Designing inter-regional engagement to inform cohesive policy making

Agriculture production is directly dependent on climate change and weather. Possible changes in temperature, precipitation and CO2 concentration are expected to significantly impact crop growth and ultimately we lose our crop productivity and indirectly affect the sustainable food availability issue. The overall impact of climate change on worldwide food production is considered to be low to moderate with successful adaptation and adequate irrigation. Climate change has a serious impact on the availability of various resources on the earth especially water, which sustains life on this planet. The global food security situation and outlook remains delicately imbalanced amid surplus food production and the prevalence of hunger, due to the complex interplay of social, economic, and ecological factors that mediate food security outcomes at various human and institutional scales. Weather aberration poses complex challenges in terms of increased variability and risk for food producers and the energy and water sectors. Changes in the biosphere, biodiversity and natural resources are adversely affecting human health and quality of life. Throughout the 21st century, India is projected to experience warming above global level. India will also begin to experience more seasonal variation in temperature with more warming in the winters than summers. Longevity of heat waves across India has extended in recent years with warmer night temperatures and hotter days, and this trend is expected to continue. Strategic research priorities are outlined for a range of sectors that underpin global food security, including: agriculture, ecosystem services from agriculture, climate change, international trade, water management solutions, the water-energy-food security nexus, service delivery to smallholders and women farmers, and better governance models and regional priority setting. There is a need to look beyond agriculture and invest in affordable and suitable farm technologies if the problem of food insecurity is to be addressed in a sustainable manner. Introduction Globally, agriculture is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. This vulnerability is relatively higher in India in view of the large population depending on agriculture and poor coping capabilities of small and marginal farmers. Impacts of climate change pose a serious threat to food security. “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (World Food Summit, 1996). This definition gives rise to four dimensions of food security: availability of food, accessibility (economically and physically), utilization (the way it is used and assimilated by the human body) and stability of these three dimensions. According to the United Nations, in 2015, there are still 836 million people in the world living in extreme poverty (less than USD1.25/day) (UN, 2015). And according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at least 70 percent of the very poor live in rural areas, most of them depending partly (or completely) on agriculture for their livelihoods. It is estimated that 500 million smallholder farms in the developing world are supporting almost 2 billion people, and in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa these small farms produce about 80 percent of the food consumed. Climate change threatens to reverse the progress made so far in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. As highlighted by the assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC), climate change augments and intensifies risks to food security for the most vulnerable countries and populations. Few of the major risks induced by climate change, as identified by IPCC have direct consequences for food security (IPCC, 2007). These are mainly to loss of rural livelihoods and income, loss of marine and coastal ecosystems, livelihoods loss of terrestrial and inland water ecosystems and food insecurity (breakdown of food systems). Rural farmers, whose livelihood depends on the use of natural resources, are likely to bear the brunt of adverse impacts. Most of the crop simulation model runs and experiments under elevated temperature and carbon dioxide indicate that by 2030, a 3-7% decline in the yield of principal cereal crops like rice and wheat is likely in India by adoption of current production technologies. Global warming impacts growth, reproduction and yields of food and horticulture crops, increases crop water requirement, causes more soil erosion, increases thermal stress on animals leading to decreased milk yields and change the distribution and breeding season of fisheries. Fast changing climatic conditions, shrinking land, water and other natural resources with rapid growing population around the globe has put many challenges before us (Mukherjee, 2014). Food is going to be second most challenging issue for mankind in