Implications of climate-smart strategy adoption by farm households for food security in Tanzania

As the climate changes, farmers in developing countries seek to employ strategies to help them sustain food production. The objectives of this paper were to identify adaptation strategies in response to climate change and the determinants for their adoption, and to explore the impact of these strategies on food security. The analysis was based on a survey of 900 small-scale farmers in a semi-arid (Dodoma) and a semi-humid (Morogoro) region in Tanzania. Farmers in the semi-humid region tended to diversify their crops, i.e. added additional crop types. Given the more challenging environment in the semi-arid region, farmers there changed their portfolio of crops, i.e. substituted some crops or cultivars with others. Logistic regressions highlighted higher tolerance to risk, land ownership, education and experiences of farmers as drivers of adoption, while income diversification had a negative effect. The propensity score matching approach showed that adopters of climate-smart strategies are on-average more food-secure. These users showed a more diverse pattern of food consumption, greater protein intake and better economic access to food. Changing crop portfolios can help households to cope with climate-related shocks such as droughts and thus appears to be the best performing strategy, especially in terms of more stable food provisioning throughout the year.     

The trans-octadecenoic fatty acid profile of beef: Implications for global food and nutrition security

In addition to being an important source of macro- and micronutrients, beef can also be a source of trans (t)-18:1 fatty acids (FA). Overall, trans-FA have been associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in humans. Recent research has, however, shown that t-18:1 FA are a group of distinct isomers which elicit differential biological effects. The current review examines the potential of different nutritional strategies to enrich potentially beneficial or deplete detrimental t-18:1 isomers in beef. The possible contribution of seemingly beneficial t-18:1 isomers to global food and nutrition security is highlighted. The review also describes the importance of developing a regulatory framework to govern the consumption of individual t-18:1 isomers to enhance and sustain their contribution to food and nutrition security.     

Demand analysis of tobacco consumption in Malaysia.

We estimated the price and income elasticity of cigarette demand and the impact of cigarette taxes on cigarette demand and cigarette tax revenue in Malaysia. The data on cigarette consumption, cigarette prices, and public policies between 1990 and 2004 were subjected to a time-series regression analysis applying the error-correction model. The preferred cigarette demand model specification resulted in long-run and short-run price elasticities estimates of -0.57 and -0.08, respectively. Income was positively related to cigarette consumption: A 1% increase in real income increased cigarette consumption by 1.46%. The model predicted that an increase in cigarette excise tax from Malaysian ringgit (RM) 1.60 to RM2.00 per pack would reduce cigarette consumption in Malaysia by 3.37%, or by 806,468,873 cigarettes. This reduction would translate to almost 165 fewer tobacco-related lung cancer deaths per year and a 20.8% increase in the government excise tax revenue. We conclude that taxation is an effective method of reducing cigarette consumption and tobacco-related deaths while increasing revenue for the government of Malaysia.     

Re-examining policies for food security in Asia

In the wake of recent food price spikes, plus growing demands for food in emerging Asia and for biofuels in Europe and the United States, governments are re-examining their strategies for dealing with both short-term and long-term food security concerns. This paper argues that long-run trends in real agricultural prices have policy implications for food security that are at least as important as those related to short-lived spikes around trend prices. The paper therefore summarizes recent projections of markets to 2030 under various scenarios, and then reviews evidence on how trade policy restrictions typically are altered to insulate domestic markets from short-run fluctuations in international prices around their long-run trends. That provides a firm empirical basis for re-examining the effectiveness and efficiency of various policy options for ensuring food security in Asia and elsewhere. Those options include boosting agricultural productivity growth rates to deal with long-run concerns, and using more-appropriate domestic policy measures rather than trade policies to cope with price volatility.     

