Economics of food security

The goal of this study is to perform a comparative analysis of agroecological and conventional small coffee farms. We investigated 15 coffee farms in the East region of Minas Gerais, a Brazilian rural region, based on coffee production using a multicriteria analysis with economic, social and environmental factors. The results suggest that agroecological farms perform better than conventional farms in terms of sustainability, reduce labor intensity and improve income stability and the environmental impact, such as agro-biodiversity and forest cover. In particular, the results reveal that agroecological farms, though they have lower levels of coffee productivity than conventional farms, perform better in terms of income stabilization. This result depends on product diversification (such as agri-food products, vegetables or fruits) for local markets, which reduces farmer risks associated with coffee price volatility, improving both the local economy and local food security. Moreover, a...

This study calculates the economic feasibility of converting biomass from black spruce forests into biochar and using it as soil amendment to grow potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) and beets (Beta vulgaris L.) to improve food availability in one of Canada's most consistently food insecure provinces. The trees were clear cut for the construction of the controversial Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam and have been left to decay due to a lack of economically feasible processing options. A stochastic anal- ysis conducted on a biochar production budget of a slow pyrolysis mobile biochar unit reveals fixed and variable cost estimates of $505.14 Mg−1 and $499.13 Mg−1, respectively. Applying the biochar as a soil amendment for local beet or potato pro- duction makes the biochar venture profitable. Beet field trial data from the study region using 10 t C biochar application rates increases beet yield from 2.9 Mg/ha to 11.4 Mg/ha with a midline increase of 5.59 Mg/ha. A stochastic analysis with vari- able prices and yields shows a 0.99 probability of biochar production being profitable when applied to beets at the midline production rate, with an average annualized net return over variable costs of $4,953 ha−1, and maximum annualized net return of $11,288 ha−1, over variable costs. Potato production yields average annualized net returns of $965.48 ha−1 over variable costs, but with much more downside risk, con- sidering the minimum annualized net return of −$318.82 ha−1 over variable costs. Biochar application covers average total costs for beets but not potatoes. Using bio- char from forest biomass as a soil amendment presents an opportunity to create a local market for biochar in a remote area of Canada, where biochar may be used as an experimental soil amendment to improve food security.

Our body compulsory demands food, water and air to keep its vital functions and yet their economic nature is rather diverse with food mostly considered a private good, water suffering an accelerated privatization process and air so far considered a global common good. Food has evolved from a common good and local resource to a national asset and then to a transnational commodity as the commodification process is rather completed nowadays. Cultivated food is fully privatized and this consideration means that human beings can eat food as long as they have money to but it or means to produce it. With the dominant no money-no food rationality, hunger still prevails in a world of abundance. In order to provide a sound foundation for the transition towards sustainable food systems, the very nature of food as a pure private good is contested and subsequently reversed in this paper, proposing a re-conceptualisation of food as a common good, a necessary narrative for the redesign of the dominating agro-industrial food system that merely sees food as a tradable commodity. This aspirational transition shall lead us to a more sustainable, fairer and farmer-centred food system. The idea of the commons is applied to food, deconstructing food as a pure private good and reconstructing it as an impure commons that can be better produced and distributed by a hybrid tri-centric governance system compounded by market rules, public regulations and collective actions. Several food-related elements are already considered as common goods (i.e. fish stocks, wild fruits, cuisine recipes, agricultural knowledge, food safety regulations and unpatented genetic resources) as well as food’s implications (hunger eradication) and benefits (public health and good nutrition). Should food and be consider as a commons, the implications for the governance of the global food system would be enormous, with examples ranging from placing food outside the framework agreements dealing with pure private goods, banning financial speculation on food commodities or preparing international binding agreements to govern the production, distribution and access of food to every human being.

Postales desde el filo… de la crisis alimentaria por José Luis Vivero Pol y Andrés Pascoe Rippey 7 El FMI y el hambre por Serge Halimi 19 Motines del hambre por Ignacio Ramonet 21 El mercado mundial de cereales "revolucionado" por Dominique Baillard 25 Son pocos los agricultores que cultivan trigo por Anne-Cécile Robert 35 Alimentarse en lugar de ser alimentado por Dr. Jacques Diouf 39 La obesidad al final de la comida por Philippe Froguel y Catherine Smadja 43 Una manera de enfermar acorde con nuestros tiempos por Dr. Oriol Ramis 49 La obesidad en la pobreza por Dr. Miguel E. Angulo J. 55 Por una gastronomía militante por Carlo Petrini 63 7 Postales desde el filo… de la crisis alimentaria Introducción por José Luis Vivero Pol y Andrés Pascoe Rippey* Como una epidemia violenta, el miedo a un Apocalipsis alimentario ha infectado a las naciones, medios y sociedades del mundo.

