5pgs, The Covid-19 pandemic, global trends, and technological advancements lead to the perception that digitalization is about the most sustainable means of growing Africa’s agribusiness and food supply chains. Many global agribusinesses have successfully integrated digital technologies to enhance operational efficiencies and business relations with their upstream and downstream actors. However, evidence is scant on the uptake of digital technologies among small and medium agribusiness firms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Against this backdrop, this review paper identifies research gaps regarding the adoption and implication of digitalization in building sustainable food systems for African economies. Our preliminary finds show some sustainable practices in the SSA food supply chains by adopting specific technologies related to production, grain storage, food waste management, and warehouse management but very low adoption of food processing technologies and digital marketing platforms. Most importantly, the application of the Internet of Things, Big data, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and/or Business Analytics is very rare. Most of the digitalization process tends to be mobile-based.
11pgs, Nigeria’s current economic plan targets diversification through leveraging the power of the private sector in order to enable and fast‐track business investments and job creation. This paper reports a study of a model of a poultry outgrower scheme ‐ Akwa Prime, used in catalysing private investments in the poultry sector of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The scheme shares the potential of combined strength of the state and that of the private sector in stimulating increased production and integrating of small livestock farmers to the national economy. The study’s specific objectives were to examine the extent of smallholder farmer involvement in contract negotiations including price setting; the role of the key participants, particularly the regulatory function of the state in an out‐grower scheme construct; and the impact of the scheme on socioeconomic improvement of smallholder farmers. This research was conducted with 42 smallholder independent broiler poultry farmers who are registered members of the Akwa Prime outgrower scheme and receiving a range of input support and good production practices aimed at optimization. Findings show a positive impact of the scheme on small independent poultry farmers’ productivity, profitability and survival. Contract negotiations and key participants role were fully documented. Participating farmers were found to have high income and stocking density while the cost of day old chicks and other production inputs provided by the scheme accounted for 99.1% (R2=.991) of the variation in farmers income. This positive change on the bottom line of small independent poultry farmers indicate the prospects for greater deployment of out‐grower model to stimulate agriculture productivity and growth. However, despite some benefits there were major bottlenecks including compromised role of the state, imposed buyback price on farmers and late offtaking of the finished stock. The implication of this finding is that small poultry farmers left alone with their independent business choices may not stimulate much diversification driven by agriculture.
12 pages, One of the key questions that concerns policy makers, related to the long term planning of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), is the form of agriculture that farmers intend to follow in the future. In order to highlight that question, a sample of producers from the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in Greece were surveyed and analyzed in order to identify and assess the factors that influence farmers’ adoption of organic, conventional or integrated agriculture systems. The paper methodologically applies double-valued logistic regressions, one for each form of agriculture, to the selected sample. Results indicate that producers' training and high awareness of CAP policies are positively correlated with the future adoption of organic farming systems, while the adoption of integrated agriculture depends on producers’ age as well as their positive or negative opinions regarding the conventional agricultural system.
16 pages, Promoting healthier diets is strategic to solve the global societal challenge of excessive and unhealthy calorie intake that causes obesity and overweight and is responsible for chronic diseases that burden healthcare systems. The relationship between food and personal health is well established and in recent years it has originated a number of dietary recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) focused on encouraging healthier diets. The environmental impact of food intake and of particular diets is a growing research area. However, neither research
nor public policies, in particular, have been able so far to establish a link between promoting healthier diets and their impact on enhancing environmentally healthier farming systems and the sustainability of rural landscapes. This paper addresses this gap by presenting a multidisciplinary literature review which combines evidence from nutrition and health sciences with that from environmental, agrarian and sustainability studies on the impacts of foods and dietary patterns on the environment, ecosystems and rural landscape. This integrate d review,
complemented with data analysis, highlights the Mediterranean diet as a healthier dietary pattern whose promotion could be beneficial to recover or maintain the sustainability of Mediterranean rural landscape. Hence, the second part of the paper focus on discussing the role of public policies in enabling the link between enhancing healthier diets and healthier farming systems in order to sustain rural landscapes since these play a key role in the sustainability of Mediterranean rural areas.
16 pages, Zimbabwe’s agro-ecological regions IV and V lie in low rainfall areas and food security is a perennial concern. Vertical coordination strategies and market institutions provide hope for building farmer resilience in regions affected by climate change in Zimbabwe. This study focused on four districts (Binga, Chiredzi, Hwange, Matobo) which are in regions IV and V. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 281 respondents. Probit and Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the determinants. Results show that contract farmers allocated more than 3 hectares to small grains agricultural enterprise. The research established that long distances to markets, access to credit, extension services and affiliation to farming groups are some critical determinants which influence market participation and yields sold.
12 pages, This paper addresses consumer trust in organic food in order to find out which aspects increase and decrease trust and which trust expectations consumers have. The aim is to strengthen consumer trust on the basis of the findings and to develop trust-building measures. To this end, ten focus groups with German consumers were conducted online in February 2021 and evaluated using content analysis. The results show that there is a predominant lack of trust in organic food. This is based in particular on the fact that organic production is often doubted and there are from the consumer’s point of view too many organic labels. This can be attributed not only to a lack of knowledge on the part of consumers, but also to a lack of transparency within the organic sector and in relation to organic food. Results from the consumer's point of view show that the possibility of control, information and transparency are relevant for trust in organic food and the development of knowledge about organic food can positively influence this trust.
12 pages, Current food systems fail to directly link urban consumers with rural producers. City-regional strategies need to reconnect consumers with producers through sustainable local food systems. This research developed and distributed a survey questionnaire to 400 consumers in Bangkok. Findings prove that there is a statistically significant association between urban-rural relation and sustainable urban consumer behavior (Pearson’s Chi-square test for independence resulting in a significance level of p < 0.05). Sustainable consumer behavior is influenced by environmental, sociocultural, economic and health drivers, while lack of food traceability, lack of rural experience, lack of access to rural communities and negative social perception disrupt consumer-producer links. Community-based gastrotourism emerges as one of the best practices to link urban consumers with rural producers and plan sustainable food systems in mega-cities like Bangkok.
7 pages, This study aims to identify whether there is dependence between agricultural commodities traded on the Brazilian market. We used the bivariate copula method over a ten-year period to assess the extreme effects on the returns of the following commodities: soybean, wheat, Arabica coffee, and Robusta coffee. The relationship directly affects the dependence between Arabica and Robusta coffees commodities. While the relationship between wheat, Arabica and Robusta coffees, and soybean is positively dependent. Economic growth, market dynamics, and the prices of an agricultural commodity tend to increase the price of other commodities.
7 pages, This study aims to identify whether there is dependence between agricultural commodities traded on the Brazilian market. We used the bivariate copula method over a ten-year period to assess the extreme effects on the returns of the following commodities: soybean, wheat, Arabica coffee, and Robusta coffee. The relationship directly affects the dependence between Arabica and Robusta coffees commodities. While the relationship between wheat, Arabica and Robusta coffees, and soybean is positively dependent. Economic growth, market dynamics, and the prices of an agricultural commodity tend to increase the price of other commodities.
