Professor Frans Swanepoel, UP’s Director of Strategic International Partnerships and the Principal Investigator of the Food Systems Research Network (FSNet-Africa)
How big is the problem of food insecurity? 1 in 4 25% of people in sub-Saharan Africa face food insecurity “A cohort of early career researchers, who will work with mentors in the UK and Africa in a two-year structured fellowship, will codesign research that yields climate-smart, nutrition-sensitive, poverty-reducing solutions. This will be done through engaging with policymakers, private-sector role players and grassroots-level organisations in the focus countries,” explained Prof Swanepoel. Climate-smart solutions are needed to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes, while simultaneously adapting and building resilience to climate change and reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where possible.
80%
220 m
58 m
Amount of extra food Africa needs to produce by 2050
Number of Africans suffering from chronic hunger
Number of children under five whose growth is stunted because of undernutrition
FSNet-Africa extends collaborative UKRI-funded projects led by the University of Leeds with AFRICAP examining food system resilience in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, and the SWIFT project examining weather forecasting and communications across Kenya and Ghana. Dr Claire Quinn, the FSNet-Africa lead investigator in Leeds, highlights that “the concerted and coordinated actions of the food industry (agriculture, production and processing, retail, food service sector and waste disposal) and consumers are all crucial to promote sustainable consumption and production which focuses on reducing all forms of food losses throughout the entire supply chain.”
Dr Tshilidzi Madzivhandila, FANRPAN CEO and Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator for FSNet-Africa, emphasised that meaningful engagement of all state and non-state food system stakeholders across the continent will make agriculture and food production in Africa more productive, sustainable and resilient to climate change. Dr Madzivhandila further explained that “FSNet-Africa consortium partners will leverage their national and regional networks to engage a wide range of stakeholders to co-design and conduct research as well as translate evidence into implementable interventions in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals targets for Africa.”
Transforming food systems also helps achieve gender equality. Women comprise a large proportion of the agricultural labour force: about 80% of food eaten in Africa passes through the hands of women. “Yet their contribution to food security is not fully realised, and the ways they benefit from food systems activities remain unequal and underresearched,” said Dr Melody Mentz-Coetzee, a senior FSNet-Africa researcher at UP.
FSNet-Africa is an opportunity to establish long-term collaborations between the three lead partners that function beyond the grant period. The aim is to realise new opportunities for research, training and policy advocacy collaborations.
The early career research fellowships will run over a two-year period and will focus on three components: science, mentorship, and leadership development. This will ensure that these fellows have the skills they need to achieve the project objectives, and to establish themselves as future research leaders. FSNet-Africa aims to help these fellows build lasting research networks and develop their skills to design and implement gender-sensitive research with non-academic stakeholders.
UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tawana Kupe congratulated the UP team on the grant award. “Food insecurity is a major obstacle to development and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The transformation of Africa’s food systems plays a critical role in not only realising the SDGs of achieving food security and alleviating malnutrition, but also contributing to public health and providing opportunities to eliminate poverty.” Emphasising the need for multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, he said collaborations such as these will help solve some of “Africa’s complex, complicated and intersectional challenges”.
University of Pretoria | TUKKIE 9