It is a well-known fact that millions of people all over the world do not have access to food on a daily basis or face hunger, malnutrition and starvation, despite the fact that their governments have ratified international treaties in which the right to food takes a prominent place. There is thus a big gap between rhetoric and reality, between theoretically having the right to food and enjoying it in practice. The present contribution deals with ways in which to realise the right to adequate food. It suggests the adoption of a framework law as a means of strengthening the implementation of the right to food at the domestic level. In the first part, the article discusses the right to adequate food from an international human rights perspective. It deals, amongst others, with the background, aim and contents of a national framework law on the right to food. In the second part, attention is given to the role of civil society in the promotion of a framework law. This is illustrated by using the example of South Africa, where the lack of availability and accessibility of food to the poor would justify the adoption of a framework law.

International maize market is made up of a number of maize producing, exporting, and importing nations, with United States of America having a strong influence on international maize prices. Other significant participants include Brazil, China, EU-27, Ukraine, and Japan amongst others. South Africa on the other hand, is a net exporter, producing and exporting a small share to neighbouring countries, with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) its major export destination but slightly being offset by Asian and Mexican markets. This study describes both the international maize market and the South African maize industry within the parameters of maize production, maize trade (export and import), consumption, and price formation. Also, to show how changes in the international maize scene and those that have taken place domestically have influenced the South African maize industry. The study, therefore, investigates the position of South African maize industry in the international maize market.
After an extensive and in-depth descriptive study supported by literature on both the local and international maize markets, South Africa’s position was determined. This resulted to the study in concluding that: The United States of America has a dominating influence on international maize prices; caused by its production and export levels. Also, the study found out that maize is mostly traded for animal feed by most nations, with US using most of its maize on bioethanol production recently. Genetically modified maize seeds and expansion of biofuel production have sparked controversy and maize prices, respectively. These changes have had an impact on South African maize industry, and the deregulation of Market Boards in SA has also changed the industry’s functioning altogether. Domestically, the study determined that SA is a self-sufficient, net exporting nation playing a crucial role in the SADC region. The study, therefore; concludes to say that South Africa is positioned, out of 20 countries under analysis, in an intermediary and transitional position. That is, it is neither an influential player able to influence prices nor an insignificant player that does not have countries looking up to for maize but South Africa is an important maize producing and exporting country in Africa or in SADC region precisely with great potential to expand its maize industry to wider markets.

During World War I and II, modern states for the first time experimented with feeding--and starving--entire populations. Within the new globalizing economy, food became intimately intertwined with waging war, and starvation claimed more lives than any other weapon. As Alice Weinreb shows in Modern Hungers, nowhere was this new reality more significant than in Germany, which struggled through food blockades, agricultural crises, economic depressions, and wartime destruction and occupation at the same time that it asserted itself as a military, cultural, and economic powerhouse of Europe.

The end of armed conflict in 1945 did not mean the end of these military strategies involving food. Fears of hunger and fantasies of abundance were instead reframed within a new Cold War world. During the postwar decades, Europeans lived longer, possessed more goods, and were healthier than ever before. This shift was signaled most clearly by the disappearance of famine from the continent. So powerful was the experience of post-1945 abundance that it is hard today to imagine a time when the specter of hunger haunted Europe, demographers feared that malnutrition would mean the end of whole nations, and the primary targets for American food aid were Belgium and Germany rather than Africa. Yet under both capitalism and communism, economic growth as well as social and political priorities proved inseparable from the modern food system.

Drawing on sources ranging from military records to cookbooks to economic and nutritional studies from a multitude of archives, Modern Hungers reveals similarities and striking ruptures in popular experience and state policy relating to the industrial food economy. In so doing, it offers historical perspective on contemporary concerns ranging from humanitarian food aid to the gender-wage gap to the obesity epidemic.

