IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ssefpa/v14y2022i5d10.1007_s12571-021-01217-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food systems and rural wellbeing: challenges and opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Jim Woodhill

    (University of Oxford)

  • Avinash Kishore

    (International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI))

  • Jemimah Njuki

    (International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI))

  • Kristal Jones

    (JG Research and Evaluation)

  • Saher Hasnain

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

The future wellbeing of billions of rural people is interconnected with transforming food systems for equity, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and resilience. This article tackles three blind spots in the understanding of rural poverty and vulnerability: the narrow focus on extreme poverty and hunger that hides a much wider set of inequalities and vulnerabilities, insufficient recognition of the diversity of rural households, and an inadequate appreciation of the impact of rapid structural changes in markets, the physical environment, and the political economic context. A better understanding of these areas is necessary for imagining a new policy landscape that can align progress on rural poverty alleviation with a wider transformation of food systems. The article provides a framework for assessing the dynamics of rural wellbeing and food systems change. It looks at the viability of small-scale farming and the diversification of livelihood options needed to overcome rural poverty and inequality. The analysis suggests that the future prosperity of rural areas will depend on policy reforms to address market failures in the food system, which currently work against equity, good nutrition and sustainability. Investments will also be needed to enable rural economies to capture greater value from the food system, particularly in the midstream of food distribution, processing and services. The likely future scale and nature of rural poverty and inequality is such that improved social protection and humanitarian relief schemes that support those in crisis or being left behind will still be essential.

