scholarly journals Contributions of Agroforestry Systems to Food Provisioning of Peasant Households: Conflicts and Synergies in Chiapas, Mexico

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Soto-Pinto ◽  
Sandra Escobar Colmenares ◽  
Marina Benítez Kanter ◽  
Angelita López Cruz ◽  
Erin Estrada Lugo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Agroforestry Systems ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Family Needs ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Coffee Plantations ◽  
Knowledge Community ◽  
Land Access

Traditional agroforestry systems are widely recognized for their contributions to provisioning, support, regulation, and cultural services. However, because of the advancement of industrial agriculture and a corporative food system, peasants' food systems are rapidly undergoing transformation. We identify the contributions of four types of agroforestry systems (AFS)—shade cocoa agroforest, shade coffee agroforest, milpas and homegardens—to food provisioning in peasant families and discuss conflicts between traditional food systems and the contemporary industrial model of production and consumption confronted by peasants and semi-proletarian migrants. We carried out research in 17 peasant communities in Chiapas, Mexico, and conducted 97 semi-structured interviews and agroecological inventories with peasant families, and 15 interviews with semi-proletarian families laboring in shade-grown coffee plantations. Thirty-nine weekly food diaries were applied in two communities. We recorded 108 plant species belonging to 49 botanic families. These species play an important role as sources of carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids. Despite the extraordinary agrobiodiversity of peasant agroecosystems, peasant families (PF) are changing their AFS' structure, composition and functions due to the influence of agribusiness, global markets, and public policies that orient changes in production and marketing, which in turn devalue local food, agrobiodiversity, and knowledge. Changing perceptions regarding the value of “good food” vs. “food of the poor” and competition over land use between traditional and modern systems are driving changes in diet, food sources, and health of PF who are including industrialized foods in their diets, driving changes in consumption patterns and affecting human health. For semi-proletarian migrants laboring in coffee plantations, land access in and outside of the plantation and strengthening social networks could mean access to healthier and culturally appropriate foods. While peasants have historically responded to market and household needs, articulating both activities to satisfy family needs and provide income is limited. This work highlights the urgent need to acknowledge the non-monetary value of local foods, agrobiodiversity, local knowledge, community building, and the need to work towards securing land access for landless workers in Latin America.

scholarly journals Settler colonialism and the (im)possibilities of a national food policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 248-258
Author(s):  
Sarah Rotz ◽  
Lauren Wood Kepkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Culturally Appropriate ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Land Access ◽  
Food Industries ◽  
Harmful Effects

In this perspectives piece we ask: is it possible for a national food policy to form the foundation for sustainable and equitable food systems in Canada? First, we argue that under the current settler government, such a policy does not provide this foundation. Second, we consider what is possible to achieve within the scope of a national food policy, recognizing our responsibility as settlers to hold our government accountable so policies do not exacerbate food system inequities. To mitigate some of the harmful effects of current food-related policy, we make three suggestions: 1) restrict land access based on capital, number of properties owned, acreage, and interest in food provisioning; 2) support relevant and culturally appropriate markets by divesting from industrial scale food chains, and re-invest in marginalized food provisioners; and 3) direct funding to diverse non-consumptive food networks rather than export-oriented agro-food industries. To be clear, these suggestions will not decolonize a national food policy; rather, we argue they present short-term actions within the current settler state to address some of the ways the Canadian government inhibits Indigenous food systems.

scholarly journals Future Food Sustainability Can Be Traced Back into Local People’s Socio-Cultural Roots in Uttarakhand Himalaya, India

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7060
Author(s):  
Joyeeta Singh Chakraborty ◽  
Bikash Ranjan Parida ◽  
Nilendu Singh
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Local Food System ◽  
Quality Choice ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
Uttarakhand Himalaya