Reviews:
"Alice Weinreb's imaginative study reveals how outsized a role the production, distribution, and consumption of food has played across Germany's twentieth century--impacting the outcomes of war and revolution, constructions of family and gender, ideological rivalries and successive visions of the good life."--Charles Maier, Harvard University

"Finally we have a book that recovers the remarkably stubborn and yet changing experience of hunger in Germany across the twentieth century. Weinreb's deeply researched and majestic analysis takes us from global politics, to national systems of rationing and welfare, to the intimate and everyday forms of government that took hold of households and bodies to explain who got what to eat. An important and impressive achievement."--James Vernon, author of Hunger: A Modern History

"In this fascinating and highly original study of 'food and power', Alice Weinreb deftly analyzes the significance of food, its production, consumption, and acquisition, as well as the discourses it produced, for the construction of German identity, both as victims and villains, over the course of a tumultuous twentieth century and multiple regimes. Combining wide-ranging theoretical reflection with deeply researched detail on everyday life and perceptions, this book combines transnational food studies with an innovative account of the peculiarities of German history."--Atina Grossmann, author of Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany

Food security is one of the indicators regarding the level of country's development and was named the first MDGs that to be reached by the 2015. The target is to eradicate the extreme poverty and hunger by half compared to the levels in 1990. As the deadline is approaching, it is interesting to look at how countries are dealing with reaching their targets. It was reported that on the global level the target is going to be achieved. However, some countries are not likely to reach their own goals and improve food security situation. Thus, it is interesting to see what are the challenges these countries face in scaling-down the level of hunger. Kenya, being one of the countries that are not likely to achieve its food security goal, was chosen to analyze as a case study. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the reasons why food insecurity is still present in Kenya, despite international commitments and government policies. The following four factors after the initial research were found to have the most immense influence on the issue: neoliberal trade regime, foreign food aid, domestic policies and climate change. The factors were analyzed employing theories or neoliberalism and dependency. It was found that trade liberalization agreements and financial ties with international financial institutions restricted Kenya from developing in an efficientway its food security policies. Furthermore, due to the extensive inflows of inexpensive food imports and always available foreign food aid, local farmers found themselves in a disadvantageous position compared to the foreign food producers and this led to discouragement of domestic food production. Therefore, the agricultural sector is currently declining in Kenya, even though it is of the prime importance regarding employment and Kenya GDP. After the adopted liberal trading regime, Kenya found itself involved in unequal and exploitative relations that restrict it from improving food security situation. Governmental programs were found to be inefficient because SAPs prevent government from subsidizing vulnerable sectors or efficiently funding food security policies. Climate change, the result of the unsustainable development of currently developed economies, as well impacts heavily, by draughts or floods, food security in Kenya. All things considered, food security situation in Kenya is mostly caused by the neoliberal trading regime and the dependency on the advanced economies imposed by the regime.

INDICE 1.-AMÉRICA LATINA Y SU CRISIS SOCIAL: MÁS POBRES Y HAMBRIENTOS PERO CON MÁS ALIMENTOS 2.-LOS DERECHOS ECONÓMICOS, SOCIALES Y CULTURALES EN LA REGIÓN: DOS PASOS ADELANTE, UN PASO ATRÁS. 2.1.-Breve retazo histórico: consolidación a pesar de todo 2.2.-Los DESC a finales del siglo XX: un avance más teórico que real para el ciudadano

Although some production and marketing restrictions are barely defined, Dera area is a potential teff producer in Ethiopia’s Southern Gondar zone. The study analysed teff production, focusing on factors that affect the volume of teff sold, based on data collected from household surveys, respondent interviews, and focus group discussions. Both descriptive and econometric analyses were used. The results show that teff grown in the study area is mixed, practised by 34.5% of households, followed by red teff (32.16%) with commonly used storage facilities such as Gota, Gotera, and Sack. In terms of marketing, the results show that 57.7% of teff produced in the 2019 sowing season was delivered to the market through rural retailers, wholesalers, and directly from producers to consumers. The result of the ordinary least squares estimates of the multiple linear regression model indicates the gender of the head of household, the experience of the head of household, the amount of teff produced,...

This report details the history and current operation of ‘community kitchens’ in Peru and explores whether this model can be applied in alleviating food insecurity in the UK.
In Peru thousands of comedores populares (literally popular dining rooms but, in in common usage, community kitchens) provide cheap, nutritious meals to the people from the poorest sections of society. Different types of communal dining in Peru are investigated in this report, which details popular grassroots efforts, state-supported schemes and NGO/faith-based initiatives.
The research was undertaken during a five week period in August/September 2014, which involved visiting dozens of community kitchens in poor areas of the Peruvian cities of Lima, Arequipa, Puno and Cusco and interviewing the women who volunteer there, both past and present. To provide clear examples of how communal dining functions in Peru, several case studies are cited throughout the report. However, the research encompassed many more people and places than can be acknowledged here.
This report establishes the lessons we can learn from Peru’s experience of communal dining. Can the UK take lessons from Peru’s model of egalitarian eating? What does the Peruvian model suggest about the role of the state, and individuals, in combating food insecurity in other contexts? And can the UK develop a community kitchen movement like that in Peru? These questions are addressed against the backdrop of recent Peruvian history and the current model of food bank relief practised in the UK.

