The dry lowlands of Ethiopia are seasonally affected by long periods of low rainfall and, coinciding with rainfall in the Amhara highlands, flood waters which flow onto the lowlands resulting in damage to landscapes and settlements. In an attempt to convert water from storm generated floods into productive use, this study proposes a methodology using remote sensing data and geographical information system tools to identify potential sites where flood spreading weirs may be installed and farming systems developed which produce food and fodder for poor rural communities.

With economic development agricultural systems in the Global South transform from subsistence farming to higher productivity with market integration and increase in rural income and food security. In Nepal, agriculture continues to provide livelihoods for two-thirds of the predominantly rural population, largely at a subsistence-level. Rice is the staple food and covers the largest land area but yields are relatively low, with an annual import bill of USD 300 Million. The study uses data from 310 households from two distinct rice producing areas to assess farmers' rice production systems.

Effective interfaces of knowledge and policy are critical for food system transformation. Here, an expert group assembled to explore research needs towards a safe and just food system put forward principles to guide relations between society, science, knowledge, policy and politics.

Biodiversity flourishes in areas where natural processes, such as plant and animal reproduction and dispersion, take place without human interruption. At present, we estimate that such land where natural processes predominate (LNPP) covers 56% of terrestrial land. Here, the evolution of global biodiversity is modelled, as indicated by LNPP, for two scenarios for food and land-use systems change to 2050: a “Current Trends” pathway, based on current policies and historical trends, and a “Sustainable” pathway, depicting ambitious assumptions aimed at sustainable development.

The new Kenyan government faces a complex domestic and global environment, and it is widely expected to address key food and agricultural challenges with a new set of policies and programs. This policy brief presents key recommendations from a forthcoming book, Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future, which provides research-based “food for thought and action” to support the Kenyan government’s efforts to improve food security.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many researchers and international organizations voiced concerns about the resilience of food value chains amid lockdowns and border closures, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (Laborde et al. 2020; Reardon, Bellemare, and Zilberman 2020; Resnick 2020). This chapter explores the pandemic’s effects on dairy and vegetable value chains in Ethiopia’s capital through mid-2021.

The challenges relating to biodiversity loss, food insecurity and climate change show the urgent need to make transition towards sustainable food systems in West Africa. To bring about such a transition worldwide, the United Nations’ Food Systems Summit was held in September 2021. One of the main outcomes of the Summit was the national pathways to sustainable food systems. This review analyses whether and how agro-biodiversity is addressed in the food system transformation pathways submitted by West African countries in the framework of the Summit.

Many Kenyan base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) consumers—defined as the poorest two-thirds of the economic human pyramid—remain food insecure, despite the availability of nutrient-dense foods in the market. This study reveals how effective marketing strategies can strengthen food security among BoP consumers through increased access to nutritious foods such as nutrient-dense porridge flour. Nutrient-dense porridge flour refers to a multi-composite porridge flour composed of diverse nutritious ingredients that are necessary to achieve a healthy diet.

This paper explores the conditions under which the changes leading to the Great Transformation of food systems called upon by a growing number of international experts and development agencies, will (or not) happen. After discussing the meanings of ‘transformation’ in the specific context of food systems, we draw on different elements of political economy to show how various self-reinforcing dynamics are contributing to lock food systems in their current unsustainable trajectories.

This chapter discusses the process of building an Food and Nutrition Security policy in Cali. The conclusion, asks a number of key questions as part of an analysis of the main driving forces behind the successful construction and formulation.