Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
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Strengthening women´s and youths’ access to innovation support services (ISS): The 24 h’ cassava retting case in Cameroon
Full text linkStrengthening the participation of women and youths in agri-food innovation processes is key to support the development of solutions that meet their needs and that enhance their capacity to drive change in rural areas. We disentangle the 24 hours cassava retting case in Cameroon into three service situations across the ideation, development and dissemination phases. We then assess the intention of inclusion of key innovation support service providers (ISPs) and their approaches, the roles played by women and youths, and the capacity of women and youths to fully benefit from innovation support services (ISS) depending on factors at the personal/agency, relational and structural/environmental levels – an adaptation of the gender-transformative approach (GTA) framework. We find that ISPs wish to target women and youths, but this objective is only assessed in quantitative terms. A deeper understanding of what favors or constrains the capacity to use services and resources of innovative actors at the personal or collective levels would help improve the inclusiveness and quality of ISS, as well as raise awareness of deeper structural changes that are needed at the policy, informal norms and environmental levels. Some women benefit from skills and knowledge, personal traits, as well as from extensive support networks that allow them to overcome the constraining patriarchal norms to innovate. Their capacity to support the active participation of people constrained by e.g. remoteness, health and disability issues or unfavorable gender norms, should be strengthened. This can be supported by extended research and knowledge sharing about innovative solutions found to some specific problems faced by marginalized people across Sub-Saharan Africa. ISPs should also develop, coordinate, and qualitatively assess their activities to help underserved people participate in innovation processes in rural areas
Exploring Communication Aspects in Agricultural Cooperatives
Full text linkThis study investigates the existing communication flows in agricultural cooperatives and the means of communication used by these organizations to communicate with their members . The authors conducted asystematic literature review to address the following questions: How does communication occur in agricultural cooperatives? What means of communication have been adopted by agricultural cooperatives? What are the main theories supporting the analysis of communication issues in these organizations? There is evidence in the literature that inadequate communication between management and cooperative members can be one of the reasons for organizational failure. Inconsistent and ineffective communication can create a disconnect between members andorganizations. In addition, communication is an important mechanism capable of improving the commitment of members to the cooperative. Despite this, agricultural cooperatives are slow to incorporate more diverse and effective means of communication to reach their varied audiences
Halal Blockchain Application for a Chicken Slaughtering Factory
Full text linkThe vast majority of traded products in Indonesia must be halal certified. This means that Indonesian consumers rely heavily on certificates issued by the Indonesian halal authority. Halal certification validates individual products and after four years, a certificate expires and must be renewed. One of the requirements in the certification process is that all the ingredients of the product must be halal. For this reason, we attempted to enhance the information on halal products, production, processes and delivery processes, using blockchain to address the validity issue. This paper proposes a blockchain-based system to support traceability in the chicken slaughterhouse industry. The design was tested using a black-box approach with 46 test cases that were based on a general scenario in a chicken slaughterhouse factory. The test result showed that all test cases produced the desired output. Hence, the proposed system fulfills the goal of enhancing the traceability of halal products. Ultimately, the buyers of halal chicken products will be assured that the chicken slaughterhouse followed the halal assurance system in its halal-critical processes
The Value of Urban Farming in Oslo, Norway: Community Gardens, Aquaponics and Vertical Farming
Full text linkUrban agriculture is increasingly recognized as an important sustainable pathway for climate change adaptation and mitigation, for building more resilient cities, and for citizens’ health. Urban agriculture systems appear in many forms – both commercial and non-commercial. The value of the services derived from urban agriculture, e.g., enhanced food security, air quality, water regulation, and high level of biodiversity, is often difficult to quantify to inform policymakers and the general public in their decision making. We perform a contingent valuation survey of four different types of urban agriculture Where the citizens of Oslo are asked about their attitudes and willingness to pay non-commercial (urban community gardens and urban gardens for work training, education and kindergartens) and for commercial (i.e. aquaponics and vertical production) forms of urban agriculture. Results show that the citizens of Oslo are willing to increase their tax payments to contribute to further development of urban farming in Oslo
An Overview of the Effect of Covid-19 on Household Food Waste: How Does the Pandemic Affect Food Waste at the Household Level?