The anthology Sustainability: Global Issues, Global Perspectives gives readers a firm grounding in issues related to sustainability today. The book is rooted in the idea that to achieve sustainability requires an understanding of many global topics, and it uses global examples and case studies.
The readings are organized into three sections. The first introduces major concepts and trends in environmental thinking, the second identifies current challenges to sustainability, and the third addresses paradigm shifts for sustainability. The selections are a blend of environmental science, especially as it relates to agriculture, soils, and land management with social topics such as how to govern fairly and equitably to ensure that the voices of all seven billion of earth's inhabitants will be heard.
Specific topics include the global food economy, environmentally sound landscaping, waste management, and human migration. Figures and tables throughout the book provide visual support. Forward-looking, the book discusses governance structures that work and what different countries are doing to reform their education systems to respond to sustainability issues.
Sustainability: Global Issues, Global Perspectives is intended for introductory or survey courses in environmental studies and global issues.

A genetically modified (GM) food is a result of recombinant DNA biotechnological
procedures that allow the genetic makeup of an organism to be modified. This can be
accomplished by incorporating genes from other organisms or by rearranging genes
already present. These changes can result in the expression of attributes not found in the
original organism (Schneider and Schneider, 2013). Foods and food ingredients consisting
of or containing genetically modified organisms, or produced from such organisms are
called Genetically Modified foods (Pandey, 2014).
A developing country, also called a less-developed country (LDC), is a nation with
a lower living standard, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development
Index (HDI) relative to other countries. There is no universal, agreed-upon criterion for
what makes a country developing versus developed and which countries fit these two
categories, although there are general reference points such as a nation's GDP per capita
compared to other nations (Wiki., 2013).
There are many factors that contribute to poverty and hunger in developing
countries, including war, political instability, lack of infrastructure and poor economic
conditions. Agriculture has a crucial role to play in developing countries, especially as a
source of employment, income and food for the people (Anon., 2003). It is claimed that
genetically modified (GM) crops and foods offer a range of benefits to a variety of
beneficiaries, including higher productivity and lower pesticide costs for producers; less
environmental pollution from pesticides and herbicides, and new crop varieties to
ameliorate hunger in developing countries (Gaskell et al., 2004). As it is clear that
agriculture is only the occupation that everyone can easily follow in the developing
countries, the life of people depends on the seeds of the crops. The biotech companies such
as Monsanto are enforcing the countries to accept the GM foods because not only to end
the food problem but to rule over the seed market of the world. GM seeds are viable for
only one growing season so the farmers should buy the seeds for the next season. This aids
in the statement that biotech companies want to rule in the seed market (Smith, 2003). 
The Genetic Modification (GM) method entails the transfer of foreign gene
(transgene) in to another cell to obtain the desired traits. Developed world, having material
and intellectual capacities, leads the studies on transgenic technology for production
increase and improved food quality. In fact, there is not only enough but even too much

2 
food in the developed world. However, developing countries that need this technology to
exceed the food shortage cannot afford it. Hence, gene technology is not a remedy to
prevent the world from starvation (Verma, et al., 2011).
Today GM Foods are hot topic of discussion all over the world. The technology
never comes alone with benefits only; there always remains a risk associated with it.
Though at present it seems to be beneficial for the developing countries GM Foods should
be accepted very wisely (Zarrilli, 2005)

Executive summary

This study undertakes an assessment of the food and nutrition security (FNS) needs in Nigeria, its policies and strategies to address those needs, and the resources available to implement thepolicies. The assessment is based largely on data from the Brookings Institution’s Ending Rural Hunger (ERH) project with additional data from a survey of national ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), bilateral and multilateral donors, non-profit/non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and think tanks in Nigeria. The needs assessment employs a framework that characterizes the situation of malnutrition, access to food, agricultural productivity, and vulnerability in Nigeria. The policy assessment is presented in two broad categories: agricultural economic policy and political prioritization. The former includes measurements of the rural investment climate; pricing and trade distortions that affect national agricultural markets; and the level of expertise in science, technology, and extension services. The latter includes measurements of the government’s prioritization of agriculture, nutrition, and rural social assistance, as well as the enabling environment for women farmers. To assess resource flows, the report examines indicators that measure investment from the public and private sectors.

