Grain legumes play a multifunctional role in addressing food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), yet they remain under-prioritised in agricultural policy and research. This opinion paper argues that grain legumes should be recognised as strategic crops in SSA because they greatly contribute to soil fertility through symbiotic nitrogen fixation, improve dietary protein, fibre and micronutrient intake, enhance crop and cropping system diversification, and strengthen resilience to climatic and economic challenges. Despite these benefits, poor seed systems, biotic and abiotic constraints, limited policy support, post-harvest losses, and uneven research investment continue to constrain their potential. Greater integration of grain legumes into national food security strategies, breeding programmes, extension services, and market development is essential for building productive, nutritious, and environmentally sustainable food systems in the SSA.
This study evaluates the application of quantitative network analysis as a novel approach to mapping interlinkages and identifying influential drivers within food systems, using Australia as a case study. Leveraging longitudinal data from 1991 to 2022 and employing ts2net package, we analyse 40 food system elements, spanning drivers, activities and outcomes. The analysis revealed that networks of associations in the food system vary in strength, with elements possessing numerous weaker connections exerting greater influence across the food system than those with fewer, stronger ties. Climate change and socio-demographic changes have been identified as key influential drivers in the Australian food system. Clustering analysis identified two distinct sub-systems: the Agri-food and the food and nutrition sub-systems. While network analysis uncovers structural interlinkages and suggests potential directional relationships, it does not establish causality; thus, identified connections should be treated as candidates for further investigation through rigorous econometric methods. As a complementary tool, network analysis can support food system transformation and foresight efforts by identifying key drivers, tracing cascading effects of changes in elements, and revealing weak or missing linkages. However, its effectiveness is constrained by data availability and the limitations of current metrics, emphasizing the need for improved data reporting systems to support comprehensive food system analysis.
Tropical river basins are biodiversity hotspots that critically support food and nutrition security for millions of people. However, the interactions between biodiversity, market dynamics, and food security in rapidly transforming riverine systems remain insufficiently understood, particularly in terms of how ecological diversity translates into actual food provisioning under market-driven conditions. This study addresses this gap by integrating basin-wide fish biodiversity surveys, market flow analysis, and a Food Dependence Index (FDI) within a system-level stress-testing framework to evaluate food-system structure and vulnerability in Thailand’s Yom River Basin. We find that despite more than 95
Regenerative agriculture (RA) is a grassroot approach to farming that uses soil conservation as an entry point to regenerate and contribute to multiple ecosystem services. It has the potential to build farm system resilience, improve soil health and soil carbon sequestration, and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. RA can also increase land productivity with ensuing implications on livelihoods and welfare, but little work considers their food and nutrition security implications. This paper studied a bundle of soil-focused agronomic practices often framed as RA in recent policy debates and examined their association with diets and food security. Employing a two-wave panel data set from Zambia with well-suited estimation strategies, the paper shows a positive association between RA and household dietary diversity scores (HDDS). The paper also highlights a positive association between RA and a 24-hour weighted food consumption score. Practices such as contour farming, crop rotation, and mulching are positively correlated with improved dietary quality and enhanced food security. To explain the positive link between RA, diets and food security, the paper identified farm production diversity, market participation, off-farm participation, and income as potential pathways. Heterogeneity analysis of the HDDS food groups showed a positive association between RA and the consumption of eggs, pulses, roots and tubers, and fruits and vegetables. This strengthens the finding that farm production diversity could be one of the pathways linking RA and food security in Zambia. Relatedly, the negative association between RA and the consumption of dairy products bolsters the market participation pathway. These findings lend credence to the importance of strengthening RA and promoting its adoption in smallholder farming systems.