time to come. India will also begin to experience more seasonal variation in temperature with more warming in the winters than summers (Christensen et al., 2007). Climate change is posing a great threat to agriculture and food security in India and it's subcontinent. Water is the most critical agricultural input in India, as 55% of the total cultivated areas do not have irrigation facilities. Currently we are able to secure food supplies under these varying conditions. Under the threat of climate variability, our food grain production system becomes quite comfortable and easily accessible for local people. India's food grain production is estimated to rise 2 per cent in 2020-21 crop years to an all-time high of 303.34 million tonnes on better output of rice, wheat, pulse and coarse cereals amid good monsoon rains last year. In the 2019-20 crop year, the country's food grain output (comprising wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals) stood at a record 297.5 million tonnes (MT). Releasing the second advance estimates for 2020-21 crop year, the agriculture ministry said foodgrain production is projected at a record 303.34 MT. As per the data, rice production is pegged at record 120.32 MT as against 118.87 MT in the previous year. Wheat production is estimated to rise to a record 109.24 MT in 2020-21 from 107.86 MT in the previous year, while output of coarse cereals is likely to increase to 49.36 MT from 47.75 MT. Pulses output is seen at 24.42 MT, up from 23.03 MT in 2019-20 crop year. In the non-foodgrain category, the production of oilseeds is estimated at 37.31 MT in 2020-21 as against 33.22 MT in the previous year. Sugarcane production is pegged at 397.66 MT from 370.50 MT in the previous year, while cotton output is expected to be higher at 36.54 million bales (170 kg each) from 36.07. This production figure seem to be sufficient for current population, but we need to improve more and more with vertical farming and advance agronomic and crop improvement tools for future burgeoning population figure under the milieu of climate change issue. Our rural mass and tribal people have very limited resources and they sometime complete depend on forest microhabitat. To order to ensure food and nutritional security for growing population, a new strategy needs to be initiated for growing of crops in changing climatic condition. The country has a large pool of underutilized or underexploited fruit or cereals crops which have enormous potential for contributing to food security, nutrition, health, ecosystem sustainability under the changing climatic conditions, since they require little input, as they have inherent capabilities to withstand biotic and abiotic stress. Apart from the impacts on agronomic conditions of crop productions, climate change also affects the economy, food systems and wellbeing of the consumers (Abbade, 2017). Crop nutritional quality become very challenging, as we noticed that, zinc and iron deficiency is a serious global health problem in humans depending on cereal-diet and is largely prevalent in low-income countries like Sub-Saharan Africa, and South and South-east Asia. We report inefficiency of modern-bred cultivars of rice and wheat to sequester those essential nutrients in grains as the reason for such deficiency and prevalence (Debnath et al., 2021). Keeping in mind the crop yield and nutritional quality become very daunting task to our food security issue and this can overcome with the proper and time bound research in cognizance with the environment. Threat and challenges In recent years, climate change has become a debatable issue worldwide. South Asia will be one of the most adversely affected regions in terms of impacts of climate change on agricultural yield, economic activity and trading policies. Addressing climate change is central for global future food security and poverty alleviation. The approach would need to implement strategies linked with developmental plans to enhance its adaptive capacity in terms of climate resilience and mitigation. Over time, there has been a visible shift in the global climate change initiative towards adaptation. Adaptation can complement mitigation as a cost-effective strategy to reduce climate change risks. The impact of climate change is projected to have different effects across societies and countries. Mitigation and adaptation actions can, if appropriately designed, advance sustainable development and equity both within and across countries and between generations. One approach to balancing the attention on adaptation and mitigation strategies is to compare the costs and benefits of both the strategies. The most imminent change is the increase in the atmospheric temperatures due to increase levels of GHGs (Green House Gases) i.e. carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) etc into the atmosphere. The global mean annual temperatures at the end of the 20th

