Knowledge integration and the adoption of new agricultural technologies: Kenyan perspectives

Despite gains in agricultural yields, access to food remains a serious challenge in many parts of the world. It is now recognized that improving food security requires a more integrated understanding of food systems and that key under-explored areas of these systems are likely to be crucial in developing effective policy change. In Kenya, institutional changes have occurred to facilitate knowledge integration within the agricultural sector. Drawing on the experiences and understandings of key stakeholders in Kenya, this paper aims to identify and better understand the barriers to knowledge integration for improved agricultural technologies and their adoption. A number of barriers to the flow of knowledge to and from those working to develop new agricultural technologies and farmers are identified. The results of this study suggest a potential link between farmers?? levels of community organization and levels of trust with levels of knowledge integration surrounding agricultural technologies and their adoption. The findings suggest that increasing the planning and follow-up of newly introduced agricultural technologies has the potential to encourage interdisciplinary approaches and improve food security outcomes.     

Challenges and possibilities for achieving household food security in the Western Sudan region: the role of female farmers

This paper investigates the role of women in achieving household food security in the Western Region of Sudan, an area much affected by the impacts of drought and civil conflicts. The study is based on a quantitative survey and qualitative focus group discussions, supported by personal observations made during fieldwork. Additionally, the study draws upon secondary data that is publicly available. Results demonstrate that women play a major role in producing and providing food for their households in this high-risk climate and conflict area, while men are more likely to migrate seasonally and even permanently. In addition, women are responsible for food preparation, processing, and food preservation and are wholly responsible for attending to household garden plots. They therefore contribute more to household food security than men, though this contribution is not recognized in official statistics. The study findings indicate that the main problems women face as food producers and providers are a lack of access to the full package of improved production methods (improved seeds, fertilizers, modern farming methods, credit services, pesticides, appropriate technologies, and marketing facilities), in addition to gender disparities and gender-biased traditions. The impacts of natural crises and civil conflicts are gendered and therefore the responses to these crises must be gender responsive. Holistic and strategic policies and plans that take gender issues into account are thus needed in order to achieve food security.     

Creating food self reliance among the smallholder farmers of eastern Zimbabwe: exploring the role of integrated agricultural research for development

The failure of the linear and non-participatory Agricultural Research and Development (ARD) approaches to increase food security among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa has prompted researchers to introduce an Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) concept. The IAR4D concept uses Innovation Platforms (IPs) to embed agricultural research and development organizations in a network to undertake multidisciplinary and participatory research. This paper uses Zimbabwe as a case study to analyze the relevance of the technologies and innovations that are being promoted by IPs in Zimbabwe to improve food security. Using data collected through the Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme, the paper shows that access to inputs, social capital, productivity enhancing technologies and market information are critical in addressing food security issues among smallholder farmers. The multi-stakeholder partnership forged through IPs should adopt a coordinated approach to provide smallholders with access to these prerequisites for food security. The paper argues that more emphasis should be put on these issues rather than on farm research initiatives whose contribution to food security appears to be less significant.     

The food security challenge of the food-land-water nexus in India

Two of the key factors that drive agricultural growth and food production in India are access to arable land and utilizable water resources. These are examined with particular reference to their regional variation in order to make an assessment of the magnitude of the food security challenge they pose for the country. Recent official estimates of groundwater exploitation in India are compared with actual negative physical, social and economic consequences of over-exploitation, as are evident in different regions, and their implications for national food security discussed. The analyses show that the real food security and water management challenge lies in the mismatch between water availability and agricultural water demand: high demands occur in water scarce but agriculturally prosperous regions and low demands in naturally water-abundant but agriculturally backward regions. Serious groundwater depletion problems, which occur in the naturally water-scarce but surplus food-producing regions, magnify the challenge. The small area of arable land per capita is a major reason for low agricultural water demand in regions that have abundant water. Sustainability of well irrigation in the naturally water-scarce regions, which is the backbone of India??s food security, could be achieved through judicious investment in surface water projects which encourage direct irrigation and replenishment of over-exploited aquifers. Other strategies include: pro rata pricing of electricity in the farm sector; volumetric pricing of water from public irrigation systems; improving the efficiency of utilization of green water or the rainwater held in the soil profile; preventing depletion of the residual soil moisture in the field after crop harvest by reducing the fallow period; and reducing the use of water through a shift to low water consuming crops     

