Smallholder farmers’ intention to use insect-based feed in dairy cattle diet in Kenya

Submitted by Jane Nyawira Maina on
EfD Authors:

Limited access to good quality, adequate and affordable livestock feed impose a major challenge to livestock production in developing countries. In order to improve access to good quality and adequate livestock feed, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers are promoting the utilization of alternative feed sources. While insects have been promoted as an alternative source of protein, their production and utilization is low across smallholder livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa.

Agriculture

Impacts of climate‐smart crop varieties and livestock breeds on the food security of smallholder farmers in Kenya

Submitted by Jane Nyawira Maina on
EfD Authors:

AbstractThis paper analyses the impact of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies on household dietary diversity and food insufficiency as indicators of food and nutrition security in Kenya. Using a combination of Propensity Score Matching and endogenous treatment effect approaches, we found that adoption of stress-tolerant varieties of several crops (such as bean, pigeon pea, cowpea, maize and sorghum) improved household dietary diversity score by 40% and reduced food insufficiency by 75%.

Agriculture, Climate Change

The “Seafood” System: Aquatic Foods, Food Security, and the Global South

Submitted by Cristóbal Vásquez on

The global seafood system includes three interconnected sectors: commercial capture (or wild-caught) fisheries, recreational and subsistence fisheries, and aquaculture (or farmed seafood). The three sector-focused articles in this symposium review production externalities within and between sectors and between the seafood system and the broader natural environment. Building on the insights from these articles, we discuss seafood as part of an integrated food system and examine both seafood supply and demand.

Biodiversity, Fisheries, Policy Design

Composite effects of human, natural and social capitals on sustainable food-crop farming in Sub-Saharan Africa

Submitted by Luat Do on
EfD Authors:

This study analyzes the spontaneous impact of human, social and natural capital on food crop technical efficiency (TE) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Our study contributes to the literature by adopting the meta-analysis method to investigate the relationship between TE and the three groups of capitals to better shed light on the TE in SSA regions. Our results highlight that social capital is the most critical factor among the three groups of capitals in promoting farming productivity.

Agriculture

Biomass Development and Fishers’ Vulnerability in Nigeria: Evidence from a Survey Dataset

Submitted by Nnaemeka Chukwuone on

/Biomass decline is a vital threat for small-scale fisheries, but lack of data affects our ability to understand both biomass development and fishers’ adaptation. This study contributes to the literature on cost-effective, survey-data-based methods in data-poor and development-oriented settings. Based on original survey data from Nigeria, we find that 58% of respondents perceive a decline in fish abundance, in particular top-predator biomass. However, we also find signs of strategic behavior by respondents.

Fisheries