Food security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. Food security is built on four pillars: availability, access, utilization and stability. Food and nutrition security embraces meeting energy, protein and nutrient needs for healthy life. Food systems overlap with agricultural systems in the area of food production, but also comprise the diverse set of institutions, technologies and practices that govern the way food is marketed, processed, transported, accessed and consumed. The food system activities are grouped into four categories: producing food, processing and packaging food, distributing and retailing food, and consuming food. The review paper aims at highlighting the connections and linkages between food sustainability and food security. There are very strong linkages between food and nutrition security, responsible environmental stewardship and greater fairness in food management. They intersect in agricultural and food systems at the global, national and local levels. Today, the main concern for the food and agricultural sector is to provide simultaneously enough food, in quantity and quality, to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population and to conserve natural resources for future generations. A sustainable food system supports food security, makes optimal use of natural and human resources, is culturally acceptable and accessible, environmentally sound and economically fair and viable, and provides the consumer with nutritionally adequate, safe, healthy and affordable food for present and future generations. Changes in both food consumption and food production are important to ensure more sustainable food systems and to achieve food and nutrition security in the Mediterranean region. Since diets sustainability is of paramount importance for achieving food and nutrition security, there is an urgent need to design and implement appropriate policies to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the current food consumption patterns.

This article provides both a theoretical and empirical evidence on the role of urban agriculture (UA) to food and nutrition security as well as poverty reduction in urban areas, which have persisted as policy challenges in Africa. While countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa have taken agricultural interventions at the centre of addressing food and nutrition security in rural areas, UA does not feature well in urban food and poverty reduction policies in Tanzania. This creates policy gaps between the global, regional and national policies towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goal-2 of Zero hunger by 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063 on food and nutrition. This study derives from the nexus of theories of urban sprawls and urban food systems which consider urbanisation and the associated demographic changes posing unprecedented challenges in terms of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. Based on a cross-sectional research design, the study employed a mixed-methods approach, collecting data through questionnaires, interviews, and a systematic review of the literature. A sample of 600 respondents was selected using purposive sampling from a target population of 6,000, consisting of adult male and female farmers, agri-food supply chain producers, food processors, input suppliers, distributors, and traders in urban and peri-urban areas of Tanzania. The study examined and confirmed the contribution of urban agriculture on food availability, accessibility, stability and utilization in urban households. A systematic literature review shows a multitude of benefits of urban agriculture on food availability, accessibility, nutrient utilization and stability. The examined literature shows potential of UA to overcome youth unemployment as they engage into urban agricultural activities and therefore contribute to income and poverty reduction. Findings provides an understanding of inadequate policy enabling environment for UA as n frameworks for increasing food security. However, UA is being practiced without legitimate policy and legal frameworks. The study recommends for institutionalization of UA as a pathway for attaining food and nutrition security and poverty reduction and therefore, calls for policy agenda setting to create space for UA in city policies and planning.

Food (in)security in relation to nutrition (in)security in a national cross-sectional sample of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants: considerations of an emerging construct

Research by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) on global food and nutrition security focuses on the question how to achieve transitions to a food system that will be adequately equipped to nourish the growing world population. One of the challenges of this transition is to evolve to a food system that will be sustainable (resource-efficient and with minimal impact on climate change and global warming), yielding affordable, trustworthy (safe), high-quality food products. This particular report is part of a study on the redesign of food value chains from linear value chains into circular adaptive value chain networks for nutrition and food security (Redesign or Adaptive Value Chain Networks for food and nutrition security (AdVaNs)). In view of the global trends of world population growth, urbanization, the efficient use of natural resources, mitigation of the impact of food production on climate change and global warming, this research addresses global food and nutrition security by developing a forecast model for the content and composition of local food baskets. Enablers of changes in these future food baskets are the growing economic welfare, advancing information technologies and sustainability issues that affect regional and global value chains. Knowledge about these trends in this future demand on food is searched for by policy makers and governments that are in need of accurate and reliable quantitative information for strategic decision-making. By developing forecasting models that are dedicated to human nutritional needs and consumption patterns, historic quantitative data can be transferred into future trends and predictions regarding food demand in specific regions. A methodology, using autonomous time based linear regression, was developed by the authors to predict a future food basket in terms of energy, composition and products for the near future in 2030 based on available historical data. The methodology was used for 4 regions in Mexico (Mexico City, North-, South- and Central Mexico). Also the amount of micro-nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, in the food was estimated. The forecasted results were also categorised by two demographic characteristics: income class (low income vs. high income) and the residential environment (urban vs. rural environment). The forecasting is based on FAO data in combination with national data for the prediction of the specific regional food baskets in Mexico. The results show that the urban region obtains more energy and vegetables, fruit and meat, having also the more wealthy class of the population. Also in Mexico most proteins and carbohydrates are consumed as part of staple foods. In this research validation of the methodology was carried out by using data from the past to predict the situation in 2011 of the composition of the food basket. This comparison of the present data with the forecasted data shows that this linear regression method can be used to forecast the food basket in 2030 for a majority of product groups, but to a smaller extent for milk and pulses in particular.