Suggested Citation

  • Jim Woodhill & Avinash Kishore & Jemimah Njuki & Kristal Jones & Saher Hasnain, 2022. "Food systems and rural wellbeing: challenges and opportunities," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(5), pages 1099-1121, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:14:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1007_s12571-021-01217-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s12571-021-01217-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-021-01217-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12571-021-01217-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hazell, Peter & Poulton, Colin & Wiggins, Steve & Dorward, Andrew, 2010. "The Future of Small Farms: Trajectories and Policy Priorities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1349-1361, October.
    2. Ozgul Calicioglu & Alessandro Flammini & Stefania Bracco & Lorenzo Bellù & Ralph Sims, 2019. "The Future Challenges of Food and Agriculture: An Integrated Analysis of Trends and Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    3. Birner, Regina & Resnick, Danielle, 2010. "The Political Economy of Policies for Smallholder Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1442-1452, October.
    4. Aksoy , M. Ataman & Isik-Dikmelik, Aylin, 2008. "Are low food prices pro-poor ? net food buyers and sellers in low-income countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4642, The World Bank.
    5. Nolte, Kerstin & Ostermeier, Martin, 2017. "Labour Market Effects of Large-Scale Agricultural Investment: Conceptual Considerations and Estimated Employment Effects," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 430-446.
    6. Jayne, Thomas S. & Kwame Yeboah, Felix. & Henry, Carla., 2017. "The future of work in African agriculture trends and drivers of change," ILO Working Papers 994987492102676, International Labour Organization.
    7. John W. Mellor, 2017. "The Economic Transformation," Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy, in: Agricultural Development and Economic Transformation, chapter 0, pages 17-28, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Felix Kwame Yeboah & Thomas S. Jayne, 2018. "Africa’s Evolving Employment Trends," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(5), pages 803-832, May.
    9. Haggblade, Steven & Hazell, Peter & Reardon, Thomas, 2010. "The Rural Non-farm Economy: Prospects for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1429-1441, October.
    10. Prabhu Pingali & Anaka Aiyar & Mathew Abraham & Andaleeb Rahman, 2019. "Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India," Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-3-030-14409-8, June.
    11. Derek Headey & Dirk Bezemer & Peter B. Hazell, 2010. "Agricultural Employment Trends in Asia and Africa: Too Fast or Too Slow?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 25(1), pages 57-89, February.
    12. Angus Deaton & Jean Dreze, 2008. "Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations," Working Papers 1071, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    13. Sarah K Lowder & Brian Carisma & Jakob Skoet, 2015. "Who Invests How Much in Agriculture in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? An Empirical Review," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 27(3), pages 371-390, July.
    14. World Bank Group, 2017. "Enabling the Business of Agriculture 2017," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 25966, December.
    15. S. Nazrul Islam & John Winkel, 2017. "Climate Change and Social Inequality," Working Papers 152, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    16. David Laborde Debucquet & Will Martin, 2018. "Implications of the global growth slowdown for rural poverty," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(3), pages 325-338, May.
    17. Jayne, Thomas S. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Traub, Lulama & Sitko, N. & Muyanga, Milu & Yeboah, Felix & Nkonde, Chewe & Anseeuw, Ward & Chapoto, Anthony & Kachule, Richard, 2015. "Africa's Changing Farmland Ownership: The Rise of the Emergent Investor Farmer," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212028, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Hayatullah Ahmadzai & Seta Tutundjian & Ismahane Elouafi, 2021. "Policies for Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood in Marginal Lands: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane & Berhane, Guush & Minten, Bart & Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum, 2020. "Nonfarm income and rural labor markets," IFPRI book chapters, in: Ethiopia's agrifood system: Past trends, present challenges, and future scenarios, chapter 11, pages 343-377, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Wiggins, Steve & Kirsten, Johann & Llambí, Luis, 2010. "The Future of Small Farms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1341-1348, October.
    21. Karen O'Brien & Siri Eriksen & Lynn P. Nygaard & Ane Schjolden, 2007. "Why different interpretations of vulnerability matter in climate change discourses," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 73-88, January.
    22. Mellor, John W. & Malik, Sohail J., 2017. "The Impact of Growth in Small Commercial Farm Productivity on Rural Poverty Reduction," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-10.
    23. Lowder, Sarah K. & Skoet, Jakob & Raney, Terri, 2016. "The Number, Size, and Distribution of Farms, Smallholder Farms, and Family Farms Worldwide," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 16-29.
    24. Marco Springmann & Michael Clark & Daniel Mason-D’Croz & Keith Wiebe & Benjamin Leon Bodirsky & Luis Lassaletta & Wim Vries & Sonja J. Vermeulen & Mario Herrero & Kimberly M. Carlson & Malin Jonell & , 2018. "Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits," Nature, Nature, vol. 562(7728), pages 519-525, October.
    25. T.S. Jayne & Jordan Chamberlin & Lulama Traub & Nicholas Sitko & Milu Muyanga & Felix K. Yeboah & Ward Anseeuw & Antony Chapoto & Ayala Wineman & Chewe Nkonde & Richard Kachule, 2016. "Africa's changing farm size distribution patterns: the rise of medium-scale farms," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(S1), pages 197-214, November.