From global to local,food insecurity is associated with contemporary armed conflicts

Food security has attracted widespread attention in recent years. Yet, scientists and practitioners have predominately understood food security in terms of dietary energy availability and nutrient deficiencies, rather than in terms of food security’s consequential implications for social and political violence. The present study offers the first global evaluation of the effects of food insecurity on local conflict dynamics. An economic approach is adopted to empirically evaluate the degree to which food insecurity concerns produce an independent effect on armed conflict using comprehensive geographic data. Specifically, two agricultural output measures – a geographic area’s extent of cropland and a given agricultural location’s amount of cropland per capita – are used to respectively measure the access to and availability of (i.e., the demand and supply of) food in a given region. Findings show that food insecurity measures are robustly associated with the occurrence of contemporary armed conflict.     

Plant breeding for nutrition-sensitive agriculture: an appraisal of developments in plant breeding

Plant breeding for nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) has to address the various aspects of food and nutrition security by taking on an integrated approach. In our article, we summarize past and current developments in plant breeding that are relevant to nutrition in this broader context. We outline how plant breeding can contribute to availability of, access to and utilization of food, and give examples of how the concept of NSA is differently addressed in selected plant breeding projects. Effective targeting towards the needs of vulnerable groups seems to be a key success factor. Differences exist with regard to the underlying concept of technology diffusion, the importance given to agrobiodiversity for improving food and nutrition security, and the degree and quality of participation of target groups. We conclude that the potentials of crop and variety improvement for NSA are far from being tapped. Plant breeding for NSA requires that the inherent focus of most breeding programs on crops and varieties be broadened towards people and their needs. It is thus required to integrate complementary expertise into breeding programs, and to overcome the divide between technology-oriented and system or actor-oriented approaches. Furthermore, it should be acknowledged that commercial breeding needs to be complemented by other initiatives and institutions that focus particularly on food and nutrition security of vulnerable groups. Any efforts to further harmonize agricultural, nutrition, health, environmental, and educational policies, also with international policy frameworks and obligations, could help to create an enabling policy environment for NSA.     

Developing community-based food security criteria in rural Tanzania

Food security remains a major challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. The widely acknowledged definition of food security and its four dimensions, availability, access, utilisation and stability, are somewhat abstract in the local context of small-scale farmers. Therefore, more site-specific information on the local food situation is needed to respond to the local food security challenges. Participatory elaboration of these criteria within the rural communities is crucial. The objective of this research was to elaborate community-based criteria in four selected study villages of Tanzania. We present an adapted methodological procedure based on the so-called Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA). Based on a series of farmer workshops, we analysed the local understanding of food security and derived a set of food security criteria. We found that these criteria cover the three dimensions of sustainability (social, economic and environmental), while simultaneously representing the four food security dimensions, showing that rural communities think holistically and consider multiple criteria and dimensions related to food security. Our participatory methodological approach was suitable for identifying the specific development priorities that need to be addressed for improved food security in a particular locality. The locally specific food security criteria can be used for impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation and, finally, for the adaptation of development measures to local contexts.     

