(Re)assessing Climate-Smart Agriculture practices for sustainable food systems outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa:The case of Bono East Region,Ghana

This research paper assesses the reality of Climate-Smart Agriculture(CSA)practices’potential to promote the outcomes of sustainable food systems(SFS)within Ghana’s smallholding agriculture context.The study demon-strates that rural farmers generally perceive CSA’s contribution to‘food and nutrition security’and‘economic performance’as more important than CSA’s contribution to‘social equity’and‘environmental stewardship’.From a narrow perspective,the study demonstrates that farmers perceive CSA’s potential to‘prevent pest and disease outbreaks’and‘increase human capital information’as the most important contribution of CSA to SFS outcomes.In contrast,CSA’s potential to promote environmental stewardship is perceived as the least important among Ghana’s rural farmers.This enormity of displacement of smallholders’perceptions at large is motivated by de-mographic,socioeconomic and ecological factors.Moreso,the CSA for SFS outcomes narratives is driven by farmers’self-apprise,social networks and other local information dissemination agents.Furthermore,research findings suggest farmers’awareness of CSA practices and interventions is deficient owing to unmet training and information needs for approximately 82%of the CSA practices and interventions.This situation elucidates the dichotomy of CSA practices’narratives as tools for attaining food,nutrition security and economic performance to the detriment of critical issues such as increasing awareness and building farmers’capacity to engage with CSA practices while also managing socio-ecological trade-offs that emerge over time due to engagement with CSA.Critical(re)orientation is needed across the scale to drive CSA practices and interventions that confine cli-mate adaptation and food production practices within safe planetary boundaries without undermining social,economic,food and nutrition security needs.

The Impact of Climate Change on Sustainable Food Supply and Environmental Safety in Ekiti State, Nigeria

The resultant climate change on sustainable food supply has greatly affected agricultural production by the level of great volumes of gasses emitted into the atmosphere by human activities. The human factors that emit large amount of green house gases include industrialization, burning of fossil fuel and gas flaring. Increase in air temperature and consequent increase in the rates of evaporation also affect the level of food supply. Data for this study were collected from primary and secondary sources. Primary source were collected through field investigation and structured questionnaire. A total of 450 questionnaires were administered. Results revealed that varieties of crops ranging from tree crops to cereals were cultivated within the study area. The effect of climate change on food supply has resulted into change in crop yields, change in rainfall pattern, soil loss and has greatly affected planting period and harvesting. The study therefore recommended awareness campaigns on the causes and consequences of global climate change on food production, environmental education and afforestation campaign programmes on sustainable food supply and environmental safety must be intensified.

Sustainable food waste management using modified fuzzy improved analytic hierarchy process:a study of Malaysia

Food waste generation is a pressing issue that requires urgent attention and concerted efforts worldwide.The staggering amount of food wasted each year not only wastes valuable resources but also exacerbates environmental,economic,and social challenges.Food Waste Management(FWM)consists of a complex array of criteria and sub-criteria,and treatments which seems interdependent.There is a need to evaluate the FWM with the help of important criteria and sub-criteria and treatments to address this challenge.In this study,we identified four important criteria,21 sub-criteria,and four alternatives of FWM for the case of Malaysia using the integrated approach of literature review and expert opinions.Further,we employed the approach of Modified Fuzzy Improved Analytical Hierarchy Process(IAHP)to corroborate the interrelationships among the identified criteria and sub-criteria,and their associated treatments.This study undertakes linear normalization methods to transform data into comparable numerical values and the Geometric Mean method to handle uncertainty in human judgments.Moreover,the Centroid method is employed to convert fuzzy weights into crisp sets for ease of interpretation.The results indicate that environmental is the most essential criterion,followed by social,economic,and technical.In addition,air and water pollution is identified as the most critical sub-criteria.Black Soldier Fly is discovered as the most sustainable FWM treatment,since it performs the best while meeting all the criteria and sub-criteria assessed.Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the outputs from the proposed method are robust and reliable.The finding suggests a proper and robust approach to help decision-makers select suitable FWM treatments to tackle various criteria and alternatives especially when handling inconsistent and uncertain judgments during evaluation.

An assessment of “fishing down marine food webs” in coastal states during 1950–2010

Mean trophic level of fishery landings（MTL） is one of the most widely used biodiversity indicators to assess the impacts of fishing. Based on the landing data compiled by Food and Agriculture Organization combined with trophic information of relevant species in Fish Base, we evaluated the status of marine fisheries from 1950 to 2010 for different coastal states in Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We found that the phenomenon of ＂fishing down marine food webs＂ occurred in 43 states. Specifically, 27 states belonged to ＂fishing-through＂ pattern, and 16 states resulted from ＂fishing-down＂ scenario. The sign of recovery in MTL was common in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans（occurred in 20 states）, but was generally accompanied by significantly decreased catches of traditional low trophic level species. In particular, 11 states showed significant declining catches of lower trophic levels. The MTL-based assessment of ＂fishing down marine food webs＂ needs to be interpreted cautiously.

Sustainable food production in marginal lands--Case of GDLA member countries

Sustainable food production in the changing climate and dwindling water resources in the Global Dry Land Alliance(GDLA)member countries is a real challenge,especially when considering marginal lands in dryland systems.The definition of marginal land is very vague and defined from different perspectives(pragmatism about marginal lands).Dryland itself indicates"marginality"due to water stress.In general,the abandoned agriculture land where food production is not economical,and has low inherent productivity potential is considered marginal;however,a land may be marginal for agriculture but vital for grazing.In this paper attempts have been made to give review of literature(water stress,extent of marginal saline lands,marginality).Policy matters(development of soil,water and agriculture strategies)that GDLA and member countries should consider for future sustainable food production in their countries,including but not limited to,assessment of land resources for agriculture potential,defining,mapping and characterizing marginal lands,and use of innovative technologies(conservation agriculture,climate smart agriculture,integrated soil reclamation program and capacity building)for food production,are discussed.The international perception(FAO,UNEP,CGIAR)on marginal lands is also described.An innovative approach of using national biocapacity and ecological footprint is used to assess marginality of GDLA member countries.Ecological overshoot(using 1.5 earth planets)and biocapacity debtor and creditor countries are highlighted.Challenges and best management practices for food production in marginal lands are included.Other important issues,like leasing land abroad,GDLA strategic food reserves and best management practices,innovative ideas for food production are shared.Finally recommendations are drafted for actions by GDLA,its member countries and the partners.

可持续食物供给导向的城市边缘区农林用地规划与空间管控研究

Commercial agricultural production, which has altered the global distribution of farmland, garden plot, and woodland, cuts links between cities and their neighboring production land, as well as links between production land and the environment, affecting the quality of food supply and inducing ecological crisis. Closely related to urban-rural public welfare and regional ecological security, sustainable food supply, which is featured by various types, local production, and short-chain transportation, is an effective way to address the negative impact of commercial agriculture. This paper clarifies the important role of agricultural and forest land in urban fringe areas through analyzing the functional connotation and spatial bases of sustainable food supply, and proposes a planning strategy for systematic land protection and efficient spatial management in accordance with the current situation of food supply and compound demands in urban areas. Specifically, it consists of: identifying the land and the support space with potential for diversified food production;establishing an agriculture and forestry support network system and integrating it into regional landscape ecological network;guiding the low impact utilization of production units by following the natural process and resource characteristics;enhancing land protection efficiency based on supporting links.