Agriculture Food And Food Security

Agriculture, Food and Food Security: Some Global Perspectives is an edited collection of scholarly work. The book looks at agriculture and food in a framework of enhancing food security. The seven chapters that comprise the volume are written by successful international scholars with sterling academic publication records. The authors live and work in countries across the world including Jamaica, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Together, they have conducted numerous research projects and published a high volume of scholarly articles on issues related to the central themes of this book: agriculture, food and food security. The chapters in the book provide insights into several key themes centered on food, agriculture, and food and nutrition security. The volume explores some pressing issues including food desserts, micro-nutrient deficiencies, increasing food production by tapping into the potential of already known species, localising food production, maximizing the food and nutrition potential of tropical fruits, and agricultural vulnerability in the context of the most pressing global threats: climate change and variability.

Agriculture, Food and Food Security: Some Global Perspectives is an edited collection of scholarly work. The book looks at agriculture and food in a framework of enhancing food security. The seven chapters that comprise the volume are written by successful international scholars with sterling academic publication records. The authors live and work in countries across the world including Jamaica, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Together, they have conducted numerous research projects and published a high volume of scholarly articles on issues related to the central themes of this book: agriculture, food and food security. The chapters in the book provide insights into several key themes centered on food, agriculture, and food and nutrition security. The volume explores some pressing issues including food desserts, micro-nutrient deficiencies, increasing food production by tapping into the potential of already known species, localizing food production, maximizing the food and nutrition potential of tropical fruits, and agricultural vulnerability in the context of the most pressing global threats: climate change and variability.

Sustainable Food and Agriculture: An Integrated Approach is the first book to look at the imminent threats to sustainable food security through a cross-sectoral lens. As the world faces food supply challenges posed by the declining growth rate of agricultural productivity, accelerated deterioration of quantity and quality of natural resources that underpin agricultural production, climate change, and hunger, poverty and malnutrition, a multi-faced understanding is key to identifying practical solutions. This book gives stakeholders a common vision, concept and methods that are based on proven and widely agreed strategies for continuous improvement in sustainability at different scales. While information on policies and technologies that would enhance productivity and sustainability of individual agricultural sectors is available to some extent, literature is practically devoid of information and experiences for countries and communities considering a comprehensive approach (cross-sectoral policies, strategies and technologies) to SFA. This book is the first effort to fill this gap, providing information on proven options for enhancing productivity, profitability, equity and environmental sustainability of individual sectors and, in addition, how to identify opportunities and actions for exploiting cross-sectoral synergies. Provides proven options of integrated technologies and policies, helping new programs identify appropriate existing programs Presents mechanisms/tools for balancing trade-offs and proposes indicators to facilitate decision-making and progress measurement Positions a comprehensive and informed review of issues in one place for effective education, comparison and evaluation

This volume provides an interdisciplinary collection of studies that cover the trends and issues related to agricultural productivity and availability, food and nutrition security, and sustainability in India. The book discusses a broad range of vital issues concerning the production and consumption of food during the era of climate change, and has been prepared to generate awareness of these issues in a large agricultural economy to shed light on new perspectives and solutions to achieve sustainable food production and security in India. The book is organized into three major sections: Climate and Agricultural Productivity for Availability, Changes and Trends in Cropping Patterns and Food Security, and Food and Nutrition Security for Sustainable Development. The book will be of interest to students, researchers, policymakers, and other inquisitive readers interested in different aspects of agriculture, food and nutrition security, and sustainable development.

Roughly a billion people around the world continue to live in state of chronic hunger and food insecurity. Unfortunately, efforts to improve their livelihoods must now unfold in the context of a rapidly changing climate, in which warming temperatures and changing rainfall regimes could threaten the basic productivity of the agricultural systems on which most of the world’s poor directly depend. But whether climate change represents a minor impediment or an existential threat to development is an area of substantial controversy, with different conclusions wrought from different methodologies and based on different data. This book aims to resolve some of the controversy by exploring and comparing the different methodologies and data that scientists use to understand climate’s effects on food security. In explains the nature of the climate threat, the ways in which crops and farmers might respond, and the potential role for public and private investment to help agriculture adapt to a warmer world. This broader understanding should prove useful to both scientists charged with quantifying climate threats, and policy-makers responsible for crucial decisions about how to respond. The book is especially suitable as a companion to an interdisciplinary undergraduate or graduate level class.