The future role of agriculture in the Arab region’s food security

The 2007–2008 food crisis and subsequent economic recession have severely undermined food security and agricultural sustainability worldwide. Failures in market functioning and trade openness have posed particularly high risks to the import-dependent countries in the Arab region. Many of the global causes of the price spikes are still in place, creating uncertainty about food availability and access in the future. Especially in the Arab region, these uncertainties are compounded by water scarcity. A long-term outlook is essential for formulating appropriate policy and investment strategies in order to ensure future food security for the region. After a brief discussion of trends in agricultural growth and investment, this paper presents projections by the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) on agriculture production, trade, demand, prices, and food security up to 2025 and 2050. Simulations are used to compare a baseline scenario (with climate change) with two scenarios incorporating increased investment and supportive policies. The results highlight the key role of agricultural research, as well as expanded irrigation, improved natural resource management, and enhanced market efficiency, in improving food security. Four priority areas are proposed: investments in agricultural research and development, rural infrastructure, and rural institutions; more open regional and international trade to facilitate commodity flows and alleviate supply shortages; pro-poor food and nutrition interventions; and cross-cutting issues of policy coherence, gender dimensions, inclusion of traditional populations, and coordination mechanisms to deal with climate change and ecosystem challenges.     

The critical role of phosphorus in world production of cereal grains and legume seeds

The production of food for the nearly 7 billion people on the earth today requires a large input of phosphorus (P), a non-renewable resource. Over the 14 year period 1995–2008, the global production of dry cereal grains plus legume seeds has not increased per capita and the area farmed to obtain these yields has declined steadily. There is great concern about the availability of food, the rising cost of food and the availability of P to maintain crop yields of key food staples. Known P reserves are finite. We report the rates of change in the area of agricultural land, the production of food staples, the use of fertilizer P and the export of elemental P in the major cereal and legume crops on a per capita basis. We seek to draw attention to the urgent need to utilize world P reserves more wisely so as to delay the impact of dwindling amounts of P and increasing costs of P on world food security. We strongly urge agriculturalists to pursue more P-efficient crop genotypes and land management which reduces losses of P from agricultural ecosystems and we support the engineering of P-recycling schemes which convert the current P-loss system nearer to a closed P-cycle system. Unless these avenues are developed in the immediate future there are likely to be severe consequences for food security in the longer term.     

Drivers of rural-urban migration and impact on food security in rural Tanzania

This paper contributes to (1) the Valletta action plan by identifying root causes of migration in Africa, and (2) the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda reflecting the close links between migration and development. Our objectives are to identify drivers of rural-urban migration in Tanzania and to examine its impact on food security. The analyses are based on survey data of 900 rural households in the Dodoma and Morogoro districts of Tanzania from 2013. The logistic regression revealed that several household characteristics such as age of the household head, household size, and dependency ratio, but also employment and welfare status determine whether any household member migrates from the rural area to an urban area. Households from the more remote and food insecure Dodoma district were more likely to have migrants looking for jobs than households from Morogoro district. The Propensity Score Matching approach revealed that migration significantly worsens the food security status of rural migrant households in terms of access, availability and stability. This outcome is explained by the loss in labor input, leading to lower agricultural productivity of rural households, which cannot be compensated by the transfer of remittances from their respective migrants. Thus, migration does not always function as a pathway out of food insecurity in developing countries.     

Incorporating nutritional considerations when addressing food insecurity

Addressing the challenges of global food security will benefit from the simultaneous incorporation of nutritional priorities that contribute to the good health of populations. Inclusion of nutritional considerations, when increasing availability and access to food, broadens the scope and objectives of agriculture and food production and thus contributes to an integrated concept of food and nutrition security. The poor quality of food and lack of diversity in the habitual diet of many who live in the developing world imposes enormous costs on societies in terms of ill health, lives lost, reduced economic productivity and poor quality of life. Micronutrient deficiencies are a problem that is much greater than hunger and is a prime example of the need to integrate both food and nutrition security. Sustainable food-based approaches to enable adequate consumption of micronutrients include dietary diversification and biofortification. Agriculture and agricultural biotechnology not only offer the opportunity of increasing crop yields, thereby increasing food security, but also have the potential to improve the micronutrient content of foods, thus contributing to the achievement of both food and nutrition security. Ensuring food and nutrition security will facilitate the attainment of the targets set for the Millennium Development Goals.     