The assessment follows a comparative analytical approach in which the scorecards for needs, policies, and resources are compared with the situation in Africa and other parts of the world. The study reveals that Nigeria's overall needs are less severe than the average African country, although Nigeria is still ranked 81 out of 116 developing countries globally in the ERH database.
In terms of access to food, Nigeria performs better than the regional average on indicators such undernourishment and average dietary energy supply adequacy whereas its performance on poverty indicators is worse. Malnutrition, especially anemia in children, is severe in Nigeria and
higher than the regional average. Nigeria’s agricultural productivity gap is lower than the regional average although technology and infrastructure gaps are still evident. The scores relating to environmental shocks suggest that Nigeria’s vulnerability is somewhat higher than the regional average. Even though some of the individual vulnerability indicators reveal needs that are much higher or lower than the regional average, the aggregate vulnerability score is substantially lower than the regional average. Food shortages are driven mainly by production and consumption shocks, which vary widely from rural to urban areas. The policy environment is generally weak as evidenced by the overall policy score, which falls below the regional average with the country ranking 97 out of 116 developing countries. All indicators capturing resource flows to FNS are very low and fall below the regional average, indicating that FNS intervention programs have been grossly underfunded, thus partly accounting for the slow progress in achieving desired results.

The country is intensifying efforts to end hunger by 2030 if not earlier. Success will depend on prompt actions by the government to prepare investment plans for FNS intervention programs; improve the rural investment climate through provision of modern infrastructure; expand the operations of the women empowerment fund; reconfigure agricultural subsidies for improved FNS and rural investment; increase local ownership of intervention projects; establish a budget line for nutrition in the relevant MDAs; and target assistance to the most vulnerable groups (such as women of childbearing age (15–49 years), children 6-59 months, school-age children, and internally displaced people, especially in the northeast of the country). At the same time, local NGOs and international agencies must forge effective partnerships with the government and strengthen executive capacity to deliver the outcomes of food security and nutrition interventions.

El hambre mata en Guatemala más personas que las balas cada año. El hambre es una violación de un derecho humano recogido en la Constitución y en una Ley específica en Nicaragua. El hambre es una vergüenza nacional en un país moderno, ilustrado, económicamente desarrollado y perfectamente integrado regional y globalmente como Panamá. Y, sin embargo, el hambre campa a sus anchas en la región centroamericana, afectando a más de cinco millones de personas, el 15% de la población total, en su mayoría niños, niñas y ancianos, y produciendo pérdidas económicas que representan el 6.5% del producto interior bruto de la región. La desnutrición crónica infantil es una cadena perpetua que hipoteca el futuro de nuestra juventud, y que afecta al 48% de la población en Guatemala y está por encima del 20% en Panamá, Nicaragua y Honduras. El hambre es la consecuencia de la negación más absoluta de los medios de vida necesarios para subsistir, y el escalón final de la pobreza extrema. Pasas hambre cuando ya no tienes nada para comer o comprar. Miseria en su estado más puro.

The study has exposed the problems of education system in Nigeria and decent qualities of education system in Japan worthy of emulation as a panacea for revamping Nigerian education system for quality manpower building. Poor education standard in Nigeria stemmed from varieties of factors that are revertible, but the authors are convinced that the adoption, implementation and monitoring of lessons from Japan have the magic wand to revive the ugly trend in Nigeria's education system experienced over the years. Among the articulated lessons needed are: enacting of laws on compulsory basic education, single control and uniformity of education system in Nigeria; sufficient and equal remuneration of all teachers in the country; training, retraining of teachers and adequate reform of teachers to avoid favoritism of any kind; provision of facilities and equipment for learning to all schools in every nook and cranny of the country and avoidance of incessant interruption of education system by industrial strikes.

Este documento presenta un analisis del hambre estacional en Guatemala, que se manifiesta por una variacion regular y marcadamente estacional de la desnutricion aguda infantil, alcanzando picos todos los anhos entre los meses de mayo y septiembre. Se analizan nueve factores que inciden sobre el hambre estacional, indicando las causas de su variacion y su incidencia sobre el estado nutricional de los menores de cinco anhos. Se realizan calendarios especificos de cada zona biogeografica de Guatemala y se propone un Plan de Accion para combatir el Hambre Estacional. Adicionalmente, se presenta por primera vez una propuesta para dar seguimiento a la desnutricion aguda estacional a traves de la metodologia de Corredores Endemicos de Desnutricion Aguda.