Full text linkThe COVID-19 outbreak created one of the largest pandemics globally, with the world health organization (WHO) declaring several measures, including restriction of movement to curtail the spread of the virus. Reducing food waste is critical to achieving healthy nutrition and sustainability in food systems. In this regard, private households have consistently been regarded as key actors in food waste generation. Hence, this study examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food waste in homes. A total of 1098 respondents were asked questions on how the pandemic affected their food preparation and consumption pattern, food purchasing and food waste. Compared with the situation before COVID19, there is a significant increase in kitchen spending and bread-making at home. Moreover, food waste generation and the frequency of eating out and food purchasing were reduced. Waste generation was higher in bakery products, left-over foods, and fruits and vegetables. Respondents suggested prudent meal preparation and consumption, increased awareness, and food purchasing restrictions as measures to reduce food waste. Overall, the pandemic has led to more stringent planning in household spendings and attitudinal changes regarding food preparation and consumption, resulting in a significant reduction in food waste and may have contributed to curtailing the spread of the COVID-19 virus
Vertical Coordination to Smallholder Small Grain Growers in Zimbabwe: Benefits of Contract Farming and Policy Implications
Full text linkZimbabwe’s agro-ecological regions IV and V lie in low rainfall areas and food security is a perennial concern. Vertical coordination strategies and market institutions provide hope for building farmer resilience in regions affected by climate change in Zimbabwe. This study focused on four districts (Binga, Chiredzi, Hwange, Matobo) which are in regions IV and V. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 281 respondents. Probit and Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the determinants. Results show that contract farmers allocated more than 3 hectares to small grains agricultural enterprise. The research established that long distances to markets, access to credit, extension services and affiliation to farming groups are some critical determinants which influence market participation and yields sold
Food Security: An Analysis of Food Systems within Africa
Full text linkGlobally, Africa’s food security is the lowest but an in-depth quantitative analysis on its food system is still lacking. To achieve this, food production is used as the indicator for food availability and food price, as the proxy for food access at the continental and regional level respectively. The different dimensions studied focused on the crop production-population (cpp) system and food price correlations/tail dependence. The cpp was found to be stable and the preservation of this stability under a reduced (constant) crop production (population) was verified by the Vasicek model. In contrast, an increase in the population destabilized the system. Given that food insecurity is much more prevalent in East Africa (EA), the extreme quarterly maize prices in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia were analyzed using rank correlation measures, copulas, univariate and bivariate generalized extreme value theory. For all years (2006-2019), Kenya-Ethiopia exhibited the highest correlation while Somalia-Kenya, the lowest. Across different periods, the global food crises (global stressor) stimulated a higher correlation between price-pairs than the widespread drought (local stressor) in EA. Tail dependence is present but asymptotic dependence is absent for all pairs
Relevance of animal welfare for poultry meat consumers – results of multinational focus groups
Full text linkFarm animal husbandry is increasingly criticized by consumers within Europe. A fundamental increase in welfare standards for German poultry meat would entail higher production costs that have to be covered. Since Germany exports a high proportion of produced poultry meat, the question arises whether consumers from key export countries are interested in purchasing poultry meat produced under improved husbandry conditions. Therefore, this paper gives insights into consumer attitudes and perceptions regarding animal welfare poultry meat in the study countries Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Data was obtained by conducting focus group discussions. The objective was to find out what relevance farm animal welfare has for consumers’ poultry meat purchase decisions in the countries under consideration. Animal welfare is mainly stated to be an important product attribute, although it obtains less importance than other product attributes such as quality and price. Consumers claimed that farm animals should have a “good life” and that they should have the possibility to follow their natural behaviour while growing up. Although a large number of participants stated to be willing to pay a higher price for poultry meat which is produced under improved husbandry conditions, the price has still proven to be a strong limiting factor for purchase decisions in all study countries. The main motivating factors for buying animal welfare poultry meat is the perception of a better quality as well as ethical concerns. In order to achieve more transparency for their purchase decision, consumers would like to receive more information on poultry living conditions and the requirements of animal welfare labels
The relationship between citizens' perceptions of farmers and the overall assessment of farm animal husbandry in Germany: a case of four animal types and two production systems
Full text linkCitizens' perceptions of farmers are considered one of the most important factors influencing the overall assessment of livestock production. Therefore, this study aims to explore this relationship considering four different types of animals: Dairy cows, fattening pigs, broilers and laying hens for both conventional and organic farming systems. In analyzing the data, a contingency table analysis with chi-square test was performed. The values of the adjusted residuals were used as a post hoc test. The results showed that each of the five perception statements was significantly associated with the assessment of conventional and organic livestock production for all types. The results of this study are useful for understanding the overall assessment of the types and systems studied and for planning future research
A European skills strategy for the agri-food and forestry sectors – key challenges and prerequisites
Full text linkThe Erasmus+ FIELDS project aims to contribute to skill enhancement of workers in the agriculture, food industry and forestry sectors, to be able to make full use of the opportunities and comply with requirements of the ‘’Twin’’ Green and Digital transition. The FIELDS project focuses on the domains Digitalization, Sustainability, Bio-Economy and Management & Entrepreneurship. Skills include ‘’hard’’/ measurable and technology-based skills as well as ‘’soft’’ / transversal skills.This paper reports on key challenges and prerequisites for the development of a European Agri-Food and Forestry Skills Strategy. Starting with the results of a European agri-food-forestry trend analysis and focus groups discussion on skill and training needs in 10 European countries, this paper presents the results of a follow-up survey among key stakeholders of the European skills ecosystem, including the following topics: prerequisites for the development of training programs, harmonization challenges in the European agri-food and forestry skills ecosystem, and monitoring and key performance indicators the European agri-food and forestry skills ecosystem.The paper develops directions for a EU strategy on agri-food and forestry skills, including:- In the development of training programs in Europe special attention should be paid to management/entrepreneurship and soft skills, the position of training in practice, possibilities for online training, and attention to underprivileged groups- For the harmonization of the agri-food and forestry European skills ecosystem a common European catalogue and repository of training programs, linked to national systems, together with a system of micro credentials, is needed. This should be aligned with a harmonized certification system for VET courses/programs and VET providers. Agreement between public and private parties on the catalogue and certification system is essential.- A supra-national institute should be responsible for design and maintenance of a monitoring infrastructure for skills. The system to be designed should be smart, user friendly, upgradeable and interoperable. The newly established Agri-food Pact for Skills can play a central role in the establishment and governance of an ‘’Agri-food Skills Observatory’’