Constraints in the fertilizer supply chain: evidence for fertilizer policy development from three African countries

Increased use of inorganic fertilizer in smallholder farming systems can significantly raise crop productivity, enabling farming households to improve their food security both directly, through greater food supply, and indirectly, though higher agricultural incomes, and to set themselves economically on a pathway out of poverty. Low fertilizer use by African smallholder farming households is evidence of the difficulties they face in accessing the commercial input at a price that will allow them to obtain sufficient and reliable returns from their investment. This paper presents the results of a broad study of fertilizer supply to smallholder farmers in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda to assess whether costs faced at various points along the import and marketing chain, or the absence of key public goods and services, reduce the access that smallholder farmers have to fertilizer. The study involved a mixed methods approach that included for each country a review of the literature on fertilizer supply, demand, and use; interviews with key participants in fertilizer import and marketing; and two surveys – one with farmers and one with input suppliers. We found that the governments of the three countries have used distinct approaches in developing or regulating the fertilizer sub-sector. Based on use levels, Tanzania has been the most successful in ensuring access to fertilizer for its farmers. Mozambique lags the most. Several areas were identified where government inaction or misdirected efforts are having an adverse effect on efforts to increase agricultural productivity through the increased use of inorganic fertilizer. The most important constraints to increased fertilizer uptake stem from missing public goods that are not specific to inorganic fertilizer but are implicated in broad efforts to increase rural economic growth, particularly in continuing to expand and deepen crop output markets to ensure reliable returns to the use of fertilizer and in improving rural transportation networks. In addition, the three governments can do more to foster competitive agricultural input markets. All propose more state regulation on trade in inorganic fertilizer than is warranted. Moreover, particularly in Tanzania, by not consistently acting in line with policies for agricultural commercialization in place, government increases the commercial risks faced by both input suppliers and farmers and undermines the development of vibrant agricultural markets, both for inputs and outputs, including food.     

Declining global per capita agricultural production and warming oceans threaten food security

Despite accelerating globalization, most people still eat food that is grown locally. Developing countries with weak purchasing power tend to import as little food as possible from global markets, suffering consumption deficits during times of high prices or production declines. Local agricultural production, therefore, is critical to both food security and economic development among the rural poor. The level of local agricultural production, in turn, will be determined by the amount and quality of arable land, the amount and quality of agricultural inputs (fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, etc.), as well as farm-related technology, practices and policies. This paper discusses several emerging threats to global and regional food security, including declining yield gains that are failing to keep up with population increases, and warming in the tropical Indian Ocean and its impact on rainfall. If yields continue to grow more slowly than per capita harvested area, parts of Africa, Asia and Central and Southern America will experience substantial declines in per capita cereal production. Global per capita cereal production will potentially decline by 14% between 2008 and 2030. Climate change is likely to further affect food production, particularly in regions that have very low yields due to lack of technology. Drought, caused by anthropogenic warming in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, may also reduce 21st century food availability in some countries by disrupting moisture transports and bringing down dry air over crop growing areas. The impacts of these circulation changes over Asia remain uncertain. For Africa, however, Indian Ocean warming appears to have already reduced rainfall during the main growing season along the eastern edge of tropical Africa, from southern Somalia to northern parts of the Republic of South Africa. Through a combination of quantitative modeling of food balances and an examination of climate change, this study presents an analysis of emerging threats to global food security.     

