Food Security最新文献

Food waste is a complex issue closely linked to sustainability. In Indonesia, with a population of over 200 millions, has more potential for food waste generation, particularly from non-household sectors such as food businesses and hotels. Recently, grassroots initiatives (GI), including food banks, have emerged to address this issue by redistributing surplus food to underprivileged families. However, research on the role of GI in reducing food waste remains limited, especially in Indonesia, where food banks began developing only in 2015. This study aims to explore how GI in Indonesia address the food waste problem, focusing specifically on surplus food redistribution practices by two food banks: Food Bank Bandung (FBB) and Garda Pangan. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 stakeholders, participant observation, and document analysis. The findings highlight three key insights. First, surplus food redistribution is shaped by each food bank’s organizational orientation, which can evolve between social to environmental missions and from non-profit to social enterprise models. Second, food sources come from both distribution and consumption chains, and operations rely heavily on the type of food received, community support, and financial resources, with volunteers playing a crucial role. Third, food banks serve as key intermediaries that connect diverse stakeholders in reducing food waste while supporting vulnerable communities. This study contributes to the literature by positioning food banks as GI with the potential to influence food waste governance in a developing country context, offering insights for policy and practice in sustainable food systems.

The disruptions in food systems caused by extreme events have repeatedly challenged food security at multiple levels. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the vulnerabilities of existing global food systems and has resulted in food stress for an additional 145 million people. This paper addresses the critical need for enacting and strengthening policies targeted at securing food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger by 2030. We propose a novel systematic approach through the Bayesian network modeling framework to enhance national food security and build resilient food systems by effectively prioritizing areas where interventions are most critical and will have the greatest positive impact on investment. Our analysis utilizes annual data from the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) for Thailand from 2012 to 2020, which includes 59 indicators across four dimensions of food security. The GFSI data is sourced from international organizations including the FAO, WHO, World Bank, and others. Our results, supported by literature, showcase the Bayesian approach as an efficient and convenient decision-support tool that provides concrete and actionable recommendations for policymakers with clearly defined constraints and uncertainties. Further research could explore applying this approach to specific regional contexts, incorporating additional data sources to refine the prioritization of interventions.

The 2-hectare threshold remains a dominant metric for defining what a smallholder farmer is in agricultural research and policy. Yet, such simplicity conceals the diversity and complexity of smallholder livelihoods worldwide. This article argues that relying solely on land size represents a misrepresentation of vulnerability, misguides food security interventions, and undermines the precision of SDG monitoring. A multidimensional classification framework that integrates economic, social, environmental, and individual-personal dimensions is proposed to more accurately capture smallholder realities. Such an approach can enhance the targeting and effectiveness of agricultural support programs while remaining adaptable across diverse contexts. Balancing conceptual rigour with operational feasibility is key to designing responsive and inclusive food security strategies in times of accelerating global change. This article contributes to ongoing debates on food security policy and offers directions for future interdisciplinary research.

Although switching to cleaner fuels can reduce home air pollution and hence improve health, nutritional advantages should not be disregarded. This study leverages data from the China Family Panel Studies conducted in 2010 and 2014, employing a fixed-effects model to estimate the impact of clean fuel adoption on residents’ dietary diversity and associated health improvements. By utilizing community-wide clean fuel usage as an instrumental variable, the analysis reveals that adopting clean fuels increases residents’ dietary diversity score by 0.2414 units compared to solid fuel use. The study highlights the multifaceted heterogeneity of these effects across various dimensions, including educational attainment, household income levels, age, proximity to commercial centers, family size, and urban–rural distinctions. Additionally, the research demonstrates that clean fuel utilization enhances women’s employment opportunities and income levels, thereby reinforcing their critical role in family nutrition decisions. Further analysis indicates that this dietary transition significantly boosts cognitive abilities, reduces underweight incidence, and improves self-assessed health, accounting for approximately 100%, 98.4%, and 5.99% of the overall impacts of transitioning to clean fuels, respectively. These findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the health advantages associated with adopting clean fuels and provide targeted policy recommendations.

One of the most promising pathways to enhance food security for smallholder farmers is the use of improved crop varieties to increase productivity and minimize climate risks. However, assessing the performance of improved crop varieties under climate change is difficult because of limited long-term empirical data from on-station- and farmer field trials and because future climate could be different from what has been experienced. In this study, the climate change adaptation potential of hybrid maize as an improved variety using the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) model applied on grid-scale across Uganda was analysed. The DSSAT model was calibrated with observed weather data and analysed the impact of climate change on maize yield under low (SSP1-RCP2.6) and high (SSP3-RCP7.0) emission scenarios. At the national level, it is projected that a yield reduction of 9.6% (low emission scenario) and 11.8% (high emission scenario) by 2030 will occur under climate change. A yield reduction of 11.2% (low emission scenario) and 19.6% (high emission scenario) is projected by 2050, and 13.3% (low emission scenario) and 29.4% (high emission scenario) by 2090. Comparing the effect of climate change between both varieties shows that it is always better to use the hybrid variety, especially under high emission climatic conditions (8.2% and 24.6% yield buffering by 2090 under low emission and high emission scenarios, respectively) at national level. This positive yield effect is realized across all grids, but substantially varies between sites. However, in order to increase adoption of hybrid maize varieties by smallholder farmers in Uganda, adoption barriers, like access to input markets and financial services, have to be overcome. We identify some of these barriers and discuss opportunities to attenuate them and implications on the modelling results. It is concluded that hybrid maize varieties can potentially be a suitable adaptation measure against climate change-related declines in maize production in Uganda.