Sustainable food system ensures adequate and safe food supply in an eco-friendly manner. We assessed food sustainability perception and practices of local community through structured interviews in sub-alpine settlements of Uttarakhand Himalaya. Major perceived challenges towards food sustainability were identified using Rank-Based Quotient analysis. Association with various socio-demographic factors (e.g., age, gender, education, socio-economy, and socio-culture) was tested. An overall neutral perception (mean score 2.9) and moderately sustainable practices (mean score 3.1) were observed. Respondents with higher socio-cultural score showed more sustainable food sourcing practices and more positive social and economic sustainability perception, as well as higher participatory willingness. Female respondents were more dependent on sustainable food sources than the males. Education level influenced food quality choice. People identified higher food production cost as major economic constraint; while small landholdings and labor migration were main social challenges. Land and water management issues and climate uncertainty were the major environmental constraints. Socio-cultural exposure played significant role in ranking these sustainability constraints. We encourage direct involvement of socio-culturally active people and conducting extensive outreach programs for future sustainable local food system in vulnerable Himalayan valleys.

scholarly journals How to guarantee food supply during pandemics? Rethinking local food systems from peri-urban strategic agents’ behaviour: The case study of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sònia Callau-Berenguer ◽  
Anna Roca-Torrent ◽  
Josep Montasell-Dorda ◽  
Sandra Ricart
Keyword(s):  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Strategic Agents ◽  
Agricultural Areas

The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a warning for the world’s current food system, especially in urban contexts with global food dependence. This article aims to analyse the food system behaviour of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (in the northeast of Spain) during the first stage of the pandemic by deepening the behaviour of different peri-urban agricultural areas in which local food supply is promoted. Semi-structured interviews to 11 entities and institutions located in the peri-urban area of the BMR based on its productive and management profile have been carried out from March to May 2020. The results obtained highlight the socio-economic, environmental, and health perspective of food supply during the pandemic. Main results show 1) shortcomings in the operation and logistics of the metropolitan food system; 2) the complicity between the local producer and the urban consumer through new sales and distribution initiatives, 3) the role of peri-urban agricultural areas for ensuring food supply and land preservation, and 4) the need to initiate cooperation and mutual aid activities between the different agents involved in the food system. Furthermore, agents underlined the need for rethinking the agroeconomic model to strengthening the producer-consumer nexus and promoting local food policy based on food sustainability, sovereignty, and governance.

scholarly journals Environment or Economy? Food Concerns and Sustainable Food Transitions in the UK

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003803852110436
Author(s):  
Mike Foden ◽  
Emma Head ◽  
Tally Katz-Gerro ◽  
Lydia Martens
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Survey Questionnaire ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Environmental Access ◽  
The Eu

Recent years have seen the emergence of calls for the transformation of food systems to make these more responsive to environmental, access and health challenges. Addressing how the UK food system may best meet these challenges, this article develops understanding of the multiple food concerns that guide practices of food provisioning at the intersection between markets and domestic life. Combining insights from a survey questionnaire and qualitative fieldwork from research that was part of the EU Horizon2020 SafeConsume project, we depict how practices of food provisioning are guided by concerns driven by economic and environmental logics. The findings suggest economy is prevalent while environmental food ethics are marginalised. The conclusion discusses how the adopted practice theoretical approach, which combines an analysis of the socio-material arrangements of provisioning and the relationship between food concerns and higher order considerations, advances understanding of the nature of food concerns and the challenges of sustainable food transitioning.

scholarly journals Climate change, community capitals, and food security: Building a more sustainable food system in a northern Canadian boreal community

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-141
Author(s):  
Andrew Spring ◽  
Blair Carter ◽  
Alison Blay-Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Traditional Food ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Community Capitals ◽  
Sustainable Food System ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Canada’s North offers unique food systems perspectives. Built on close cultural and spiritual ties to the land, the food systems within many northern communities still rely on the harvesting and gathering of traditional food and function through the sharing of food throughout the community. However, social, economic and environmental pressures have meant that some communities rely more on food purchased from the stores, which can be unhealthy and expensive, leading to high rates of food insecurity and chronic health problems in many communities in the North. Northern communities are now dealing with the impacts of climate change that are increasing pressure on the food system by limiting both access to the land and the availability of traditional food sources. This research presents a case study from the Northern Canadian boreal community of Kakisa, Northwest Territories. Using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, community members play an active role in identifying threats to the community food system, as well as developing community-based solutions to foster adaptation and transformation of their food systems to become more resilient to the impacts of climate change. By using the Community Capitals Framework to identify multiple stressors on the food system this research illustrates how a community can allocate available capitals to adapt to the impacts of climate change as well as identify which capitals are required to build a more sustainable food system.