All government policies and programmes for food and nutrition security should include providing healthy food, as well as providing economic and social availability for all people. This study aimed to analyse the current situation of Iranian food and nutrition security and establish a road map towards 2021. The applied methods were situation analysis and a mixed qualitative-quantitative method. The conceptual method used for developing this national document encompassed three areas: sustainable food supply, food safety and nutrition. The outcomes of the Iranian food and nutrition security system in the past three decades include development of management infrastructure and improvement in food and nutrition security status. However, analysis of current programmes showed that there were some overlapping, intertwining and parallel works in the responsibilities of related organizations in the field of supervision of food safety (from production to supply). The national document produced as the outcome of this paper was communicated by the Iranian Ministry of Health in 2012 and has been running for 2 years. Selected ministries are responsible for implementation of 20 national programmes by the end of the 5th Economic, Social and Cultural Development Programme (2016-2011). The consensus of stakeholders by the end of the 6th Development Programme (2021) is to put all of the provinces in a safe or very safe situation in terms of food and nutrition security. The most important challenge in establishing national documents is to make them operational. This aim was achieved by an intersectoral nutrition and food security working group, which produced a general memorandum of understanding with the main organizations, the media, universities and private sector.

Recently, there has been growing interest in agroforestry systems due to their great potential to mitigate threats to household food and nutrition security from soaring food prices but also as carbon sinks. In Sri Lanka, smallholder farms such as homegardens constitute a majority of Sri Lanka’s total annual crop and timber production. Despite Sri Lankan homegardens being considered desirable and sustainable land-use systems, their role in food and nutrition security is not yet entirely understood. By synthesising scientific articles and grey literature we sought the link between food security and homegardens by quantifying their products or services and ascertaining whether food security characteristics are assessed as direct or indirect impacts. The results show that 27% of 92 identified articles directly quantified aspects that are relevant to food security. Another 51% of the articles quantified indirect aspects that have relevance for food security, including climate, soil, ecosystem services, structural and floristic diversity and economic aspects. Twenty-two percent of the articles were categorised as being qualitative or conceptual and contained no direct assessments or quantification of food security. The presence of significant merits from homegardens includes providing food security throughout the year at low-cost while sustaining numerous ecosystem services. This benefits particularly the poor farmers. However, many studies are descriptive and only provide location-specific information on single research focuses such as plant species, yield and management. There are few comparisons with crop land, forests or other production systems, and there is even less empirical evidence and quantification of the food security and other benefits. Seven areas where more scientific focus would be beneficial are identified. Homegardens are strong in national policies and to reach a greater level of efficiency within these activities our findings suggest more emphasis on a higher degree of inclusiveness of relevant stakeholders and long-term engagements with context specific guidance.

