1.05 billion people – live.

“The growing international recognition of the role of agriculture and rural development in poverty reduction is helping to build the Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition,”…

INTRODUCING SACKS GARDENING TO COMBAT HUNGER AND POVERTY

Smallholders and rural producers have a vital role to play in overcoming global hunger and poverty, and new and varied partnerships are needed, with particular emphasis on the interests of women, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on February 17^th, 2010.  He also confirmed that the growing international recognition of the role of agriculture and rural development in poverty reduction is helping to build the Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition.

Despite the hardships of the global recession, last year saw an upturn in investment in agriculture, along with promises from world leaders of large additional increases over the next three years, he said, thereby underscoring that “we need to continue creating diverse and innovative partnerships that can help people and communities achieve greater productivity, nutritional health and self-reliance. In this respect we must give pre-eminence to the interests…

Small-scale gardening to combat desertification and alleviate hunger and poverty

For years we have been promoting family gardens (kitchen gardens) and school gardens in the debate on combating desertification, alleviation of hunger and poverty.  We have always insisted on the fact that development aid should concentrate on initiatives to boost food security through small-scale family gardens instead of international food aid on which the most of the recipients remain totally dependent. Since the early nineties it was shown that developing countries with community gardens in rural villages, family gardens and school gardens, where people and children are able to grow their own produce, are better off than those who received food from aid organizations at regular intervals.

Locally produced fresh vegetables and fruits play an important role in the daily diet of all those hungry people in the drylands.  Take for instance the possibility of having a daily portion of…

Read at : FAO Newsroom

http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000484/index.html

1 February 2007, Rome – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has opened a new front in its battle against hunger and malnutrition – in the world’s cities where most of global population growth is set to take place over the next decades. “Urban agriculture” may seem a contradiction, but that is what FAO is supporting as one element in urban food supply systems in response to the surging size of the cities of the developing world – and to their fast-advancing slums – according to Alison Hodder, senior horticulturist with the Crop and Grassland Service. This year will be the first time in history that the world’s urban population – more than three billion people – exceeds the number of those living in rural areas. Currently, one third of city dwellers, one billion people, live in…

Read at : Google Alert – vertical gardening

http://ca.ibtimes.com/articles/188834/20110728/farming-the-cities-feeding-an-urban-future.htm

Farming the cities, feeding an urban future

As people move from rural to urban settings in search of economic opportunities, urban agriculture is becoming an important provider of both food and employment, according to researchers with the Worldwatch Institute. “Urban agriculture is providing food, jobs, and hope in Nairobi, Kampala, Dakar, and other cities across sub-Saharan Africa,” said Danielle Nierenberg, co-director of the Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project. “In some cases, urban farmers are providing important inputs, such as seed, to rural farmers, dispelling the myth that urban agriculture helps feed the poor and hungry only in cities.”

The United Nations projects that up to 65 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, up from around 50 percent today. The rate of urban migration is particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where inadequate urban…

The next Brussels Development Briefing no. 49 on “Youth in agribusiness: shaping the future of agriculture” will take place on 18th of May 2017 from 09:00 to 13:00, at the ACP Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium. This Briefing will be co-organised by CTA, the ACP Secretariat, European Commission (DG DEVCO), Concord, PAFO and AgriCord. Click here to register for this Briefing.

**Webstream: Click here to watch the event live (available soon)**
**View the coverage on Twitter: @BruBriefings **

Almost 88% of the world’s 1.2 billion youth live in developing countries. Globally, young people account for approximately 24% of the working poor and this dynamic is particularly pronounced in Africa, where over 70% of youth subsist on US$2 per day or less. Although the world’s youth population is expected to grow, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for young women and men remain limited – particularly for those living in economically stagnant…

A cow in Kenya. An on-going study in Nairobi, Kenya is investigating how zoonotic pathogens are introduced to urban populations through livestock commodity value-chains (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu).

A study by 12 Kenyan and UK institutions, including the University of Liverpool, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the University of Nairobi, is investigating the role of urbanization in the origin and spread of zoonotic pathogens (those that spread between humans and animals) in Nairobi, Kenya.

According to an article published online and in print in the New Scientist in August 2014, the Nairobi study is investigating the effects of ‘close interactions between people and animals’ in urban settings on the spread of pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella, which can infect both humans and animals.

The ‘Epidemiology, ecology and social-economics of disease emergence in Nairobi’ project is expected to reveal how pathogens are introduced into urban populations…

A girl shares the entrance to her house with a family of chickens in Oyo State, Nigeria (photo credit: ILRI/Mann).

Researchers at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) argue in an opinion piece published yesterday on the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog (11 February 2011) that the best way to reduce the threat of infectious diseases sweeping the world is to watch for their rise in animal populations. A remarkable 61% of all human pathogens, and 75% of new human pathogens, such as those causing bird flu and HIV/AIDS, are ‘zoonotic,’ that is, transmissible between people and animals.