Key factors influencing food security of smallholder farmers in Tanzania and the role of cassava as a strategic crop

Due to beneficial characteristics of cassava such as robustness and versatility for multiple uses, it can have a major role in contributing to local food security. The objective of this study was to find out whether and how the cultivation of cassava benefits smallholder farmers in the regions of Dodoma and Morogoro, Tanzania. In addition, the study assessed the main factors that support or threaten food security of smallholder farmer households in the survey region and analysed whether cassava cultivation could counteract them. We applied a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data were provided by a comprehensive household survey of the Trans-SEC project, and qualitative data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews. To approach the complexity of our chosen food security definition, three approaches for household food security measurement were applied. These covered the components of food availability, food access, and food utilization. Additionally, dependent variables for regression models were constructed and a multivariate analysis was run. The results show that cassava contributes to food security in the households, but achieving food security through cassava cultivation was constrained by several factors, including pests, missing markets, poor processing, social perception and lack of knowledge. Besides these, other factors affecting food security in the study area were found, uncovering some roots of local food insecurity and serving as a basis for further research and action on how to enhance food security.     

Access to common resources and food security: Evidence from National Surveys in Nigeria

Common resources (CRs) provide a “hidden harvest” for rural households and can also act as a safety net in the event of poor agricultural output or seasonal food gaps, hence contributing to food security. Yet only limited empirical research has assessed the relationship between CRs and the self-assessed food security conditions recorded among rural households. This exploratory paper draws on recent data from the Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS), a nationally representative sample of households administered in 2012–2013 as part of the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study — Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). A sustainable livelihood framework was used to contextualise CR access within the broader set of food security drivers. In Nigeria, access to common pasture and water resources is significantly associated with less reporting of food insecurity. In contrast, access to common forest tends to be associated with food insecurity, suggesting that households with access to common forest remain vulnerable (i.e. isolated from services and opportunities) despite having the advantage of the forest as a source of food. Echoing existing literature, the relative importance of these commons decreases when income of households increases. However, there are no clear signs that access to commons acts as a seasonal safety net for households during the lean season. The paper advocates streamlining CR data collection alongside agricultural data for a more integrated food security policy intervention aimed at the most vulnerable.     

Are food insecure smallholder households making changes in their farming practices? Evidence from East Africa

We explore the relationship between farming practice changes made by households coping with the huge demographic, economic, and ecological changes they have seen in the last 10?years and household food security. We examine whether households that have been introducing new practices, such as improved management of crops, soil, land, water, and livestock (e.g. cover crops, micro-catchments, ridges, rotations, improved pastures, and trees) and new technologies (e.g. improved seeds, shorter-cycle and drought-tolerant varieties) are more likely to be food secure than less innovative farming households. Using data from a baseline household survey carried out in five sites and 700 households in four countries of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia) across a range of agricultural systems and environments, this study contributes to the evidence base of what smallholders are doing to adapt to changing circumstances, including a changing climate. Lessons from both similarities and differences across sites are drawn. This unique baseline study provides a wide range of indicators of activities and behaviors that will be monitored over time. We found that many households are already adapting to changing circumstances, and their changes tend to be marginal rather than transformational in nature, with relatively little uptake of existing improved soil, water and land management practices. There is a strong negative relationship between the number of food deficit months and innovation, i.e. the least food secure households are making few farming practice changes. This has very different policy and investment implications depending on assumptions made as to the direction of causality.     

Exploring the impact of the 2008 global food crisis on food security among vulnerable households in rural South Africa

Recurring food crises endanger the livelihoods of millions of households in developing countries around the globe. Owing to the importance of this issue, we explored recent changes in food security between the years 2004 and 2010 in a rural district in Northeastern South Africa. Our study window spans the time of the 2008 global food crisis and allows the investigation of its impacts on rural South African populations. Grounded in the sustainable livelihood framework, we examined differences in food security trajectories among vulnerable sub populations. A unique panel data set of 8,147 households, provided by the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Agincourt HDSS), allowed us to employ a longitudinal multilevel modeling approach to estimate adjusted growth curves for the differential changes in food security across time. We observed an overall improvement in food security that leveled off after 2008, most likely resulting from the global food crisis. In addition, we discovered significant differences in food security trajectories for various sub populations. For example, female-headed households and those living in areas with better access to natural resources differentially improved their food security situation, compared to male-headed households and those households with lower levels of natural resource access. However, former Mozambican refugees witnessed a decline in food security. Therefore, poverty alleviation programs for the Agincourt region should work to improve the food security of vulnerable households, such as former Mozambican refugees.     