In a globalized economy, the use of natural resources is determined by the demand of modern production and consumption systems, and by infrastructure development. Sustainable natural resource use will require good governance and management based on sound scientific information, data and indicators. There is a rich literature on natural resource management, yet the national and global scale and macro-economic policy making has been underrepresented. We provide an overview of the scholarly literature on multi-scale governance of natural resources, focusing on the information required by relevant actors from local to global scale. Global natural resource use is largely determined by national, regional, and local policies. We observe that in recent decades, the development of public policies of natural resource use has been fostered by an “inspiration cycle” between the research, policy and statistics community, fostering social learning. Effective natural resource policies require adequate monitoring tools, in particular indicators for the use of materials, energy, land, and water as well as waste and GHG emissions of national economies. We summarize the state-of-the-art of the application of accounting methods and data sources for national material flow accounts and indicators, including territorial and product-life-cycle based approaches. We show how accounts on natural resource use can inform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and argue that information on natural resource use, and in particular footprint indicators, will be indispensable for a consistent implementation of the SDGs. We recognize that improving the knowledge base for global natural resource use will require further institutional development including at national and international levels, for which we outline options.

Both Sides Now

Determinants and livelihood impacts of natural resource management strategies among smallholder farmers in Malawi

Background: Food security in communities can prevent health complications, so investigators have made efforts to find its related factors through various fields. This study aims to draw a road map for nutrition and food security research in Iran. Methods: Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Islamic World Citation Center were searched for eligible publications in nutrition and food security related to Iran for the two decades from 2001 to 2020. Content analysis was done by a co-word network technique using VOSviewer software. Results: Finally, 28,995 scientific publications among 50,444 search results were eligible to include in this study. The research map was drawn using 403,262 keywords obtained from the title and abstract of the papers. A 23.53% growth rate of publications was seen. Iranian articles were mainly published in scientific journals under 10 subject categories. The highly repeated keywords of "treatment", "plant", "age", "risk", and "consumption" were in publications. Moreover, the articles were categorized into thematic clusters of "environmental and climate change", "health ", "food industry and food safety", and "agriculture and water resources management" which were related to nutrition and food security. An increasing trend was observed in the number of publications during the past two decades in Iran. Conclusion: The relation of clinical nutrition, malnutrition, diet, and in recent years, food production and climate change with food security have been extensively studied by Iranian researchers. However, they have neglected studies on public health and policy in food and nutrition security, which reveals their dominant clinical or agricultural approach.

Wild foods contribute to the food security of multiple communities in tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, wild foods are not regularly considered in the planning of strategies for food and nutrition security mainly due to the lack of technical and/or scientific knowledge so that they can be considered suitable for human consumption. This paper proposes a multidisciplinary method that estimates the potential of wild foods as alternative resources when planning interventions in favour of food and nutrition security in tropical forest territories. When designing the method, four dimensions were identified in science, technology and innovation (STI) that define this potential as well as ten assessment criteria. The wild foods chosen for applying the method were Alibertia patinoi (a fruit commonly known as Borojó) and Proechimys semispinosus (Mouse of thorns), which are two of the main wild foods traditionally used by human communities in a tropical forest territory in the northwest of Colombia. In both cases, although there are significant advances in STI, compliance with some criteria is still required to regard them as viable alternatives for nutrition and food security within this territory. This research is useful for promoting the inclusion of wild food in food security programmes for communities where this food is already included in their traditional pattern of consumption and identifies the progress needed in STI to achieve this purpose. It may also promote the early recognition of possible traditional and cultural practices with high risk of transmission of pathogenic elements by the handling and/or inadequate consumption of wild foods. This early recognition could contribute to the prevention of diseases of wild animal origin, including those of rapid global spread.

