Nairobi — As African farmers struggle with unpredictability caused by climate change, some are looking into contract farming, which involves growing a certain crop for a price set in advance. About 400 people attended the International Conference on Contract Farming in Nairobi this week to learn more about the practice.  Peris Wanjiku, the conference director, said such agreements can help solve the challenges that many smallholder farmers face in Africa.  "It's always important to farm with a plan. I believe it's not enough to simply plant a crop, whatever it is, without knowing where it will end up," Wanjiku said. "Farmers should know beforehand what to grow and where to sell. This is why contract farming is so important, as it provides the framework for certainty and sustainability. "But it's not only about the traditional farmer. I believe we can extend the benefit of contract farming to those who may not be farmers themselves right now, but they own a piece of land."    Experts say the growing interest in contract farming is associated with increasingly complicated systems in food production, marketing and distribution, which has made it difficult for farmers to meet consumers' demands.  Contract farming, experts say, is an instrument that manages and reduces production risks for both parties.  Wilson Milito Ole-Rampei, a vegetable farmer in Kenya, is attending the conference and is optimistic that the practice would help him.   "I will benefit because if, for example, I am growing vegetables, we will arrange with them to get a market. They will give me their technical advice, then our arid land will be used. Because of [a] shortage of rain, we will do irrigation. I would have knowledge of what I am growing," Ole-Rampei said.    An economist for the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Lan Li, said contract farming is often a good deal for small-scale farmers.   "It sets the agreements on what products to produce, quantity, and price," Li said. "As such, it helps secure more stable income and better production planning for producers. It can improve access to inputs for small-scale holder farmers, technical assistance training, and financing solutions."  African farmers have seen reduced harvests due to global warming and drought. For many, a lack of knowledge and skills also contributes to low food production.  In areas where farmers can produce enough food, they sometimes face obstacles such as bad roads or insecurity that prevent them from getting to market.   Carole Kariuki, head of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, said the private and public sectors need to collaborate to improve the agriculture sector.  "The private sector is doing its best. It's filling that gap where it can, but we cannot do it all, and we need the government to be able to go back and say we can get agriculture extension officers helping out small farmers and all the farmers in the country. Contract farming holds immense potential to transform African agriculture,” she said.  Contract farming can have drawbacks, such as making farmers less able to sell to alternative buyers when produce prices increase. In addition, there are environmental risks from growing only one crop for a long time.   Buyers, meanwhile, can face high transaction costs from contracting with many farmers.  But Kariuki believes the benefits outweigh the risks. She called contract farming a model to lift up small-scale farmers, boost food production, and drive sustainable growth.

[VOA] Nairobi -- As African farmers struggle with unpredictability caused by climate change, some are looking into contract farming, which involves growing a certain crop for a price set in advance.

ReadiCream® ND is a non-dairy, PHO- and allergen-free product that—when hydrated—is designed to be 1:1 replacement for liquid heavy cream or other dairy products. Although replacing real dairy, ReadiCream® ND provides an authentic fresh dairy taste and excellent mouthfeel resulting in no loss of quality in finished product.

Pre-dusts are critical components to any batter and breaded food product. They are the primary interface between the substrate and coating and these systems play a key role in optimizing coating adhesion.

Chicken wings are one of America’s most popular finger foods. And understandably, it’s more important than ever to create exciting new products while optimizing yield and throughput—and monitoring rising poultry prices and limited supply.

Advanced Food Systems offers a variety of specialty pre-coats, and batter systems for meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables and plant-based products.

Batter and breaded frozen food products are widely consumed both in restaurants and at home. Such products are usually accompanied with a variety of dipping sauces to add flavor and visual appeal.

Developing comfort foods that are easy-to-prepare, taste great and convenient is not always simple. These are items people expect to have certain qualities, and standards may be higher compared to when consumers try a food that is new or less commonly consumed.

The investment will enable Lotus Foods to further scale its business by deepening investments along its value chain, from sourcing new global rice cultivation communities to growing and diversifying its customer base.

