The United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is an important moment to garner political and financial attention to the challenges that food systems face. It is a difficult moment with many competing national and global priorities including massive inequities, rapid climate change and a global pandemic. It will be important for the UNFSS to build in robust accountability mechanisms to ensure that commitments to address food systems challenges are upheld, and that these mechanisms align to already existing frameworks towards sustainable development. While the UNFSS may be impressive in its planning, without accountability of what, who, and by when, it could fall short in its execution. We, as the Editors of the Global Food Security Journal articulate the importance of accountability to ensure the UNFSS is not just 'all hat and no cattle.'

Livestock support the livelihoods of one billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, but the productivity of animals remains low, reducing the potential of the sector to support higher incomes and better nutrition. Improved livestock feeding has been identified as the most important step towards higher productivity. This scoping review assessed the evidence for the uptake of improved ruminant livestock feed options, the effect of this uptake on livestock productivity and the degree to which this improves smallholder farmer livelihoods. In total, 22,981 papers were identified, of which 73 papers were included in the final analysis after a rigorous double-blind screening review. Only papers that reported farmers’ decision to use a new feed intervention were selected, thereby excluding feeding trials and participatory feed assessments. Of the 73 papers, only 6 reported combined evidence of adoption, effect on productivity and livelihood changes. A total of 58 papers looked at adoption, 19 at productivity change and 22 at livelihood change. This scoping review highlights the gap in evidence for the adoption of new livestock feeding practices and provides recommendations to support farmers’ uptake of feed interventions.

This chapter looks at the livestock policy and economics research at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its predecessor, the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), which have focused on the following problems: (i) the historical problem of supply response; (ii) animal health services and productivity; (iii) responding to the 'Livestock Revolution'; (iv) policy and technical barriers to smallholder dairying; (v) livestock and poverty; (vi) markets, institutions and competitiveness; (vii) land tenure; and (viii) livestock master plans. The research spending and the scientific and development impacts of ILRI's policy and economics research are also highlighted.

•Research and science should not only inform food and environmental policy but should be adopted and mainstreamed into actions at all levels.•Food systems are faced with grander and interconnected challenges and constraints that bring about new research questions.•Research has a vital role in charting a positive and sustainable direction for global food security, nutrition, and health.•The status quo must be challenged to shape food systems transformation to deliver sustainable, healthier diets.•Global Food Security provides a platform where evidence is shared in an accessible manner for those who need to act on it.

These cases show that while there is no single best method to conduct systems analysis within a broader AIS approach, ‘good’ systems analysis demonstrates several common characteristics. Suggestions for system analysis in practice include: clarifying objectives and expectations; balancing breadth and depth; paying attention to power dynamics; avoiding an assumption of predictability; careful mixing of quantitative and qualitative methods; and a keeping a focus on informing action.

Samuel Benin, International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia John Pender, International Food Policy Research Institute, 2033 K Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20006, USA © 2002 ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute) All rights reserved. Parts of this document may be reproduced without express permission for non-commercial use but with acknowledgment to ILRI. ISBN 92–9146–113–X Correct citation: Benin S. and Pender J. 2002. Impacts of land redistribution on land management and productivity in the Ethiopian highlands. Socio-economics and Policy Research Working Paper 43. ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute), Nairobi, Kenya. 26 pp.

Some of the most dynamic markets both globally and in South Asia are for livestock and livestock products. This is being driven largely by demand due to growth in purchasing power, but other factors play a role as well. The vast bulk of these markets are domestic, do not cross international boundaries and are driven by local demand. Managing these supply chains requires addressing the complexity of handling and regulating highly perishable products, which at times also present greater human health implications than crop products. Consumer demand is increasingly driving a move towards higher standards, which is being channelled back through increasingly integrated production and supply chains, including greater roles for supermarkets. Regulators in turn are responding to public pressure by increasing scrutiny and standards for food safety. In spite of these consistent trends, livestock product markets in South Asia and typically across developing countries remain largely traditional and unorganised or informal, delivering raw, or minimally processed products to the majority of consumers. Managing these changes requires balancing regulatory interventions with economic forces in ways that are effective both for increased supply of quality products, as well as providing livelihoods and rural development opportunities through these growing markets. This paper does not attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of livestock markets and trends in India or elsewhere in developing countries, as there are other much more competent sources of that information, many of which are cited here. I do attempt nevertheless to raise some of the key issues that emerge from these trends, point to the challenges and opportunities they raise, and suggest possible strategies for addressing them.

