Volume 4 Issue 6, June 2023

The overlooked link between fossil fuel-derived sulfur and the production of phosphate fertilizers may lower agricultural productivity and harm global food security unless action is taken.

The assignment of foods to one of four categories proposed by the Nova framework may be challenging in the absence of information on how these foods were prepared and their specific composition. A three-step iterative approach can make the categorization process more efficient and transparent, thereby increasing the accuracy of Nova estimates.

A new high-resolution map of cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana allows for large-scale accurate studies of the impact of cocoa cultivation on the landscape and better understanding of priority areas where improvements of cultivation practices are needed.

Food consumption has triggered considerable quantities of greenhouse gas emissions at various stages of the food supply chain. Tracking food-related emissions along supply chains is key to systematically identify their sources, drivers and mitigation opportunities.

Rural dietary diversity largely depends on farmers’ access to wild food and forests. The policy environment on achieving global food security must consider managing multi-functional landscapes for a diverse array of goods and services, including food.

Adopting healthier diets is key to ensure food security and can bring other benefits, but might also be associated with trade-offs. A new study reveals how the partial transition towards the EAT-Lancet diet by 2030 would affect food affordability, food loss and waste and other environmental indicators.

Future rice supply for African rice consumers is affected by domestic trends of population growth, per capita consumption, socioeconomic developments, trade and climate change. Strong import dependency makes African consumers dependent on trends and shocks in Asia; a new study models the impacts of trends and shocks.

Consumption of wild food from forests and common lands contributes to women’s dietary diversity in India, particularly during the lean season in June and July. Women who consume wild foods are more likely to consume dark green leafy vegetables during these months, adding a nutrient-rich food group to their diets.

Nutrition resources are limited and recent cuts in governmental development funds have added urgency to the matter. Building on the broader costs of malnutrition for human health and the sustainability of food systems, this Perspective offers an overview of the nutrition-financing landscape and public spending, as well as new opportunities with private funding and other non-traditional sources of financing.

The links between food systems and gender-based violence (GBV) remain largely neglected in research and policy. Building on the analysis of GBV and systematic inequalities within food systems, as well as how specific food system contexts shape GBV risk, this Perspective proposes a five-point collaborative agenda to address GBV in food systems.

Wild foods may contribute to food security through different pathways. Using a monthly interval dataset from two rural districts in India, this study elucidates the impact of wild food consumption from forests and common lands on women’s dietary diversity.

Using a physical trade flow approach and structural decomposition analysis, this study estimates consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions throughout food supply chains over 2000–2019, revealing overall trends and five underlying drivers.

The indirect effects of adopting the EAT–Lancet diet in the wider economy—and what this means for key social and environmental indicators—require further exploration. Using a general equilibrium model and tracing physical biomass, this study reveals spillover effects of a dietary shift on food prices, wages, trade, land use, biomass production and greenhouse gas emissions.

Food production shocks arising from the Russia–Ukraine conflict are explored in a multilayer network model, demonstrating that direct and indirect effects on production, such as sunflower oil, maize and poultry, can be estimated.

African rice production is facing high spatiotemporal variability in rice yields and uncertain supply chains. This study proposes a framework to assess the future impacts of socio-economic development and climate change on African rice availability and stability. Both local and trade-propagated climatic variabilities are important to identify future challenges.