Slovakia experienced severe food price pressure from 2020 to 2023, placing substantial pressure on the economic access dimension of household food security, particularly among vulnerable households. This study aims to identify the socio-economic characteristics of households classified as belonging to the risk group. The risk group is defined as households in the top decile of the distribution of the ratio of expenditures on staples to disposable income, used as a proxy for food expenditure vulnerability. Using microdata from the Slovak Household Budget Survey (2020–2023), we employ the Categorical Boosting machine learning algorithm combined with SHapley Additive exPlanations to analyse complex, non-linear predictors of vulnerability. The results show that the income burden of essential food consumption rose markedly over the studied period. Food expenditure vulnerability is primarily concentrated among groups with limited earning capacity, specifically single-parent households, families with multiple children, the unemployed, the disabled, pensioners, and tenants. Furthermore, the analysis highlights significant regional disparities, with households in rural areas and eastern Slovakia facing a disproportionately higher risk compared to the capital. Notably, during the peak inflation years (2022–2023), food expenditure vulnerability expanded beyond traditional risk groups, making socio-economic profiles less distinct. The main findings are robust to alternative vulnerability thresholds and are supported by comparison with a weighted logistic regression benchmark. Interaction effects indicate higher predicted risk when disadvantages accumulate, such as among rural households in the Prešov region. These findings suggest that while universal support measures are necessary during shocks, policymakers must develop targeted interventions focused on specific demographic profiles and structurally weaker regions to effectively mitigate the adverse effects of food inflation.
Humanitarian assistance programs in low- and middle- income countries often depend on household surveys conducted at a single point in the year to identify which households are food insecure and eligible for assistance. Yet household food security can fluctuate substantially across seasons and weeks. As a result, a one-time survey conducted during an unusually good or bad week may misidentify households’ actual food security status, leading to targeting errors, either incorrectly including or excluding households from assistance. Utilizing unique year-long weekly financial diary data and Monte Carlo simulations that replicate single-round household surveys, we quantify misclassification rates for three widely used food security indicators. Misclassification rates for a single indicator are substantial, ranging from 15 to 48 percent. Combining multiple indicators reduces misclassification rates to approximately 6 to 15 percent, using data and tools already available to program implementers.
This study aimed to assess the prevalence, severity, predictors, and lived experiences of food insecurity among women enrolled in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study in the USA in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that pre-existing socioeconomic and health-related disparities would heighten the risk of worsening food insecurity during the pandemic. The 10-item US Household Food Security Survey was administered to participants three times between June and September 2020. Multilevel mixed-effects ordered logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of worsening food security compared to pre-pandemic baseline data. Qualitative interviews were conducted among a subset of participants to add understanding of the lived experience of food insecurity during the pandemic, beyond what quantitative measures could provide. Among 1,506 women, 28
Food security has emerged as a global imperative for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. China, the world’s second most populous country, has long prioritized food security in national strategies, and is actively promoting a transition towards a sustainable agri-food system. However, the understanding of China’s food security governance and its integration of sustainability considerations remains fragmented. This review employs a systematic policy mapping approach to analyze the evolution of China’s food security policy framework, with particular attention to its integration with environmental protection and land-use management. By extracting and organizing policy measures from 1971 to 2025, the policy review reveals a steady policy transition toward sustainable and resilient food systems. Food supply has diversified beyond cultivated land, with a rising prominence of grassland agriculture that prioritizes ecosystem services over mere production. Since 2000, environmental protection has been systematically embedded into food security governance, with water, soil, and biodiversity as core priorities under an integrated prevention-protection-restoration governance mode. Land-use policies continue to center on cultivated land protection, complemented by spatial optimization. Spatial optimization has evolved into a foundational principle of land-use management, supporting the coordinated planning of cultivated land and grassland for reconciling production and environmental goals. The observed increase in policy integrations is enabled by a broadening array of policy actors engaging in cross-sectoral coordination. China’s food security policy agenda has embarked on a more holistic and sustainable food systems transformation pathway, providing valuable insights and references for other countries seeking similar integrated governance.
Promoting sustainable urban food systems has proven to be a challenging task for many urban administrations. This requires a systemic approach that considers the entire food supply chain and the crucial role which cities and urban policies can play in influencing food systems transition. While cities are pioneering many local innovations, scaling these towards a transition remains a challenge. This longitudinal study followed eleven European cities working on local food agendas and associated innovations for a period of three years. The study examines barriers and drivers for upscaling and outscaling urban food systems innovations, providing insights for successful strategies for urban policy makers to promote a transition towards sustainable, resilient urban food systems. The analysis shows how cities struggle with fragmentation in policy and budget structures, often relying on short-term funding for food-related projects. Strong political commitment, dedicated budgets, cross-departmental integration and stakeholder collaboration drive change. Cities with formal food policies, strong local political support, and active stakeholder networks achieve greater impact. Engaging diverse stakeholders and investing in human capacity leverages resources, promotes knowledge exchange, and supports scaling. Flexible, context-sensitive governance outscaling strategies help tailor initiatives to local conditions and adapt to evolving local contexts. But transforming food systems also requires a long-term vision, which ideally embeds food policy into broader urban agendas ensuring stable funding and leveraging local partnerships. Long-term strategies, continuous learning, and adaptive governance are essential to sustaining food systems innovations beyond project cycles, fostering resilient and sustainable urban food environments.
