Abstract
In 2011, the number of hungry people in the world surpassed one billion for the first time. The majority of these people are largely dependent for their food security upon resource-poor smallholder farmers in developing or emerging economies. These smallholders depend on informal seed systems for 75–90% of their food crop cultivation. Southeast Asia, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots in the face of rapidly dwindling global genetic diversity, is at the forefront of seed systems issues. This article examines activities undertaken by a collaboration of researchers and local institutions to enhance food security within informal seed systems in Thai and Cambodian rural communities. We employed a two-step model for strengthening food security using a range of participatory activities to first understand and characterize, and secondly strengthen informal seed systems in the target regions. We documented seed pathways, histories, and storage as well as gender roles in each community. Informal seed systems were strengthened through identifying potential species for commercialization, addressing technological barriers to seed analysis, and conducting seed fairs and seed banking. These activities not only strengthened informal seed systems, but also significantly enhanced all four pillars of food security in the study communities. Recommendations for future informal seed systems and food security research include extending research into more communities and countries, focusing on the potential for enhancing formal seed systems, and examining the possibilities for synergies with food sovereignty approaches.
Highlights
In 2011, the number of hungry people in the world surpassed one billion for the first time (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], 2011)
Food security was first defined at the 1974 World Food Summit as “availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices” (United Nations, 2003, “Official concepts of food security,” para. 2), reflecting the main supply-side concerns at the time in the context of repeated famines, hunger, and food crises around the world
This study outlined a broad spectrum of approaches to strengthen informal seed systems in resource-poor rural communities in Southeast Asia
Summary
In 2011, the number of hungry people in the world surpassed one billion for the first time (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], 2011). Disasters such as the famine in the Horn of Africa and a mega-typhoon scything through the Philippines, in conjunction with rapidly rising food prices worldwide, have further reduced food security for millions of people. Concerns about the stability of the food system and its relation to the environment have been incorporated Despite this concept being present for several decades, food security has taken a sideline until the past few years to other critical global concerns, such as health, education, and the environment. At the 2009 L’Aquila summit, the G8 nations acknowledged the need to tackle food insecurity head on, and pledged $22bn to set up the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), administered jointly by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and G8 governments (United States Treasury, 2011)
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