Achieving goals of development implies the improvement of the situation of chronic food insecurity. To achieve food security it is necessary to achieve food sufficiency first. In many parts of Ethiopia, chronic food insufficiency is an important and a common problem. As the dimension of this problem is multidisciplinary, its cause and solution also differ from place to place and society to society. On year 2005, the government of Ethiopia started PSNP, the second biggest social protection program in Africa next to South Africa. This study focuses on identifying the determinant factors that influence household’s graduation from the chronic food insufficiency problem in rural parts of Kedida Gamela woreda, Southern Nations.
The survey data is collected from 241 sample program beneficiary household heads, grouping them in to clusters as currently graduated from the program versus  not graduated, using the two stage random sampling method. The data is analyzed using both the descriptive analysis and the econometric model. In the study as it is revealed by the descriptive analysis only 24% of the surveyed households are graduated from the program.
Seven out of thirteen variables become significant at 95% and more level of confidence are included in multivariate analysis. These includes’ age of the household heads, educational status, the full family targeting, livestock holding, participation in credit and the households perception towards graduation. These variables have separate and joint importance in explaining the outcome variable. The marginal effect analysis results which is alternative to the odds ratio and likelihood coefficient, revealed that, for the continuous variables, a unit increase in household’s age, education, farm income and livestock holding improves the graduation probability by, 9%, 6.25%, 5.6%, and 8.46% at their mean value respectively. On the other hand, in the discreet variables, a shift from partial to full family targeting, non-participant to credit-participant and from unwilling to willing to be graduated, improve the likelihood of graduation by 9.5%, 6.5% and 33.4% respectively holding other things constant.
Finally, the policy recommendations are presented based on the above findings; provision of education at every level training for skill especially for people at working age, raising productivity of agricultural sector, supporting creation of employment opportunities and working against psychology of dependency syndrome, are among the policy recommendations to the graduation chronic food insufficiency problem and livelihood of the community.

Large-scale land acquisitions by investors, which are often called ‘land grabs’, can deprive rural women and communities of their livelihoods and land, increasing their food insecurity. This report argues that the current rise in land grabbing needs to be urgently addressed, and focuses on the actions that developing countries can take to mitigate land grabs through strengthening national land governance so that it is transparent, is accountable and protects communities’ rights.

Global agricultural catastrophes, which include nuclear winter and abrupt climate change, could have long-term consequences on humanity such as the collapse and nonrecovery of civilization. Using Monte Carlo (probabilistic) models, we analyze the long-term cost-effectiveness of resilient foods (alternative foods)-roughly those independent of sunlight such as mushrooms. One version of the model populated partly by a survey of global catastrophic risk researchers finds the confidence that resilient foods is more cost effective than artificial general intelligence safety is ∼86% and ∼99% for the 100 millionth dollar spent on resilient foods at the margin now, respectively. Another version of the model based on one of the authors produced ∼95% and ∼99% confidence, respectively. Considering uncertainty represented within our models, our result is robust: reverting the conclusion required simultaneously changing the 3-5 most important parameters to the pessimistic ends. However, as predicting the long-run trajectory of human civilization is extremely difficult, and model and theory uncertainties are very large, this significantly reduces our overall confidence. Because the agricultural catastrophes could happen immediately and because existing expertise relevant to resilient foods could be co-opted by charitable giving, it is likely optimal to spend most of the money for resilient foods in the next few years. Both cause areas generally save expected current lives inexpensively and should attract greater investment.

Se empieza con la discusión sobre la diversidad de conceptos de circuito corto o local food, necesaria
para entender el foco desde el cual se puede pensar el rol de las Centrales Mayoristas (CM). Después, se
tratará el tema de las centrales mayoristas en América Latina, haciendo algunas referencias concretas al
caso de Brasil. El capítulo culminará con un conjunto de recomendaciones para reinventar el rol de las
centrales mayoristas.

The combined effects of climate change, energy scarcity, and water paucity require that we radically rethink our agricultural systems. Countries can and must reorient their agricultural systems toward modes of production that are not only highly productive, but also highly sustainable. Following the 2008 global food price crisis, many developing countries have adopted new food security policies and have made significant investments in their agricultural systems. Global hunger is also back on top of the international agenda. However, the question is not only how much is done, but also how it is done—and what kinds of food systems are now being rebuilt.

Agroecology, the application of ecological science to the study, design, and management of sustainable agriculture, offers a model of agricultural development to meet this challenge. Recent research demonstrates that it holds great promise for the roughly 500 million food-insecure households around the world. By scaling up its practice, we can sustainably improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and thus contribute to feeding a hungry planet.

Purpose This research aims to understand the behaviour of food consumption and waste in Peruvian households at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Exploratory research was carried out with Peruvian households, using a descriptive method design. Data were analysed using descriptive and multivariate statistics. A self-administered questionnaire of 60 questions was used, applied by social networks in May 2020, obtaining 418 valid questionnaires. Findings The main findings allow the identification of a behaviour aiming the avoidance of waste and purchasing with a cost–benefit orientation, which is followed by purchase planning, knowledge and use of information on labels, food storage and cooking skills. Practical implications For companies in the food sector, relevant information is provided on consumer behaviour. For policymakers, elements are provided for the promotion of responsible consumption and zero waste. For the academy, an explanation is provide...