As the international development community increasingly prioritizes nutrition outcomes, incorporating healthy diets into poverty measurements has important implications for what it means to be poor. Particularly for low- and middle-income countries dependent on domestic agriculture and low-cost food imports, evaluating the access to healthy diets is crucial to meeting food security goals. This paper provides the most expansive poverty assessment using the cost of basic needs approach in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 15 years. In doing so, we compare a standard cost of basic needs poverty line where the food poverty line is defined by modest diets aligned with consumption patterns that meet a dietary energy (calorie) threshold; and a healthy diet food poverty line that meets both the dietary energy threshold and recommended nutrition targets. Results suggest that 43
This study examines the spatial distribution of healthy and unhealthy food outlets and assesses how commonly used metrics of food deserts and food swamps relate to socio-spatial characteristics in a medium-sized Brazilian conurbation. Spatial accessibility was measured using population-based indicators of outlet density within walkable distances, and associations with socioeconomic and urban structure variables were analyzed using spatial autocorrelation and regression models. Food outlets were strongly concentrated in central, consolidated urban areas, with both healthy and unhealthy establishments following similar spatial patterns. Areas classified as food deserts were mostly located in peripheral zones with lower overall commercial density, while food swamps were more widely distributed. Access to healthy food outlets was positively associated with income and urban consolidation, and negatively associated with peripheralization and distance to arterial roads. However, classifications of food deserts and food swamps proved highly sensitive to methodological choices and closely aligned with broader patterns of urban structure. In a context of generally high spatial accessibility, these metrics appear to capture relative differences in commercial density rather than absolute constraints on food access. These findings suggest that density-based spatial indicators should be interpreted with caution, as they may more reflect underlying socio-spatial organization, rather than meaningful inequalities in access to food.
Spousal cooperation is considered an important intra-household factor that improves wellbeing, yet its role in shaping diets and nutrition remains underexplored. Here, we combine a lab-in-the field experiment with survey data from Cameroon to analyze how spousal cooperation relates to household, children’s, and women’s dietary quality. Spousal cooperation is measured in terms of husband’s and wife’s budget allocations to a public goods game. Regression results reveal a robust U-shaped association: the marginal effect of cooperation on dietary quality is negative but declining in absolute magnitude for levels of cooperation from 0 to 0.7, at which point it becomes positive. That no cooperation is associated with better dietary outcomes than low and medium cooperation is unexpected. Possibly, no cooperation reflects separate spheres between husband and wife, which may not always be bad for dietary outcomes if women have own income that they can spend on healthy nutrition for their family. In contrast, low to medium cooperation may reflect role ambiguity and conflict, resulting in lower dietary quality. High cooperation may indicate more trust and harmony between spouses, which can plausibly lead to better dietary outcomes. Some of our findings challenge conventional wisdom. Further research is needed to explain the underlying mechanisms. This should also include work on how to measure the various nuances of spousal cooperation that likely matter in different contexts.
SMS-enabled surveys are gaining traction as a rapid, low-cost means of monitoring food security situations for early warning systems. However, such surveys run the risk of yielding biased results, for instance due to selection, attrition, or non-response bias. To assess the suitability of SMS-enabled surveys for food security monitoring in light of these potential biases, we conducted monthly surveys of 2000 respondents across Uganda for one year. A filtering approach was used to ensure a representative sample. We evaluate the likely accuracy of the data by triangulating the responses with high-frequency data from our own face-to-face household surveys as well as externally collected phone survey data. The analysis suggests that SMS-based surveys can be a promising tool to measure changes in food security status over time but perform less well with regard to measuring the actual food security status. Responses related to the general food situation (rather than dietary diversity, food consumption or market prices) emerged as the most reliable indicator. To investigate implications of selection bias on the results, we use different scenarios with variations in sample composition and size. Even biased samples, e.g. in terms of gender, location or age, show comparable trends, but a minimum sample size is required to obtain accurate results.