Contribution of Indigenous Knowledge and Practices in Food Technology to the Attainment of Food Security in Africa

ABSTRACT: Indigenous knowledge and practices are important aspects of a society's culture and its technology. They include accumulated knowledge, as well as skills and technology of the local people, usually derived from their direct interaction with their local environment. These aspects need due recognition and full understanding and utilization because of the valuable contributions to food security, especially in African communities.Africa's people have traditionally utilized indigenous knowledge, skills and structures, most often locally developed and handed down in the course of centuries. Insufficient attention has been given to this local knowledge within the mainstream food security development and management interventions. However, there is now increasing awareness of the fact that technology includes not only energy sources and tools, but also knowledge and skills, as well as social organizations. It is, therefore, imperative to approach indigenous communities as partners and collaborators in all food security endeavors in order to realize the objective of sustainability. African communities offer a vast array of indigenous knowledge and practices in food technology that are favorable to the food supply, as well as to food quality and food safety and thus directly contribute to food security. As such, indigenous knowledge and practices in food technology that have proved capable of ensuring food security need to be implemented before considering the introduction of external ones if food security is to be realized in Africa. Emphasis of the same should be especially made for foods that are adapted to local conditions thus improving food access, safe food availability, and utilization to meet local and regional needs. This paper seeks to outline the numerous contributions and enormous potentials that indigenous knowledge and practices in food technology have in ensuring food security in Africa.     

Evaluation of the Use of Web Technology by Government of Sri Lanka to Ensure Food Security for its Citizens

Web technology is one of the key areas in information and communication technology to be used as a powerful tool in ensuring food security which is one of the main issues in Sri Lanka. Web technology involves in communicating and sharing resources in network of computers all over the world. Main focus of food security is to ensure that all people have fair access to sufficient and quality food without endangering the future supply of the same food. In this context, web sites play a vital and major role in achieving food security in Sri Lanka. In this case study, websites pertaining to Sri Lankan government and link with food security were analyzed to find out their impact in achieving the goals of food security using web technologies and how they are being involved in ensuring food security in Sri Lanka. The other objective of this study is to make the Sri Lankan government aware of present situation of those websites in addressing food security related issues and how modern web technologies could be effectively and efficiently used to address those issues. So, the relevant websites were checked against several criteria and scores were used to assess their capabilities to address the concerns of food security. It was found that the amount of emphasis given by these websites to address the issues of food security is not satisfactory. Further, it showed that if these web sites could be improved further, they would generate a powerful impact on ensuring food security in Sri Lanka.     

Social practices of knowledge mobilization for sustainable food production: nutrition gardening and fish farming in the kolli hills of India

Concerns about food security are growing around the world, precipitated by climate change, resource degradation, a growing population and increasing income disparity. In India, food insecurity is high in many rural farming communities, especially among isolated tribal populations. In this study we examine how knowledge about sustainable food production is acquired and mobilized among small-scale farmers belonging to the Malayalis Tribe, who reside in the Kolli Hills region of Tamil Nadu, India. We focus on nutrition gardening and fish farming, two production practices recently introduced to alleviate poverty and malnutrition in the region. Using qualitative participatory research methods, we explored ways in which farmers are accessing, using and sharing knowledge about these practices, and barriers to equitable access. We also asked farmers what information is still lacking about these practices and what mechanisms could be put in place to improve access. This research revealed that participants in both nutrition gardening and fish farming rely primarily on external experts (non-governmental agricultural research and extension) for formal training (e.g. workshops) and advice, despite a long history and traditional knowledge of gardening and river fishing. Agricultural knowledge is also mobilized within the region less formally between individuals and households through face-to-face contact or verbal communication via mobile phones. The use of additional communication technologies (e.g. computers) to enhance access and mobilization of knowledge was perceived to be most relevant and beneficial for young, educated people.