The challenge is hosted by IFT and funded and initiated by the Seeding The Future Foundation. In its first three years, it has attracted over 2,400 submissions from teams of scientists, engineers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and multidisciplinary teams across non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, social enterprises, universities, research institutions as well as small and emerging for-profit enterprises.

Rev. Heber Brown III wants people to erase the term “food desert” from their vocabulary.

The program honors ideas with the potential to transform the world’s food system.

2020年在诸多方面都让我们始料未及。新冠肺炎（COVID-19）疫情为全球带来了一场大规模的公共卫生灾难，各国均陷入了疫情及其相关应对政策带来的不同程度的经济困境，面临服务严重中断和人员流动严重受限的局面。无论是富裕国家还是贫穷国家，均未能幸免。在中低收入国家，许多弱势群体直接面临食物安全、医疗和营养方面的威胁。丧失生计、营养不良、教育中断和资源枯竭造成的长期影响可能性非常巨大，特别是对许多国家来说，距离新冠肺炎疫情的结束还遥遥无期。此外，疫情还凸显并加剧了我们食物系统的薄弱环节和不平等状况。一年过去了，全球因新冠肺炎疫情而进一步偏离了到2030年实现可持续发展目标(SDG)的进程。显然，食物系统可以在推动我们走上正轨方面发挥核心作用。要想实现可持续发展目标，就必须对食物系统进行转型，帮助我们更好地为下一次冲击做好准备，同时造福世界贫困人口和弱势群体以及我们的地球。

气候变化对全球食物系统构成的威胁日益严重，对食物和营养安全、生计及全人类整体福祉，尤其是对世界各地的贫困人口和弱势群体造成了严峻影响。我们迫切需要对气候变化采取紧急行动，既要实现限制全球变暖所需的大幅度减排，又要提高适应和应对气候变化的能力，这一点正引起全球的广泛关注。《2022全球食物政策报告》提出了一系列加快行动的机会，这些机会应在制定适应、减缓和应对气候变化的政策与投资决策时加以考虑。

دخل النزاع المسلح بين القوات المسلحة السودانية وقوات الدعم السريع في السودان شهره السادس منذ اندلاعه في 15 أبريل 2023، دون أي مؤشرات على انتهائه قريبا. تسببت الحرب في كارثة إنسانية حادة، دمرت البنية التحتية الرئيسية، وقيدت أنشطة التجارة والإنتاج. علاوة على ذلك، أدى ذلك إلى تعطيل الوصول إلى المرافق العامة والخدمات المالية والأسواق، مما أدى إلى ندرة كبيرة في السلع والخدمات. في هذه الورقة، نستخدم إطار نمذجة مضاعف مصفوفة المحاسبة الاجتماعية لتقييم الآثار الاقتصادية على مستوى الاقتصاد لهذه الاضطرابات في النشاط الاقتصادي والموارد الإنتاجية وسبل العيش.

Myanmar’s Agrifood System: Historical Development, Recent Shocks, Future Opportunities provides critical analyses and insights into the agrifood system's evolution, current state, and future potential. Source: IFPRI Myanmar – The Myanmar Strategy Support Program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFqzYrQkSTQ

Africa’s population is the youngest of any region, with more than 400 million young people aged 15 to 35 out of a total of 1.5 billion. But even though rising numbers of this cohort—a “youth bulge”—enter the labor market every year, African economies a... Source: IFPRI Malawi: Malawi Strategy Support Program

Tackling global challenges to food systems means we must better understand the future of aquatic foods. Research is critical to understand emerging opportunities for innovations—including the rise of lab-grown fish—and how these innovations can advance a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system. To advance this research, I recently had the honor of formalizing a new […]

Unleashing the potential of Generation Z for food system transformation in Africa

A new research agenda.

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World Cities Day 2024: Building more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient urban food systems

IFPRI researchers on urbanization.