    26. John W. Mellor, 2017. "Agricultural Development and Economic Transformation," Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-3-319-65259-7, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mbongeni Maziya & Busisiwe Nkonki-Mandleni & Nandipha Mbizana & Precious Tirivanhu, 2024. "The Perceived Impact of Climate Change on the Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in Kwazulu-Natal Province, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Oratilwe Penwell Mokoena & Thembelihle Sam Ntuli & Tshepo Ramarumo & Solly Matshonisa Seeletse, 2023. "Sustainability of Rural Small-Scale Farmers Using a Thematic Content-Fed Analytic Hierarchy Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Adam J. M. Devenish & Petra Schmitter & Nugun. P. Jellason & Nafeesa Esmail & Nur M. Abdi & Selase K. Adanu & Barbara Adolph & Maha Al-Zu’bi & Amali A. Amali & Jennie Barron & Abbie S. A. Chapman & Al, 2023. "One Hundred Priority Questions for the Development of Sustainable Food Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Ernoiz Antriyandarti & Umi Barokah & Wiwit Rahayu & Dea Hagania Laia & Atsuyuki Asami, 2023. "Factors Associated with Food Security of Dryland Farm Households in the Karst Mountains of Gunungkidul Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Woodhill, Jim & Kishore, Avinash & Njuki, Jemimah & Jones, Kristal & Hasnain, Saher, 2022. "IFAD Research Series 73: Food systems and rural wellbeing: challenges and opportunities," IFAD Research Series 321943, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    2. Sophie Bruin & Just Dengerink & Jasper Vliet, 2021. "Urbanisation as driver of food system transformation and opportunities for rural livelihoods," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(4), pages 781-798, August.
    3. Komikouma Apelike Wobuibe Neglo & Tnsue Gebrekidan & Kaiyu Lyu, 2021. "The Role of Agriculture and Non-Farm Economy in Addressing Food Insecurity in Ethiopia: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-22, April.
    4. Chiarella, Cristina & Meyfroidt, Patrick & Abeygunawardane, Dilini & Conforti, Piero, 2023. "Balancing the trade-offs between land productivity, labor productivity and labor intensity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 52(10), pages 1618-1634.
    5. Meilin Ma & Jessie Lin & Richard J. Sexton, 2022. "The Transition from Small to Large Farms in Developing Economies: A Welfare Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(1), pages 111-133, January.
    6. Giller, Ken E. & Andersson, Jens & Delaune, Thomas & Silva, João Vasco & Descheemaeker, Katrien & van de Ven, Gerrie & Schut, Antonius G.T. & van Wijk, Mark & Hammond, Jim & Hochman, Zvi & Taulya, God, 2022. "IFAD Research Series 83: The future of farming: who will produce our food?," IFAD Research Series 322005, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    7. von Braun, Joachim & Mirzabaev, Alisher, 2015. "Small Farms: Changing Structures and Roles in Economic Development," Discussion Papers 210464, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    8. Joshua B. Forrest, 2017. "Rural Development and Food Security in the 21st Century: A Review and Proposal," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 33(4), pages 448-468, December.
    9. Lowder, Sarah K. & Sánchez, Marco V. & Bertini, Raffaele, 2021. "Which farms feed the world and has farmland become more concentrated?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    10. Van den Broeck, Goedele & Maertens, Miet, 2017. "Moving Up or Moving Out? Insights into Rural Development and Poverty Reduction in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 95-109.
    11. Debonne, Niels & van Vliet, Jasper & Ramkat, Rose & Snelder, Denyse & Verburg, Peter, 2021. "Farm scale as a driver of agricultural development in the Kenyan Rift Valley," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    12. William J. Burke & Thomas S. Jayne & Nicholas J. Sitko, 2020. "Do Medium‐scale Farms Improve Market Access Conditions for Zambian Smallholders?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 517-533, June.
    13. Neema Ciza Angélique & Vwima Stany & Philippe Lebailly & Hossein Azadi, 2022. "Agricultural Development in the Fight against Poverty: The Case of South Kivu, DR Congo," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, March.
    14. Diao, Xinshen & Magalhaes, Eduardo & Silver, Jed, 2019. "Cities and rural transformation: A spatial analysis of rural livelihoods in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 141-157.
    15. Ngarava, Saul, 2020. "Impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) on agricultural production: A tobacco success story in Zimbabwe?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Matthys, Marie-Luise & Acharya, Sushant & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2021. "“Before cardamom, we used to face hardship”: Analyzing agricultural commercialization effects in Nepal through a local concept of the Good Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    17. Muyanga, Milu & Jayne, T.S., 2014. "Effects of rising rural population density on smallholder agriculture in Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 98-113.
    18. Larson,Donald F. & Muraoka,Rie & Otsuka,Keijiro, 2016. "On the central role of small farms in African rural development strategies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7710, The World Bank.
    19. Lu, Wencong & Horlu, Godwin Seyram Agbemavor Kwasi, 2019. "Transition of small farms in Ghana: perspectives of farm heritage, employment and networks," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 434-452.
    20. Smale, Melinda & Kusunose, Yoko & Mathenge, Mary K. & Alia, Didier, 2014. "Destination or Distraction? Querying the Linkage between Off-farm Income and Farm Investments in Kenya," Food Security International Development Working Papers 196829, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:14:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1007_s12571-021-01217-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.