New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy

Dateline Africa

Martin Nicol — 2024-10-07

1 June 2023 to 30 September 2024

New Agenda 94: Special Issue on Food Systems

Martin Nicol — 2024-10-07

Download the full issue here.

Introducing the FSNet-Africa model

Elizabeth Mkandawire — 2024-10-07

The challenges inherent in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are interconnected and complex (United Nations, 2018). Overcoming these challenges requires adopting solutions that transcend conventional silo approaches and actively promote inclusivity (El-Jardali et al., 2018). However, these approaches are not the norm, and deliberate efforts are needed to disrupt traditional approaches to development. Research activities also need to adapt so that they are underpinned by capacity development, knowledge management, and partnerships of co-production, communication and coordination (Lamptey et al., 2024).

Towards integrating the WEF nexus into food systems thinking

Amiena Bayat — 2024-10-07

In a case study of the peri-urban Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) outside Cape Town, South Africa, AMIENA BAYAT and MARK VOLMINK uncover the many issues and racial legacies that negatively impact the security and equitable distribution of water, land and energy resources and suggest how the embryonic water, energy and food or WEF nexus applications, already prevalent in the PHA, could strengthen food production and security.

Reparative futurities

Matthew Wingfield — 2024-10-07

The industrialised food system has both contributed to and will in turn be affected by the climate crisis. In South Africa, as is true globally, the way in which food production has intersected with processes of industrialisation and the green revolution has not only shaped how we relate to food production, but to nature more fundamentally. MATTHEW WINGFIELD explores the emergent possibilities of reimagining and reconstituting how food is produced, based on his case study situated in an agricultural zone on the outskirts of Cape Town called Philippi. It explores alternative ways of interacting with environmental resources that can forge “just” climate futures.

Gender and food systems in six African countries

Elizabeth Elizabeth — 2024-10-07

Research plays a fundamental role in achieving food systems outcomes but research funders and researchers often set agendas that are not necessarily informed by policy needs. This analysis explores synergies between research publications, funding and policy priorities using a gender and food systems lens. In this article the authors argue that gender research is not being adequately leveraged to investigate food systems challenges that are considered national priorities. They call on research funders, researchers and policy-makers to collaborate to define research agendas that address policy needs.

Participatory selection and ranking of farm-level sustainability indicators

Bereket Tsehaye Haile — 2024-10-07

Measuring agricultural sustainability requires operational definitions and customised indicators, which should ideally be tailored to each country’s context and reflect the full participation of key stakeholders. BEREKET HAILE, ANDREW DOUGILL and ABEL RAMOELO report on their study in which farmers, extension workers and experts collectively drew up a comprehensive list of indicators from relevant literature that can be used to inform researchers worldwide in selecting pragmatic indicators for assessing agricultural sustainability.

Food systems transformation in Zimbabwe

Joseph Tinarwo — 2024-10-02

The usefulness of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) in food systems transformation in Africa remains poorly explored. JOSEPH TINARWO, VAIN JARBANDHAN and AARAM GWIZA explain how PM&E is designed to measure programme effectiveness and is geared towards promoting programme ownership, empowering beneficiaries, enhancing transparency and accountability, and improving the projects and programmes. However, they caution that the effectiveness of PM&E in food system transformation requires adequate budgetary support, rolling capacity-building initiatives, multistakeholder partnerships, policy integration, and indigenous knowledge-sharing and learning practices.

Big data in the food supply chain

Osden Jokonya — 2024-10-07

The fourth industrial revolution has redesigned the future of food production and transformed the food supply chain. This advancement and evolution of digitalisation has enabled organisations to modify business models and processes resulting in new and increased revenue and enhanced value-offering opportunities. This has meaningfully altered and advanced the adoption of big data technologies in organisations. OSDEN JOKONYA argues that the adoption of big data in the food supply chain is important to African food systems and analyses the factors that affect its adoption.

Affordable, accessible, healthy

Nokuthula Vilakazi — 2024-10-07

For many residents in peri-urban areas, the price of essential healthy food items in supermarkets is unaffordable. At the same time, the more affordable informal markets tend to offer highly processed foods with low nutritional value. Indigenous foods are recognised for their potential to improve food and nutrition security, reduce malnutrition and enhance health and well-being, yet their use in urban areas is limited. In this article NOKUTHULA VILAKAZI explores the gap in urban consumers’ knowledge about the availability, production, preparation and use of indigenous foods in the City of Durban, eThekwini Municipality, with a specific focus on cowpeas.