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Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 Summit

The Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 annual summit will be a timely opportunity to convene diverse stakeholders, including world leaders, investors, academia, farmers’ organizations, and the private sector, to spotlight innovations, technologies, best practices, business models, policy delivery mechanisms, and investments to accelerate food systems transformation in Africa and beyond, with youth and women at […]

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EAT Action Dialogues on “Mobilizing Finance for the Food System Transformation”

This dialogue series is by invitation only. In preparation for the 2025 launch of the EAT-Lancet Commission 2.0, EAT is hosting a series of ‘EAT Action Dialogues’ to engage with stakeholders and co-create solutions for transforming food systems in line with the new targets and recommendations of the EAT-Lancet Commission 2.0.  The first two Dialogues will […]

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Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take? A Dialogue on IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report

IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy flagship publication arrives at a pivotal moment, as the importance of addressing food systems for better nutrition continues to gain global recognition. With United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 29th Conference of the Parties taking place in November, the SUN Global Gathering on the horizon and the Nutrition […]

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Advancing Sustainable Agri-food Systems for Climate Resilience, Food Security, and Global Collaboration

The livestream will be available on Tuesday November 12, 2024 at 5:00 – 6:30 pm (America/Sao_Paulo) / 3:00 – 4:30 pm (US/Eastern). Join us for an in-depth discussion on Avanzar2030, an evidence-based initiative that identifies promising innovations in agri-food systems and estimates the costs of implementing them. Launched in response to the 2021 UN Food […]

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Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition: Africa Regional Launch of IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report

The livestream will be available on this page November 14, 2024 at 2:30pm (EAT) / 6:30am (EST). Despite significant progress in addressing hunger and undernutrition in the early 2000s, malnutrition, in all its forms, remains a major challenge in all regions of the world. Unhealthy diets remain the primary drivers of many forms of malnutrition, […]

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Virtual Event: June 12, 2024 at 10:00am-11:00am EDT. In this webinar, we will demonstrate how RIAPA has been used to identify priority agricultural value chains that most effectively contribute to development outcomes.

A new book provides a roadmap for food systems transformation in Kenya

The past few years have seen Kenya, along with many other countries, confronted with multifaceted and compounding challenges. The disruptions caused by COVID-19, high levels of food price inflation, and environmental crises, such as locust infestations and droughts, have severely tested the resilience of Kenya’s food systems and the affordability of food for its citizens. […]

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Food system transformation: A blind spot for climate and biodiversity action? 20 October 2022 — 12:00PM TO 1:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 5 October 2022 Chatham House and Online

How can COP27 and COP15 accelerate the agenda for sustainable food systems and land use?

Tackling the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss requires extraordinary levels of action at an unprecedented speed. Agriculture is the biggest user of land, the biggest source of methane emissions, a major contributor to total greenhouse gas emissions and the leading driver of biodiversity loss.

Anything short of a food system transformation puts climate and biodiversity objectives in peril. However, governments have not yet produced credible pathways and strong policies for tackling our growing ‘foodprint’ – the negative impacts of what we grow and eat.

In advance of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh for climate and COP15 in Montreal for biodiversity, Chatham House has published a new briefing paper which examines aligning food systems with climate and biodiversity targets.

The paper reviews the climate and biodiversity policy landscape to 2030, with a focus on land-based aspects and the inclusion of food and agriculture. The paper highlights serious conflicts between the impacts of the food system and goals to protect and restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change.

In light of this, opportunities for joined-up action on food, climate and biodiversity are identified, including three key steps for countries to take this decade to produce suitably ambitious and effective policies across the climate–biodiversity–food nexus.

This event brings together leading voices from the international policy arenas for climate and biodiversity to react to the briefing paper and discuss how COP27 and COP15 can accelerate the agenda for sustainable food systems and land use.

Here's a wild stat: nearly one-third of the world's food production goes to waste each year, a major contributor to the climate crisis. Farmer and UN climate champion Gonzalo Muñoz sheds light on the international negotiations aimed at turning the food system into a climate solution, rather than part of the problem — and shows the progress already underway.

Since the 1990s, rural transformations have helped millions of people exit poverty while remaining in rural areas. This underscores an important fact: revitalising rural economies helps create jobs for rural [...]

Delivering the latest evidence-based and scientific approaches, launching new commitments for food systems transformation.

The World Pulses Day Secretariat welcomes your participation in an open event to celebrate World Pulses Day 2022 Thursday, 10 February [...]