Transforming rice cultivation in flood prone coastal Odisha to ensure food and economic security

Flash floods leading to complete submergence of rice plants for 10–15 days is one of the major constraints for rice production, mainly in rainfed lowland areas. In India, 30% of the rice growing area (12–14 M ha) is prone to flash flooding with average productivity of only 0.5–0.8 t ha^?1. Coastal Odisha is one of the most flood prone areas of India where the paddy crop in the wet season is often devastated by flash floods, forcing farmers either to discontinue paddy cultivation or to revert to traditional varieties with very low yields. The flood tolerant variety, Swarna-Sub1 (SS1), was introduced through cluster demonstrations in some villages of the Bari block of Odisha in 2013. SS1 seeds were provided to 355 farmers in two villages affected by floods twice in 2013. The majority of the farmers cultivated SS1 in 2013 and about 75% of them persisted with the variety in 2014. There has been a steady and significant increase in paddy cultivation and yields per unit area between 2012 and 2014 and a sharp increase in paddy sales during 2013 and 2014. The present study showed that farmers preferred to cultivate low yielding traditional land races owing to their better flood tolerance and the unavailability of flood tolerant high yielding varieties (HYVs). Traditional varieties gave 30–42% higher yields than non-SS1 HYVs when flooding occurred. SS1 on the other hand offered a significant yield advantage of about twice that of traditional varieties, in both flooding and non-flooding years. There is an additional social advantage of SSI in that famers belonging to scheduled castes in flood prone villages, have greater numbers of plots that are exposed to prolonged floods. Thus they benefit proportionately more from the introduction of SS1.     

Preface: Challenges and opportunities for enhancing food security in Kenya

Achieving sustainable food security in Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the main challenges facing African governments and the international community. The 2007?C2008 food crisis and ongoing chronic hunger problems clearly demonstrate that millions of people on the continent, including in relatively stable countries such as Kenya, are dangerously vulnerable to economic, political and climatic shocks that threaten food availability and accessibility. At the heart of the strategies to build resilience and tackle food insecurity is the need for effective institutional and policy frameworks that can support local innovations while taking into account the biophysical, social and economic constraints within which rural livelihoods operate. The papers included in this Special Issue of Food Security support the view that for food security initiatives in Kenya to be effective, they must embrace solutions that are equitable, generalizable and ecologically sound to ensure sustainability. Ultimately, to improve innovation and technology adoption, a systems approach that allows women and men, wealthy and poor farmers to engage with scientific and political elites in the design and implementation of food-related research and development initiatives must be embraced. There is also the need to develop tools and approaches that can assist smallholder farmers, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders to share a better understanding of the multiple factors driving food insecurity and hindering the implementation of effective policies and institutions.     

Coordination in food security crises: a stakeholder analysis of the challenges facing the global food security cluster

In mid 2011, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) formally launched the global Food Security Cluster (FSC) as the UN’s global mechanism for coordinating food security responses in emergencies worldwide. The need for greater coordination of food security response in emergencies is enormous: Not only is the number of actors growing ever larger, the operating environment is more complex, and the range of responses requires substantially greater levels of skill than ever in analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Will this new mechanism provide the leadership needed for complex, multi-dimensional responses needed to protect food security and livelihoods in disasters? What are the special challenges the cluster faces? This paper analyzes a series of country level case studies and key informant interviews with stakeholders in a range of roles to address these questions.     

Opportunities and challenges for the development of prawn farming with fish and rice in southeast Bangladesh: potential for food security and economic growth

Although prawn farming in rice fields is concentrated in the southwest of Bangladesh, the southeast region has been identified as a promising area for prawn culture, owing to favorable resources and agro-climatic conditions. To date, however, relatively few farmers in this area have adopted prawn culture. We examined the opportunities and constraints for the development of prawn farming with fish and rice in southeast Bangladesh. The prospects for prawn-carp polyculture and integrated prawn-fish-rice farming in southeast Bangladesh are positive but require institutional and organizational support, and technical assistance. We conclude that the sustainable development of prawn farming with fish and rice in southeast Bangladesh has considerable potential for increasing incomes and improving the food security of farming households, and more broadly the economic growth of the country through earnings from the export of prawns.     

