Abstract
Food and agricultural security are important elements of sustainable development, especially in developing countries. This is because progress in agriculture is fundamental to the structural transformation of developing economies while food security is an important indicator of progress made in economic development. Indeed, agricultural security and food security are intrinsically linked in the development process, as recognized by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. The nexus between food and agricultural security is so vast. This special issue only attempts to highlight two important dimensions: (a) the role of resilience in mitigating the impacts of shocks on food and agricultural security and (b) unique challenges faced in sustainable agriculture development and the analysis of best practices. The other nine articles in this special issue cover a wide range, including (a) food security, sustainability and the achievement of SDG goals; resilience and conflict; forced displacement and agriculture; and shocks and structural transformation in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries; and, beyond SSA, (b) food self-sufficiency, public perceptions about good agricultural practices, environmental impacts of alternate crops, gender issues in agroforestry systems and food system transformation. Collectively, these articles highlight the link between food and agriculture security, environmental sustainability and resilience.
Highlights
The results show that forced displacements result in reduced agricultural production due to lower land and labor productivity, but mainly for insurgency-driven internally displaced person (IDP)
Issues related to food and agricultural security are obviously so vast that devoting all articles in all issues of the sustainability journal for a full year will not adequately do them justice
The journal has assembled a handful of articles that highlight some of the emerging threats to food security, with a focus on Africa, while more broadly exploring issues related to sustainability and food and agricultural security
Summary
Food security is a state where “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” [1]. The number of people suffering from malnutrition drastically increased last year, especially children under 5 years of age suffering from stunting, wasting or overweight These recent setbacks associated with the pandemic have brought to light some other recent drivers of food insecurity, such as armed conflicts, terrorism, organized violence and climate-related disasters. While we focus more on armed conflicts because of their importance in the SSA context, we address non-conflict related shocks and their impacts on environment Articles in this special issue provide evidence on the effectiveness of best practices which were effective in reducing the negative impacts. They provide policy recommendations regarding ways to build resilience and promote sustainable growth in agriculture in the aftermath of shocks
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