Bread wheat underpins Morocco’s food security, supplying more than half of national caloric and protein intake. However, domestic production covers only about 60
Climate stress, particularly rising temperatures and adverse changes in biophysical factors, poses a major threat to agricultural systems and food security in developing countries. In the Sahel, and specially in Niger, increasing climate stress is compounded by episodes of civil unrest that erode household livelihoods and reduce their capacity to meet basic needs. Identifying household strategies that reduce sensitivity to temperature anomalies and conflicts is therefore critical for strengthening food security. This paper links spatially granular climate data (temperature and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)) and conflict events with four Living Standards Measurement Study rounds in Niger to evaluate how climate and conflict affect Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). NDVI is used as a proxy for vegetation health and agricultural production potential; only negative anomalies are considered to isolate the effects of adverse growing conditions on food security. We estimate household fixed-effects models and interact climate and conflict measures with indicators of adaptation and resilience (organic fertilizer use, crop diversification, diversified income sources, electricity access, and receipt of assistance) to test whether these strategies mitigate adverse impacts on the HDDS. Results show that high temperature, lower NDVI, and local episodes of civil unrest are each associated with statistically significant declines in HDDS. Importantly, households that apply organic fertilizers, diversify crops, diversify income sources, have electricity access, or receive external assistance experience smaller losses in dietary diversity following climate stress and conflict events. Additionally, income sources diversification reduces the negative effects of climate and conflicts. These findings imply that promoting sustainable agricultural practices, supporting income diversification into less climate-sensitive activities, and scaling targeted assistance are effective options to bolster household resilience to the dual challenges of climate stress and conflict in Niger. The application is wider beyond the Sahel region. Rising temperatures and declining NDVI are associated with reduced household food security. Conflicts across the Sahel exacerbate the negative impacts of climate stress. Diversifying income sources and access to electricity enhance household dietary diversity and adaptive capacity. External assistance plays a critical role in strengthening resilience during multiple shocks.
This paper provides new evidence on the relationship between intrahousehold dynamics, crop productivity, food security, and dietary diversity using a nationally representative panel household dataset in Malawi. We use the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) indicators, complemented by intrahousehold gender gaps in plot management, access to extension services and education, and technology awareness and adoption. Results show that most farms were jointly managed by women and men, and jointness in plot management has increased over time, highlighting the critical need to examine jointness in decision-making and intrahousehold relations. 20
Gene editing (GEd) has transformed the ability to precisely modify plant genomes, offering new opportunities for plant breeding over the past decade. Despite rapid advances in GEd technology, its measurable impact on realised genetic gain in plant breeding programmes remains unknown. This gap reflects a mismatch between editing capability and the biological, operational, and regulatory realities of plant breeding, rather than evidence of technology‑related limitations or poor field performance of gene‑edited crops. We discuss key constraints of GEd, including genotype-dependent transformation, the multigenic nature of most agronomic traits in crops, integration into plant breeding pipelines, and regulatory and societal considerations. Framing GEd within a systems-level plant breeding framework that integrates selection strategies, speed breeding, advanced editing methods, and access to diverse germplasm provides a realistic pathway to accelerate genetic gain.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic and social implications, placing a heavy burden on developing countries. The COVID-19-induced lockdown worsened income levels and food security of many households. This study used a Generalized Structural Equations Modeling (GSEM) approach to assess the impact of pandemic related changes in income and the labour market on food insecurity among Egyptian households, based on data from the COVID-19 MENA Monitor rapid phone surveys (CMMHH). GSEM results indicate that individuals in the highest income quartile are 36
Nigeria continues to experience persistent food insecurity despite its significant agricultural potential. This study examines how environmental and demographic pressures influence food security, measured using the Food Production Index (FPI) as a proxy for national food availability. Specifically, the study investigates the effects of land degradation, fertilizer consumption, grazing land pressure, permanent cropland, and population density on food security in Nigeria. Using quarterly data from 1990 to 2023, the study applies the Modified Kernel Regularized Quantile Regression (MKRQR) approach to capture nonlinear and heterogeneous effects across different levels of food security. The results reveal that land degradation and grazing pressure consistently exert significant negative effects across most quantiles of the food production distribution, indicating that environmental stress undermines food system performance. In contrast, permanent cropland expansion, fertilizer consumption, and population density generally enhance food security, although the magnitude of these effects varies across quantiles. These findings highlight that the determinants of food security operate differently across the distribution of food production. The study recommends targeted policy interventions including land restoration initiatives, sustainable cropland management, improved fertilizer accessibility and efficiency, and integrated land-use planning to strengthen Nigeria’s long-term food system resilience.