Exploring farmers' adoption of VietGAP from systemic perspective: implication for developing agri-food systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (12) ◽  
pp. 3641-3661
Author(s):  
Hung Gia Hoang
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Sampling Strategy ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fresh Vegetables

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that influence farmers' adoption of Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP) in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachA case study design was employed. A purposive and snowball sampling strategy was used to select 54 participants for semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis techniques were applied to analyse the data.FindingsThis study found that the social, cultural and institutional dimensions that define the dominant traditional agri-food system determined farmers' adoption of VietGAP and this was expressed in: (1) there was a lack of concern about food safety amongst value chain (VC) actors, particularly consumers and this limited demand for VietGAP-certified vegetables; (2) subjective rather than objective measures were used to assess vegetable quality by actors throughout the domestic vegetable VC and (3) the coordination of this vegetable VC was dominated by informal, trust-based relationships between VC actors rather than through formal written contracts.Research limitations/implicationsThis study employed a case study approach and focussed on a local VC for fresh vegetables. The findings of this research may therefore differ to those concerning other produce.Practical implicationsThis study highlights that farmers' uptake of VietGAP requires changes to the socio-technical regime of the traditional agri-food system.Originality/valueThis research provides a systemic view of the determinants of GAP adoption by farmers and highlights areas that need to be considered when designing policies to enhance the uptake of public GAP programmes and introduce agri-food systems in developing countries.

Provisioning the Posho: Labor Migration and Working-Class Food Systems on the Early-Colonial Kenyan Coast

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 173-192
Author(s):  
Devin Smart
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Labor Migrants ◽  
Local Study

AbstractEngaging questions about social reproduction, migrant labor, and food provisioning, this article examines the emergence of a working-class food system on the coast of Kenya during the early decades of the twentieth century. Like elsewhere in Africa, labor migrants in Kenya's port city of Mombasa and on nearby plantations were provisioned with food rations, which were part of what Patrick Harries calls a “racial paternalism” that structured many labor relations during the colonial period. The article starts in rural Kenya, but then follows labor migrants to their places of employment to examine the formation of this new food system. In upcountry rural societies, women had primarily produced and then exclusively prepared their communities’ food. However, as migrants, men received a ration (posho) of maize meal or rice as part of their pay, used their cash wages to purchase foodstuffs from nearby markets, and some plantation workers were also able to grow their own vegetables on plots allocated by their employers. After acquiring their food through these wage-labor relations, men then had to cook their meals themselves. In addition the cuisine created by labor migration was one of extreme monotony compared to what these migrants ate in their rural communities, but I also show how food became a point of conflict between management and labor. The article demonstrates how workers successfully pressured their employers to improve the quantity and quality of their rations from the 1910s to the 1920s, while also raising their wages that allowed them to purchase better food. I additionally argue that during this period an “urban” or “rural” context did not fundamentally define how migrant workers acquired their food, as those laboring in both city and countryside received these rations. However, the article concludes by examining how after 1930, economic transformations changed Mombasa's food system so that workers became almost entirely reliant on cash and credit as the way they acquired their daily meals, while paternalism continued to infuse the food systems of rural migrant laborers. In sum, this article is a local study of coastal Kenya that is also concerned with global questions about how food provisioning fits into the social reproduction of working classes in industrial and colonial capitalism.

scholarly journals Social Finance Investing for a Resilient Food Future

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6512
Author(s):  
Phoebe Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The Social ◽  
Regenerative Agriculture