马来西亚食品安全监管体系分析

马来西亚与我国签署“一带一路”合作协议[1], 作为一带一路沿线重要国家, 多年来是我国在东盟的主要贸易伙伴。马来西亚清真食品需求量较大, 蕴藏巨大食品贸易商机,应该受到食品出口国家的重视。本文就马来西亚食品安全监管机构和职责、法律法规、标准体系、食品安全监管、食品贸易情况进行了系统分析, 为企业、政府部门、研究机构和社会各界了解马来西亚食品安全监管体系提供重要参考。     

Socio-economic dynamics and innovative technologies affecting health-related lipid content in diets: Implications on global food and nutrition security

The recent increase in human population coupled with rural-to-urban migration has led to challenges in managing a balanced diet in both food ‘secure’ and food ‘insecure’ regions. As a result of this geographic phenomenon, the human population continues to suffer from caloric-related conditions and diseases, including obesity and coronary heart diseases. In addition, fat and fatty acid composition of the diet has come under severe attack from the media and different human nutrition corridors in the past as they have been implicated in aiding the increase in cases of coronary heart diseases despite their important roles in cellular functions. In this view, fat and fatty acids is of great significance to the modern society, which aims at balancing their dietary proportions for efficient functionality of the human body systems. To improve food and nutrition, understanding the physiological function of the body and biochemical function of the fatty acids and polar lipids and getting a clearer view of the socio-economic aspects surrounding food consumption is also important. However, to further enhance the utilisation of fats accessed from diets, it is important to highlight significant current innovative technologies used to improve food fatty acid profiles and the influence of media on dietary and food consumption patterns. This review discusses the significance of health-related fatty acids, socio-economic aspects governing their presence in food and consumption, and how all these factors have a bearing on achieving the goal of human health, well-being and food and nutrition security.     

Revitalizing agricultural research for global food security

An imaginative American legislation, the Morrill Act of 1862, established the U. S. Land Grant University Model, where such universities would adopt a uniform, tri-partite function of education, research, and extension. It legislated that these universities would provide segments of society with practical and timely education that would be useful to their daily lives. A profound concept based on a system that focused on educating the next generation of agricultural scientists, providing support to the generation of new knowledge and technology, and communicating the results of the new discoveries to key stakeholders was born. Sustained support of this 19th century legislation and the commitment and drive of generations of agricultural scientists and farmers brought about remarkable advances, making 20th century American agriculture most productive and the envy of the world. These successes were replicated in North America, Europe, and in much of the developed world, and served as the impetus for the emergence of the Asian Green Revolution. Farming became a profitable business and consumers were accustomed to safe and relatively inexpensive supply of food, unfortunately leading to 21st century complacency. The recent food price crises seem to have reawakened world leaders and donor agencies to the necessity of assuring the food security of nations and to revitalizing and reinvesting in the agricultural sciences.     

免疫学技术在食品安全检测中的应用

对目前免疫学技术在食品安全检测中的研究进展进行综述,希望对日后的食品安全生产、监督及研究起到一个借鉴作用,从而最终达到预防食物中毒的作用.     

Inuit food security in canada: arctic marine ethnoecology

Quantitative Seascape Ethnoecology practice is considered through a community-based food security lens. Fish and marine mammal records obtained from a wide range of Inuit co-management agreements are, for the first time combined to calculate an Inuit-culture marine ecological footprint, targeted on calendar year 2008. A reflexive, participatory and inclusive education/governance strategy for Arctic coastal food security is presented, particularly in Nunavut; considering caloric marine catch may average as high as 40% of human basal metabolic requirements for some communities. The current work provides a foundation to mitigate food insecurity for the Inuit in what may be the most insecure indigenous food setting in any country that is generally considered as developed. Four large marine ecosystems are considered within Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) areas 18 and 21. Initial fish catch reconstructions for 1950–2001 are combined with mammal harvest records. Food system changes and planning are examined from a community health and management perspective. The relationship between food security, gender, livelihoods and ecosystem capacity are discussed within current management challenges and the related mandates for Canadian government agencies, based in part upon the 2007, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). A process to combine academic ecological knowledge with traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and an Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) is suggested within a beneficiary-led marine protected area network. A re-evaluation of Canada’s northern (Nunavut) transfer and land claim agreements are suggested, with a goal to provide redress for UNDRIP compliance. Therein, consideration should be given to dedicated funds for reflexive and participatory development of university-level Ethnoecology programming and community-based offices for Nunavut food security science.     