Knowledge of Africa’s complex farming systems, set in their socio-economic and environmental context, is an essential ingredient to developing effective strategies for improving food and nutrition security. This book systematically and comprehensively describes the characteristics, trends, drivers of change and strategic priorities for each of Africa’s fifteen farming systems and their main subsystems. It shows how a farming systems perspective can be used to identify pathways to household food security and poverty reduction, and how strategic interventions may need to differ from one farming system to another. In the analysis, emphasis is placed on understanding farming systems drivers of change, trends and strategic priorities for science and policy. Illustrated with full-colour maps and photographs throughout, the volume provides a comprehensive and insightful analysis of Africa’s farming systems and pathways for the future to improve food and nutrition security. The book is an essential follow-up to the seminal work Farming Systems and Poverty by Dixon and colleagues for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank, published in 2001.

This book describes initiatives and concrete examples on sustainable food production worldwide. In the current world scenario, where nations all over the world are struggling to accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to ensure sustainable patterns for all, this book provides a contribution towards a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the cross-cutting issues related to Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. This interdisciplinary book supports the efforts to engage a commitment from all fields of science, to work together to provide knowledge that could help to address SDG2 (No hunger) and lead to the promotion of quality of life, by means of a more sustainable food production, and improved food security. This book is expected to fill the gap of publications in this field. It gives a special emphasis to a state-of-the-art descriptions of approaches, methods, initiatives and projects from universities, stakeholders, organizations and civil society across the world, regarding cross-cutting issues in sustainable food production. It includes examples of policies and practices case studies, examples of projects, institutional policies, innovative methods and tools and research outputs, which highlight the interdependence between sustainable agriculture and food security issues. It is expected that the “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security” will make the many benefits of sustainable food production clearer and, inter alia, lead to an increase in the emphasis provided to this central theme.

This publication reports on current work in progress to raise the agricultural productivity of a wide range of crops, in eco-friendly ways and in a number of countries around the world, using an agroecological methodology called the System of Crop Intensification (SCI). Through a shift in plant management, SCI allows farmers to increase their production while simultaneously reducing purchased inputs, building soil health, reducing water use, and making plants more resilient to climate change-induced stress.

'The instability of the global food supply system requires our urgent attention. There are no easy solutions but the starting point must entail a critical analysis of the existing institutions governing the ownership and exchange of the plant genetic resources that underpin our long-term food security. Dr Chiarolla's book makes a valuable contribution to the debate.' – Graham Dutfield, University of Leeds, UK 'This book captures some of the key issues underlying the ever-lasting food crises both at national and global levels. It demonstrates how global policies impact national and local actions while food insecurity seems to be a constant companion to many, in spite of decades of our work on securing food as a fundamental right for the poor.' – Balakrishna Pisupati, United Nations Environment Programme, Kenya 'This thoughtful book raises important issues about ownership of agricultural resources, the environment and food security. Claudio Chiarolla has written an important book that challenges traditional notions of plant genetic resources and agricultural research. The author's detailed and thorough approach ensures that the book will make a valuable contribution to the debate about sustainable agricultural development and it is highly recommended to anyone interested in intellectual property rights and sustainable agriculture.' – Duncan Matthews, Queen Mary, University of London, UK This well-researched book focuses on international governance of crop diversity and agricultural innovation. It highlights the implications that the future control of food, including access to agricultural resources and technologies, might have for global food security. Claudio Chiarolla analyses developmental implications of global regulatory reforms that impact on access to agricultural knowledge, science and technology for sustainable development. Current global arrangements fall short of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals' framework. Therefore, the book proposes ways to achieve international equity in the way agricultural research is conducted, how its results are disseminated and the benefits shared. This definitive study will be appreciated by anyone interested in intellectual property, agricultural innovation, environmental policy, biotechnology and associated regulatory challenges. It will be a valuable resource for policymakers and practitioners, legislators, academic professionals, civil society activists and scholars in legal, environment and development studies.