Creative Responses to Sustainability is part of a new series of guides looking at creative responses to sustainability in different countries across  Asia. The first in the series, the Singapore Guide, maps cultural initiatives across Singapore engaging with social and environmental issues. Commissioned by ASEF culture360, funded by the Mondriaan Foundation and authored by Yasmine Ostendorf, the initiator of the EU funded network Green Art Lab Alliance (GALA), this guide features a directory of the 20 most pioneering and significant cultural organisations in Singapore contributing to social and environmental change through their artistic practice.

Furthermore it expands on cultural trends (in relation to sustainability), includes recommendations for the sector and an analysis of the cultural scene, all based on over 60 interviews with local artists, curators, policymakers and academics.

Transcripts of the interviews are available upon request and with full permission of tje interviewee only.

La crisis alimentaria mundial más reciente ha puesto de manifiesto la incapacidad del derecho a la alimentación para atender y prevenir este tipo de situaciones. Ahora es el momento hacer más fuerte y eficaz este derecho, pasando de directrices de cumplimiento voluntario a leyes vinculantes. Como todos sabemos, no hace mucho tiempo, la FAO patrocinó la creación de directrices para el cumplimiento del derecho a la alimentación. Su publicación fue ampliamente celebrada, y se consideró que era el texto más detallado y completo que hubiera existido para hacer que este derecho sea una realidad para millones de personas que padecen hambre. No hay duda de que estas directrices proporcionan un marco exhaustivo para la acción y ofrecen una cobertura detallada de los temas importantes. Sin embargo, las nuevas realidades que han surgido en los últimos años, tal vez con demasiada rapidez y de forma inesperada, han puesto de manifiesto la necesidad de una regulación más completa del derecho a la alimentación que la proporcionada por las directrices. Idealmente, por tanto, su texto debería ser modificado y actualizado.

El propósito de este libro es indicar algunas áreas y temas que tendrán un gran impacto en los próximos años en relación con la aplicación del derecho a la seguridad alimentaria y a los alimentos y que actualmente disponen de escasa o nula regulación. Estos son los nuevos retos a los que va a enfrentarse el derecho a la alimentación en el siglo XXI...

Though India adopted Policy of
Economic Liberalisation in 1991,
the agrarian sector was liberalized in
2004 when more than 400 agrarian
commodities were exposed to global
competition. Food price volatility
became perennial problem after that.
“Price fluctuations are a common feature of
well-functioning agricultural product markets.
But when these become large and unexpected
– volatile – they can have a negative impact
on the food security of consumers, farmers
and entire countries. Since 2007, world
markets have seen a series of dramatic swings
in commodity prices. Food prices reached their
highest levels for 30 years during the summer
of 2008, collapsing the following winter,
before rapidly rising again in the months that
followed. Food prices today remain high, and
are expected to remain volatile.”

Agricultural production and foods are of strategic importance in order to achieve nourishment as the most basic need  of  human.  Several  factors  such  as  the  provision  of food  supply  at  an  adequate  level  and  sharing  of  the produced food equally are related with food safety and security. The objectives of the present study are gathered under  three  groups.  While  firstly  it  is  aimed  to  explain  the  concepts  of  food  safety  and  food  security  within  the historical perspective, secondly it is planned to examine the reasons why food safety and food security could not be achieved in the world -in both global terms and in view of countries’ respective development levels-and to set forth the latest developments in regional terms. Finally, it is aimed to make a general review of the topic in terms of Turkey and to propose solutions to the problems. In this context, while some positive developments in global food safety and security are observed -both in terms of concept and policies and applications-, it is set forth that the  reasons  and  effects  of  the  failure  in  achieving  food  safety  and  reliabilityvary  according  to  the  different development  levels  of  regions  and  countries.  In  Turkey,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  pointed  out  that  while  some developments  concerning  food  safety  are  experienced  in  terms  of  legislation,  there  are  still  problems  in  food safety  practice;  and  improvements  in  food  security,  which  also  involves  food  safety,  can  only be  achieved through the purposes and tools of agricultural policies that also need to be in harmony with macroeconomic and social policies.