Some of the most dynamic markets both globally and in South Asia are for livestock and livestock products. This is being driven largely by demand due to growth in purchasing power, but other factors play a role as well. The vast bulk of these markets are domestic, do not cross international boundaries and are driven by local demand. Managing these supply chains requires addressing the complexity of handling and regulating highly perishable products, which at times also present greater human health implications than crop products. Consumer demand is increasingly driving a move towards higher standards, which is being channelled back through increasingly integrated production and supply chains, including greater roles for supermarkets. Regulators in turn are responding to public pressure by increasing scrutiny and standards for food safety. In spite of these consistent trends, livestock product markets in South Asia and typically across developing countries remain largely traditional and unorganised or informal, delivering raw, or minimally processed products to the majority of consumers. Managing these changes requires balancing regulatory interventions with economic forces in ways that are effective both for increased supply of quality products, as well as providing livelihoods and rural development opportunities through these growing markets. This paper does not attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of livestock markets and trends in India or elsewhere in developing countries, as there are other much more competent sources of that information, many of which are cited here. I do attempt nevertheless to raise some of the key issues that emerge from these trends, point to the challenges and opportunities they raise, and suggest possible strategies for addressing them.

We explore how smallholder agricultural systems in the Kenyan highlands might intensify and/or diversify in the future under a range of socio-economic scenarios. Data from approximately 3000 households were analyzed and farming systems characterized. Plausible socio-economic scenarios of how Kenya might evolve, and their potential impacts on the agricultural sector, were developed with a range of stakeholders. We study how different types of farming systems might increase or diminish in importance under different scenarios using a land-use model sensitive to prices, opportunity cost of land and labour, and other variables. We then use a household model to determine the types of enterprises in which different types of households might engage under different socio-economic conditions. Trajectories of intensification, diversification, and stagnation for different farming systems are identified. Diversification with cash crops is found to be a key intensification strategy as farm size decreases and labour costs increase. Dairy expansion, while important for some trajectories, is mostly viable when land available is not a constraint, mainly due to the need for planting fodders at the expense of cropland areas. We discuss the results in relation to induced innovation theories of intensification. We outline how the methodology employed could be used for integrating global and regional change assessments with local-level studies on farming options, adaptation to global change, and upscaling of social, environmental and economic impacts of agricultural development investments and interventions. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We examine smallholder competitiveness in pig production using data from a survey of 1,051 households across six provinces representing six agro-ecological zones and two urban centers in Vietnam. Results from various analyses employing descriptive statistical analysis, econometric modelling, and partial equilibrium modelling of the pig sector in Vietnam support the hypothesis that smallholder, household pig production are competitive and will remain significant suppliers of the fresh pork market. This competitiveness is underpinned by the strong demand for fresh, unchilled pork, thereby ensuring sustained opportunities for smallholders to supply this demand while also providing natural protection from imported chilled or frozen pork. Long-term prospects for smallholder contribution to total pork supply are good. Even in the worst case scenario of stagnant technological advances in the traditional, smallholder sector, they are projected to remain dominant players in the pork market. Currently, the modern, large scale pig sector is small at 5% of total market share; this is projected to expand to 12% in the next 10 years. The empirical evidence also suggests that overall efficiency gains to the pig sector are not likely to be generated from increasing herd sizes due to the observed lack of economies of scale in household pig production. In the current situation, ways should be explored to reduce the cost of production. Attention should be given, for example, to increasing the supply and reducing the cost of domestically produced feeds for pigs and utilizing available supplies more efficiently. Technological improvement in feeds and in pig production thus plays an important role in the development of the sector. Policies that will enhance productivity across all producer types will be preferable, rather than a targeted policy directive focusing on developing large, industrial farms. Limitations in land and household labor may also limit potential for expanding scale, thereby further supporting the case for sustaining smallholder competitiveness.

A number of African countries experienced since the mid 1980s a process of market liberalization that was expected to increase smallholders' access to inputs and outputs markets through the entry of private players. The effect on production, through uptake of improved technologies is however unclear. This paper aims at better understanding the dynamics of dairy technology uptake using a rich dataset of 874 households surveyed at two points of time. Using panel data enables to show the importance of differentiating 'permanent adopters' and 'temporary adopters'. Farmers with large land holdings are those who are able to have improved cattle at the two points of time, while those with smaller land size may not be able to maintain their animals on farm, either due to cash or land constraint. This has important policy implications in light of the current land policy reform that may introduce a lower ceiling to land size. Market liberalization has contrasting effects on dairy technology uptake. Results show that availability of formal milk marketing outlets has a positive effect on farmers' decision to keep improved cattle while at the same time increased level of inputs like concentrates feeding is found in areas with fewer formal marketing outlets. Given the current dynamic nature of the milk market, farmers adopt different strategies and more work is needed to better comprehend the relationship between market liberalization and dairy intensification.

Development practitioners are increasingly aware that production-oriented interventions at farmer level achieve only limited outcomes if market development does not also happen. Value chain approaches are thus used more and more to better link production with markets and services. This approach can be seen as a successor to ‘farming systems’ approaches of the 1980s, which addressed the integrated nature of rural agricultural economies but did not adequately incorporate forward and backward linkages that drive product demand and supply technology and inputs. Value chain approaches aim to remedy that gap.