The converging climate, biodiversity, public health and nutrition emergencies highlight the need for more regenerative food systems. Despite the recognition that regenerative food systems enhance resilience, resource efficiency, and equity, they continue to be dwarfed by extractive industrial approaches. One factor that is holding back regenerative food systems is their lack of access to financial capital. In response to this financing gap, social financiers have turned their attention to regenerative food systems. To date, the scholarship exploring the role of social financing in supporting regenerative food systems is limited. Yet, this is an important area of study for understanding the tools that could support pathways towards greater social and ecological resilience in our food systems. This paper develops propositions on the links between social financing and regenerative food systems, with qualitative insights used as illustrations. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders related to social finance and regenerative food systems in the United States. Additionally, this paper draws on information gathered through presentations from the Regenerative Food System Investment (RSFI) forum. The analysis identified five observations that enrich the social finance and food systems literatures: (1) those who get funded are not necessarily the best placed to advance the goals of regenerative agriculture; (2) tensions exist between the way that scholars and practitioners view social finance; (3) impact metrics are in flux and must be approached thoughtfully; (4) the middle of the food value chain remains severely underfunded; (5) early steps are being taken to maintain diversity that is core to the resilience of regenerative food systems. Topics for further research in this emerging area are identified in the conclusion.

scholarly journals Assessing Sustainable Food Systems Governance in EU’s Outermost Regions—The Case of the Azores in Portugal

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3057
Author(s):  
Paola Hernández ◽  
Maria Guimarães ◽  
Maria Rivera ◽  
Emiliana Silva
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Landscape Governance ◽  
Grounded Theory Method ◽  
Sustainable Landscape

The European Union’s (EU) remote rural areas undergo unique organizational challenges to counteract geopolitical, economic, and environmental constraints and engage in a competitive global food market. A one size fits all recipe to mend specific issues has also proven inefficient and led policy-makers to acknowledge the importance of implementing sustainable landscape governance to promote rural development. This paper inquires what are the challenges and opportunities food systems must adopt in a sustainable landscape governance approach, based on a qualitative research work carried out in the Azores Region (Portugal) in 2016. Data was gathered via eleven semi-structured interviews to key stakeholders and participatory observation in six events related to the management of the Azores’ food system. A grounded theory method structured qualitatively research participants’ perceptions about the Region’s food regime. This analysis is hereby furthered according to the four criteria proposed by the sustainable landscape governance assessment method. Our results indicate the lack of coordination among actors, institutions and policies in the Azores Region could be counteracted by promoting inclusive participation and integrated knowledge to attain cohesive, sustainable, and efficient outcomes at the landscape level. The methodology has proven to be adequate and instrumental in identifying sustainable landscape governance issues in other food systems.

scholarly journals Acquisition, mobility, and food insecurity: Integrated food systems opportunities across urbanicity levels highlighted by COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Yeeli Mui ◽  
Gabby Headrick ◽  
Samina Raja ◽  
Anne Palmer ◽  
Johnathon P. Ehsani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Food Acquisition ◽  
Cross Sectional

Abstract Objective: Investigate acquisition and mobility experiences of food-insecure individuals across urbanicity levels (i.e., urban, suburban, rural) in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional study using a nationally representative online panel to measure where food-insecure individuals acquired food, food acquisition barriers, and mobility to food sources, which were evaluated across urbanicity levels using chi-squared tests and 95% CIs. Setting: United States Participants: 2,011 adults (18 years or older) Results: Food insecurity impacted 62.3% of adults in urban areas, 40.5% in rural areas, and 36.7% in suburban areas (p<0.001). Food acquisition barriers that were significantly more prevalent among food-insecure adults in urban areas were a change in employment status (34.2%; 95% CI = 27.2%, 41.1%; p<0.0001) and limited availability of food in retailers (38.8%; 95% CI = 31.7%, 45.9%; p<0.001). In rural areas, food-insecure adults primarily acquired food for the household from supercenters (61.5%; 95% CI = 50.4%, 72.5%; p<0.05), while locally sourced foods were less common among food-insecure adults in rural areas (6.9%; 95% CI = 0.01%, 13.0%) compared to urban areas (19.8%; 95% CI = 14.3%, 25.4%; p<0.01). Transportation as a barrier did not vary significantly by urbanicity, but food-insecure adults across urbanicity levels reported utilizing a range of transportations modes to acquire food. Conclusions: A planning approach that links urban and rural areas could address food insecurity by enhancing the integration of food production, transportation, and food distribution, building toward a more resilient and equitable food system for all Americans.

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