Water allocation rules in Afghanistan for improved food security

In many arid countries, rules for the allocation of irrigation water when shortages occur are poorly defined. These weaknesses present a critical constraint to food security and can be a major cause of poverty and hunger. The search for flexible rules for the allocation of irrigation water is especially important in dry regions of the developing world where drought and climate change compound the challenges faced by farmers, extension advisers, water managers and governments. Afghanistan is one country in which inflexible arrangements for allocating irrigation water when drought occurs continue to undermine its food security. This paper develops and applies an empirical framework to evaluate several arrangements for the allocation of irrigation water when shortages occur. The intent of the analysis is to identify a water allocation system for sharing shortages that minimizes the loss in economic benefits and food security by efficiently sharing water supplies when the inevitable drought occurs. An integrated decision framework for water resources is developed that unifies crop, water, and farm data. Several water allocation rules that could increase the flexibility of irrigated agriculture in dealing with water shortages are analyzed for their impacts on farm profitability and food security. Findings show that a proportional sharing of water shortages, in which each canal bears an equal proportion of overall shortages, is the most flexible rule among those analyzed for limiting threats to food security and farm income. This water sharing arrangement is also seen as fair in many cultures and is simple to administer. In the developing world, the design and practical implementation of flexible rules for adapting to periodic water supply changes are important as water shortages become more pronounced in the face of droughts and climate variability. The results provide a framework for identifying, designing, and implementing water allocation rules for food security in the developing world’s irrigated areas.     

中国入世对法国农副产品及食品出口的影响

<正> 众多专家学者对中国加入世贸组织的利弊看法不一,而其中一个对部分外国进口产品最有利的因素就是关税下调,为不少进口原材料及产品带来无限商机。以下将以法国农产品为例,介绍中国入世刑其产品出口的影响。 法国农副产品和食品的进口状况与分析 中国在1995～1999年间从法国进口农副产品及食品的进口额列于表一。此统计仅将5年内曾有1年进口额超     

Structure and properties of urban household food demand in Nairobi,Kenya: implications for urban food security

Urban household food insecurity continues to be a major problem in many urban households of Sub-Saharan Africa. The ineffectiveness of policies addressing the problem has hinged in particular on the paucity of information about consumption patterns under changing economic conditions. Elasticities of food demand were estimated through the Linear Approximated Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS) and inferences about access to food were drawn. Shifts in consumption were evident when changes occurred in income, prices and household demography. As the urban poor are sensitive to variation in food prices and income, they should be cushioned against their negative effects in order for their access to food to be enhanced and hence their food security improved. Dairy and dairy products and wheat and wheat products were identified as subsidy carriers which would improve the nutrition of the urban poor. These results provide guidance for the design of food security and nutrition strategies and programs at the micro and macro-economic levels.     

The art of balancing food security: securing availability and affordability of food in Tanzania

Monitoring of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicates that a large number of countries are not on track to reach the hunger targets set out in Goal 1 (MDG1, Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger by 2015). The purpose of this paper is to assess the appropriateness of three underlying factors identified by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), misguided policies, failing markets and weak institutions, in explaining food insecurity in Tanzania. Our analysis basically supports UNDP’s emphasis on the importance of policy, institutions and market access when seeking to improve food security and reach MDG1, but underlining the importance of empowering people to hold the Government accountable for failing to deliver on their policies and plans. The main finding is that the Tanzanian Government is struggling with the difficulty of addressing the twin goals of balancing national food availability with affordable food prices for urban and rural consumers.