Rural people have the indigenous knowledge of processing and preserving food to ensure household food security during times of food scarcity. Although indigenous knowledge plays an important role in ensuring household food security for many rural households, it is often overlooked as a solution to address food and nutrition insecurity. The main objective of the study was to identify and document indigenous food preservation and processing techniques used by rural women to ensure household food security. Qualitative data were collected from small-scale farming households in seven villages through focus group discussions, individual interviews, and observations. The researchers adhered to ethical considerations (approvals, permissions with the relevant authorities, consent from participants, their privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality) throughout the research process. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The results indicate that sun-drying and fermentation were the most commonly used methods for food preservation, while the most prevalent methods used for processing vegetables (merogo) involved cooking, mashing, pelleting and sun-drying. Crops, such as mung beans, bambara groundnuts and sorghum are threshed and winnowed to remove all impurities. The seeds, which are to be used in the next planting season, are treated with aloe ash to prevent pest infestation. Indigenous fruits are gathered from the wild and eaten as snacks. Indigenous dried vegetables (merogo) and fermented marula beer were sold to generate income that is used to buy other basic food items. The paper concludes by highlighting the existing indigenous knowledge that rural households demonstrate in terms of food processing and preservation. Given the existing knowledge and the commonly used methods for preserving and processing food, it is crucial to create awareness regarding ways of retaining nutrients during food preservation and processing to ensure availability and proper utilisation of indigenous foods for household food security purposes. The study recommends that these methods, including ways of retaining nutrients, be documented and made easily accessible for rural households to use now and in the future for ensuring household food and nutrition security. Therefore, there is a need for agricultural and food security policies to embrace, adopt, promote and adapt indigenous knowledge and technologies to address food security. Key words: indigenous knowledge, food preservation, food processing, food security, indigenous food preservation

Introduction: Nutrition security is an emerging concept that expands upon the definition of food security – consistent access to sufficient quantity and quality of food – to include prevention, management, and treatment of disease. There is limited evidence on how nutrition security is related to heart health, specifically in populations disproportionately impacted by cardiovascular disease risk, such as Latina women. Hypothesis: Latina women experiencing food and/or nutrition insecurity will have poorer indicators of Life’s Essential 8 compared to those with food and/or nutrition security. Methods: Vida Sana y Completa is randomized controlled trial of a multi-component Food is Medicine (FIM) intervention for Latina women with obesity (BMI>30kg/m 2 ). This analysis uses survey data from baseline assessment (n=165). Food security status was assessed using the USDA 6-item screener and nutrition security status was assessed using the 4-item Nutrition Security Scale. Outcomes included vegetable and fruit intake, BMI, blood pressure (BP), and mental health. Within group differences by food and nutrition security status were performed using ANOVA with Fischer’s least significant difference and independent two-sample t-tests. Results: The majority (82%) reported food insecurity and approximately half (47%) reported nutrition insecurity. Women with very low or low food security consumed fewer vegetables compared to those with food security (1.7 vs. 2.1 vs. 3.0, respectively; p=0.02). Women with nutrition insecurity also consumed fewer servings of vegetables compared to participants with nutrition security (1.7 vs. 2.5; p=0.01). Systolic BP was higher among women with low food security, compared to participants with very low food security or participants with food security (p=0.01). Diastolic BP was higher for participants with low and very low food security compared to participants with food security (p=0.03). There was no difference in BP by nutrition security status. Participants with food and nutrition insecurity had more symptoms of depression and anxiety compared to participants with food and nutrition security(p<0.05). There were no differences in daily servings of fruit or BMI by food and/or nutrition security status. Conclusion: Latina women with food and/or nutrition insecurity are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. FIM interventions may effectively address food and/or nutrition insecurity, as well as Life’s Essential 8, to improve heart health.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger – reminds us of the importance of adequate food and nutrition security policies. These agendas are confronted with dynamic challenges in the broader interplay of rapid urbanisation, climate change, nutrition transitions, and jobless growth. This chapter introduces the concept of food and nutrition security. It focuses on the status quo of food security policies in Africa by referring to the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme and other relevant regional and national policies. The chapter illuminates related recent developments as part of the globalised and industrialised agri-food system. Although the human right to food holds the state into account in terms of food and nutrition security, neoliberal interests have strongly shaped the sphere of the agri-food system. Powerful actors such as supermarket chains, multinational agri-input companies, and financiers influence food availability, access and the stability of prices and supply, and quality, composition, and safety. Thus, it remains of utmost importance to engage with peoples’ needs and ‘responses from below’, including a vital informal food sector. This chapter concludes with recommendations for future food and nutrition security policies in Africa.