‘Some of the most lethal bugs affecting humans originate in our domesticated animals,’ says Delia Grace, a veterinary and food safety scientist at ILRI. But, she warns, ‘there’s a dangerous disconnect between the agricultural and health sectors of most countries, with the former focused on increasing the production and profitability of crop…

Customers at a milk bar in Ndumbuini in Kabete, Nairobi  (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu).

Mark Tran in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog warns us this week not to keep chickens under our beds. On the other hand, he infers, chicken bought on the street in poor countries may be safer to eat than that from the supermarket. Tran is reporting on a new in-depth study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) of livestock keeping in urban areas of Nigeria and Kenya. That study found that while living among animals in crowded urban environments does have risks for human health, ‘banning urban livestock or getting rid of markets can often do more harm than good’.

‘As more people leave the countryside for the city in the developing world, many continue to rely on agriculture for a living’, Tran reports.’ At least 800 million people in cities in poor countries…

2^nd PENAPH Conference, January 10-12, 2018, Thailand

Participatory Approaches in Animal Health, Public Health, One Health and Ecohealth

Call for Pre and Post Conference Courses, Proposals Due June 15, 2017

The mission of The Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and Public Health (PENAPH) is to promote inclusive approaches to health that promote instutional change and empower participants at all levels. Training on appropriate techniques is one of the most powerful ways to make progress towards this goal. PENAPH would like to invite course proposals for the periods before and after the conference (January 10-12):

• Pre- conference for up to two days ( January 8-9)
• Post-conference for up to two weeks (January 15-26)

Topics of interest include but are not limited too:

• Participatory Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• One Health – EcoHealth
• Surveillance
• Community Health and Animal Health

Course proposals should include:

• Course title
• Course facilitators (names and affliations)
• Course learning objectives
• Course…

Members of the EC of ISOCARD, Dr. Raziq (right), Dr. Juboori (middle) and Rifat Jaseem (left)

Though the concept is changing, generally camel is considered as the animal of backward and bush. The common person’s mind quickly jumps to the desert, pastoral people, and harsh terrains as soon hear the name of the camel. In some quarters, the mindset is changing, especially among the scientists and development worker. Unfortunately, the policy makers still neglecting this untapped precious resource as they prefer fast growing animals to place in developmental policy because of many reasons; all are baseless and void of scientific arguments.

Recently, a successful conference was organized under the patronage of International Society of Camelid Research and Development. The title of the conference was “4th Conference of ISOCARD “Silk road camel: the camelids, main stakes for sustainable development”

http://conference.kaznu.kz/en/conferencies/40/4th%20Conference%20of%20ISOCARD

The conference was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan (8-12 June 2015). Around…

Source: International Camel Society Showed Serous Concerns on Important Camel Decline

Source: Superfood (Camel Milk) can Beat the Challenge of Superbug (Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics)

Source: Superfood (Camel Milk) can Beat the Challenge of Superbug (Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics)

New York, Feb 15 2012  2:05PM
Delegates at a meeting convened by the United Nations to draw up strategies to respond the humanitarian crisis in West Africa’s drought-prone Sahel region today called for comprehensive and rapid assistance to the millions of people affected, especially children and women.

Leaders of UN agencies, representatives from governments in the affected countries and major donors, meeting at the headquarters of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome, <“http://www.beta.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2012/02/15/joint-statement-uurgent-call-for-united-action-in-the-sahel-region-of-west-africa.html”>stressed the need for a combination of relief, early recovery and longer-term development programmes.

They resolved to work together to meet immediate food security and nutritional needs of affected people, while supporting programmes that address the root causes of problems and to strengthen the resilience of communities living in areas affected by chronic drought.

Actions will include support for short-term food security and nutrition response plans developed by national governments and regional organizations to increase access…

New York, Jun 27 2012  6:05PM
In the wake of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s High Level Task Force on Global Food Security will be reoriented to focus on a new initiative as part of its efforts to ensure a coherent UN system approach to the issue of food and nutrition security.

At Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week, Mr. Ban launched an initiative known as the ‘Zero Hunger Challenge,’ which invites all countries to work for a future where every individual has adequate nutrition and where all food systems are resilient.

The Task Force will be reoriented to focus on the Challenge’s five objectives as a guide for a coherent UN system approach to food and nutrition security.

I am very happy to have contributed to a chapter in this exciting new book:

Feeding Paradise? Corporeal Food Citizenship in the Galapagos
Christine Franke, Jessica Duncan, and Stephen Sherwood

Don’t forget to ask your libraries to order it! 

Locally made beef stew sold in Bagnon market at Yopougon, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Informal food trade is less amenable to regulation and may be an important cause of foodborne disease (photo credit: ILRI/Valentin Bognan Koné).

The World Health Organization last month (August 2015) published a book on trade and health that provides useful background information for health policymakers to formulate a national response to trade and health-related issues, especially within the context of liberalization of global trade.

Trade liberalization influences the entire food supply chain. Changes along the food supply chain in turn influence the environment in which consumers make choices about the food they eat. These choices affect the diets of consumers and, therefore, the prevalence of foodborne diseases, undernutrition, and obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases.

There are also indirect effects of trade liberalization on human nutrition and health. These include the effects on household incomes and the inadvertent…