While the inclusiveness and economic effects of certification for farmers in global food value chains have been extensively studied, similar evidence for local food value chains is scant. Yet, certification schemes are mushrooming in local food value chains that supply cities in low- to middle-income countries. These local food value chains embedded in urban food systems are increasingly recognised as key to ensuring food security and improving farmers’ welfare. We investigate the inclusiveness and effects of two local certification schemes for vegetable farmers supplying to Hanoi in Vietnam: VietGAP, a simplified version of GlobalGAP certified by a private third-party body, and a participatory guarantee system (PGS), also based on good agricultural practices but controlled internally by farmers and other local stakeholders. We use farm-household data from a two-round panel survey conducted in 2018 and 2022 among 301 vegetable farmers in peri-urban districts of Hanoi. We estimate a multinomial probit model to determine drivers of certification and correlated random effects models to evaluate effects on farmers’ welfare. We do not find that PGS is more inclusive than VietGAP, as all PGS-certified farmers are also VietGAP-certified, and PGS is not perceived to be more feasible or rewarding than VietGAP. Moreover, women are more likely to be excluded from both certification schemes. This points to important equity effects, which need to be considered when designing certification schemes in local food value chains. We do not find that certification, either through VietGAP or PGS, has improved farmers’ welfare so far.

Utilizing the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the error correction model, we examine the effects of weather anomalies on wheat prices in six wheat-producing regions in Russia. Our analysis reveals that weather-induced price effects are most pronounced in regions most distant from the world market, particularly those primarily producing spring wheat for domestic consumption. These findings are corroborated by a model that incorporates precipitation data and partially supported by a model that uses maximum temperature as an alternative measure for weather extremes. The absence of significant weather impacts on wheat prices in the exporting North Caucasus region likely reflects the region’s advanced production systems and modern management practices. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the profitability of wheat production for Russian farmers has declined substantially, leading to reduced use of agricultural inputs. If this trend of low input application continues, weather fluctuations could have a more pronounced impact on wheat prices.

Africa’s rising refugee numbers lead to integration increasingly being replaced by repatriation. Investigating the long-term effects of refugees on host areas is crucial for sustainable integration, as the population increase puts pressure on limited natural resources. While existing literature addresses the environmental impacts of refugees, behavioral models rarely focus on this issue. This study uses an Agent-Based Model to simulate interactions between refugees, hosts, and forest resources. The objective is to (1) quantify the impact of refugee settlements and host communities on forest resources, (2) assess the effects of varying refugee settlement sizes on sustainable forest utilization and food security, and (3) evaluate how labor cooperation influences deforestation. The model applies a 2018 dataset from a refugee hosting community in rural Zambia, including 277 households, and comprehensive supplemental secondary data. Results show that forest reduction is driven by the need for firewood and land for refugee settlements, significantly reducing the forest area. Revealed deforestation threatens sustainable forest ecosystems and impacts food security by diminishing access to wild fruits and edible insects, crucial to local diets. Cooperation between refugees and host communities in slash-and-burn farming temporarily boost food production, but accelerates forest reduction. This leads to long-term resource depletion and competition. Highlighted dynamics show that, if unmanaged, refugee influxes can exacerbate food insecurity in rural refugee settings. Agroforestry and policy interventions focusing on sustainable land use, property rights, and alternative energy sources are essential to balance refugee needs with forest preservation and food security in host communities.

The small-farm sector is home to many of the world’s food-insecure and undernourished people. Strategies to make smallholder farming more nutrition-sensitive often focus on agricultural diversification. In addition, women’s empowerment is widely considered useful to improve diets and nutrition. Many studies have analyzed the effects of farm production diversification and of women’s empowerment on dietary outcomes, but mostly in separate strands of literature. Here, we connect these strands to contribute to a better understanding of the multifaceted links between farm production diversity, women’s roles in decision-making, and household diets. Using primary data from Malawi, we show that women’s decision-making is positively associated with farm production diversity and with household dietary diversity. Furthermore, women’s decision-making increases the positive association between farm production diversity and dietary diversity. We also differentiate between different domains of decision-making, including agricultural production, market sales, cash income control, and food purchases. The results suggest that strengthening women’s agency can make smallholder farming more nutrition-sensitive through multiple channels.