Our body compulsory demands food, water and air to keep its vital functions and yet their economic nature is rather diverse
with food mostly considered a private good, water suffering an accelerated privatization process and air so far considered a
global common good. Food has evolved from a common good and local resource to a national asset and then to a
transnational commodity as the commodification process is rather completed nowadays. Cultivated food is fully privatized
and this consideration means that human beings can eat food as long as they have money to but it or means to produce it.
With the dominant no money-no food rationality, hunger still prevails in a world of abundance. In order to provide a sound
foundation for the transition towards sustainable food systems, the very nature of food as a pure private good is contested and
subsequently reversed in this paper, proposing a re-conceptualisation of food as a common good, a necessary narrative for the
redesign of the dominating agro-industrial food system that merely sees food as a tradable commodity. This aspirational
transition shall lead us to a more sustainable, fairer and farmer-centred food system. The idea of the commons is applied to
food, deconstructing food as a pure private good and reconstructing it as an impure commons that can be better produced and
distributed by a hybrid tri-centric governance system compounded by market rules, public regulations and collective actions.
Several food-related elements are already considered as common goods (i.e. fish stocks, wild fruits, cuisine recipes,
agricultural knowledge, food safety regulations and unpatented genetic resources) as well as food’s implications (hunger
eradication) and benefits (public health and good nutrition). Should food and be consider as a commons, the implications for
the governance of the global food system would be enormous, with examples ranging from placing food outside the
framework agreements dealing with pure private goods, banning financial speculation on food commodities or preparing
international binding agreements to govern the production, distribution and access of food to every human being.

Presentacion de la situacion alimentaria mundial, de las causas y consecuencias de la crisis alimentaria, y las posibles alternativas, desde un puno de vista economico, politico y legal. Descripcion de las vias de complementariedad entre la seguridad alimentaria, el derecho a la alimentacion y la soberania alimentaria

Das globale Phänomen Landgrabbing wird zunächst durch aktuelle Zahlen quantitativ dargestellt und durch die Einbettung dieser in verschiedenen Karten veranschaulicht. Es werden Ideologien verschiedener Interessengruppen aufgezeigt, Mechanismen und Zusammenhänge die Landgrabbing ermöglichen und befeuern herausgearbeitet. Durch eine Diskursanalyse werden anhand repräsentativer Akteure und deren Positionen zum Thema politische Allianzen abgeleitet und deren Macht bezüglich des Einwirkens auf das Problem analysiert.

Condition of food security in India is gloomy and is similar to African countries. Both the supply side and demand side factors have their roles in the present condition of food security and undernourishment in India. This study supports that if agriculture production grows; increasing food prices has less bearing on low food security. Problem of food security in India is very much related to low demand. If demand of people can be improved, food security can be achieved. Disaggregated trend of food security shows that problem of food insecurity is high in poor states. Considering disaggregated level of food security, government has passed Food Security Bill in India. Our analysis points out that food security cannot be achieved in India without improving the level of overall agriculture production. Improving agricultural production is essential for ensuring long term food security and promoting poverty reduction. State level condition of storage capacity of food grains also points out that how a state like Bihar with low storage facility will manage to implement this Bill. Without identifying role of market, success of Food Security Bill and reduction of poverty is distant dream.

Este documento tiene como objetivo analizar el Pacto Hambre Cero de Guatemala a la luz de las experiencias latinoamericanas, para asi proponer opciones para mejorar el disenho y la ejecucion del Pacto. Se incluye un análisis institucional, legal y financiero de cuatro programas de lucha contra el hambre en Brasil, Colombia-Antioquia, Nicaragua y Perú, que llevan bastantes anhos de operacion y que han mostrado una reducción significativa de los indicadores de desnutrición crónica y pobreza. Además, el texto presenta un análisis de las fuentes de gasto público en Guatemala y propuestas para mejorar la cantidad y calidad de ese gasto.

Overcoming hunger and meeting the nutritional needs of almost 7 billion people, rising to over 9 billion people by 2050, is a central challenge for this generation. Equally critical will be to achieve this in a way that keeps humanity’s footprint within planetary boundaries. Water scarcity is self-evidently one of the key factors that will limit food production. This is especially
the case in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where malnutrition and food insecurity are already widespread. In these areas, the livelihoods and well-being of poor communities are critically dependent on their farm produce and the ecosystem services from the local landscape that support their livelihoods and income.
This synthesis and background document on Ecosystems for Water and Food Security is part of UNEP’s contribution to the global food crisis, pledged to the United Nations Secretary-General and developed in collaboration with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and other partners. Together, we identified and explored the links between ecosystems, water and food, and illustrate how resilient ecosystems can support and increase food security. It is clear that enormous opportunities exist to increase food production in ways that make optimal and sustainable use of water and other resources. This means that we can feed a global population
without massive and irreversible damage to our ecosystems. It also means that ensuring food security, managing water resources and protecting ecosystems must be considered as a single policy rather than as separate, and sometimes competing, choices.