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Drivers of household food availability in sub-Saharan Africa based on big data from small farms.

Frelat, Romain ; Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago ; Giller, Ken E ; Herrero, Mario ; Douxchamps, Sabine ; Andersson Djurfeldt, Agnes LU ; Erenstein, Olaf ; Henderson, Ben ; Kassie, Menale and Paul, Birthe K , et al. (2016) In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(2). p.458-463
Abstract
We calculated a simple indicator of food availability using data from 93 sites in 17 countries across contrasted agroecologies in sub-Saharan Africa (>13,000 farm households) and analyzed the drivers of variations in food availability. Crop production was the major source of energy, contributing 60% of food availability. The off-farm income contribution to food availability ranged from 12% for households without enough food available (18% of the total sample) to 27% for the 58% of households with sufficient food available. Using only three explanatory variables (household size, number of livestock, and land area), we were able to predict correctly the agricultural determined status of food availability for 72% of the households, but the... (More)
We calculated a simple indicator of food availability using data from 93 sites in 17 countries across contrasted agroecologies in sub-Saharan Africa (>13,000 farm households) and analyzed the drivers of variations in food availability. Crop production was the major source of energy, contributing 60% of food availability. The off-farm income contribution to food availability ranged from 12% for households without enough food available (18% of the total sample) to 27% for the 58% of households with sufficient food available. Using only three explanatory variables (household size, number of livestock, and land area), we were able to predict correctly the agricultural determined status of food availability for 72% of the households, but the relationships were strongly influenced by the degree of market access. Our analyses suggest that targeting poverty through improving market access and off-farm opportunities is a better strategy to increase food security than focusing on agricultural production and closing yield gaps. This calls for multisectoral policy harmonization, incentives, and diversification of employment sources rather than a singular focus on agricultural development. Recognizing and understanding diversity among smallholder farm households in sub-Saharan Africa is key for the design of policies that aim to improve food security. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
volume
113
issue
2
pages
458 - 463
publisher
National Academy of Sciences
external identifiers
  • pmid:26712016
  • wos:000367881500062
  • scopus:84954498894
  • pmid:26712016
ISSN
1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1518384112
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Online 28 December 2015
id
a3b21a8d-fcb0-42c0-b7e5-c65ecba3df4b (old id 8500278)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:03:22
date last changed
2023-12-08 08:39:21
@article{a3b21a8d-fcb0-42c0-b7e5-c65ecba3df4b,
  abstract     = {{We calculated a simple indicator of food availability using data from 93 sites in 17 countries across contrasted agroecologies in sub-Saharan Africa (>13,000 farm households) and analyzed the drivers of variations in food availability. Crop production was the major source of energy, contributing 60% of food availability. The off-farm income contribution to food availability ranged from 12% for households without enough food available (18% of the total sample) to 27% for the 58% of households with sufficient food available. Using only three explanatory variables (household size, number of livestock, and land area), we were able to predict correctly the agricultural determined status of food availability for 72% of the households, but the relationships were strongly influenced by the degree of market access. Our analyses suggest that targeting poverty through improving market access and off-farm opportunities is a better strategy to increase food security than focusing on agricultural production and closing yield gaps. This calls for multisectoral policy harmonization, incentives, and diversification of employment sources rather than a singular focus on agricultural development. Recognizing and understanding diversity among smallholder farm households in sub-Saharan Africa is key for the design of policies that aim to improve food security.}},
  author       = {{Frelat, Romain and Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago and Giller, Ken E and Herrero, Mario and Douxchamps, Sabine and Andersson Djurfeldt, Agnes and Erenstein, Olaf and Henderson, Ben and Kassie, Menale and Paul, Birthe K and Rigolot, Cyrille and Ritzema, Randall S and Rodriguez, Daniel and van Asten, Piet J A and van Wijk, Mark T}},
  issn         = {{1091-6490}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{458--463}},
  publisher    = {{National Academy of Sciences}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}},
  title        = {{Drivers of household food availability in sub-Saharan Africa based on big data from small farms.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1518384112}},
  doi          = {{10.1073/pnas.1518384112}},
  volume       = {{113}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}