Special Issue "Economics Perspectives on Sustainable Food Security"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Marian Rizov
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UK
Interests: food economics; food security; consumer choice and wellbeing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We need sustainable solutions for our global food security without compromising the environment, food safety, and wellbeing of the population to achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDG) including eradication of hunger and poverty, clean water, sustainable land use, responsible production and consumption, mitigating climate change, and sustainable life on land and water.

Sustainable food security will require: (a) availability of food or sufficient food production, (b) access to food and ability to purchase food, (c) sufficiency in terms of nutrition including energy, proteins and micronutrients as well as safety, and (d) the stability and foreseeability of these conditions. The tools and strategies used to achieve sustainability in food security must align with environment protection, food safety, and public health and wellbeing of the population.

This Special Issue explores and discusses the pathways and challenges of achieving sustainable food security and the tradeoffs between sustainability, food security and wellbeing by utilising economics frameworks, while being receptive to interdisciplinary approaches.

Prof. Dr. Marian Rizov
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • food security
  • farming
  • production
  • supply chain
  • demand
  • consumption
  • food safety
  • well-being
  • health

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity and the Regional Food Insecurity Gap in Kenya
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9022; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169022 - 12 Aug 2021
Viewed by 430
Abstract
Food insecurity remains a vital concern in Kenya. Vulnerable members of the population, such as children, the elderly, marginalised ethnic minorities, and low-income households, are disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Following the pioneering work of Sen, which examined exposure to food insecurity at [...] Read more.
Food insecurity remains a vital concern in Kenya. Vulnerable members of the population, such as children, the elderly, marginalised ethnic minorities, and low-income households, are disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Following the pioneering work of Sen, which examined exposure to food insecurity at a household level using his “entitlement approach”, this paper estimates households’ vulnerability to food insecurity. In turn, the outcome variable is decomposed in order to explain the food insecurity gap between households classified as “marginalised” and “non-marginalised”. We applied the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method to examine vulnerability to food insecurity and, in particular, contributions of observed differences in socio-demographic characteristics (endowments) or differences in the returns to these characteristics, which, in our context, is associated with poor public services and infrastructure in the vicinity of the household. The results indicated that differences in vulnerability to food insecurity were mainly attributable to observed differences in socio-demographic characteristics such as education, age, and household income. Therefore, policies seeking to attain equity by investment into targeted household characteristics in terms of access to food and other productive resources could effectively combat food insecurity. For example, policymakers could develop programs for household inclusiveness using education and social protection programs, including insurance schemes against risk of endowment loss. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economics Perspectives on Sustainable Food Security)
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Article
Linking Food and Resource Access to Medical Care Access in Maputo, Mozambique
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8174; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158174 - 21 Jul 2021
Viewed by 426
Abstract
Background: Rapid urbanization coupled with evolving threats from both communicable and non-communicable diseases underscore the vulnerability of urban healthcare systems. Building resilient healthcare systems and increasing access to socioeconomic resources is key for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). The city of Maputo (Mozambique) [...] Read more.
Background: Rapid urbanization coupled with evolving threats from both communicable and non-communicable diseases underscore the vulnerability of urban healthcare systems. Building resilient healthcare systems and increasing access to socioeconomic resources is key for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). The city of Maputo (Mozambique) provides a helpful case study for the analysis of this situation. Methods: This investigation analyzes household survey data to determine the predictors of consistent household medical care access (SDG 3) in Maputo. Using those identified predictors, the study identifies key segments of households in Maputo that are vulnerable to disease given their inconsistent access to medical care. Results: The results indicate that households with inconsistent medical care access (SDG 3) also suffer from severe food insecurity (SDG 2) and inconsistent access to a cash income (SDG 8), water (SDG 6), and electricity (SDG 7). Conclusions: This study identifies challenges to the achievement of SDG 3 in Maputo, where households that are likely to need medical care under the strain of impoverished living conditions are also the least likely to have consistent access to needed medical care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economics Perspectives on Sustainable Food Security)
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Article
Smallholder Farms in Bulgaria and Their Contributions to Food and Social Security
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7635; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147635 - 08 Jul 2021
Viewed by 283
Abstract
Bulgaria has a long tradition of smallholder farming, predominantly producing for self-consumption. As a result of land reform and farm restructuring, many rural households received agricultural land. Some developed commercial farms but most households stayed as subsistence farmers and used their small pieces [...] Read more.
Bulgaria has a long tradition of smallholder farming, predominantly producing for self-consumption. As a result of land reform and farm restructuring, many rural households received agricultural land. Some developed commercial farms but most households stayed as subsistence farmers and used their small pieces of land to produce for self-consumption and market the excess output to top up their non-farm incomes or meagre pensions. They had little capital and insecure access to markets. The paper employs semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 10 smallholders for obtaining detailed information about individuals’ behaviour and exploring issues in greater detail. In particular, the study looks at the drivers of the diverse strategies pursued by smallholder farms, their importance for household food security and incomes, and the prospects of smallholder farms in the future, especially the possibilities for productivity increases. The Bulgarian study on contemporary smallholder farms shows that subsistence production constitutes a valuable safety net for households with low incomes, and therefore, it acts as an extension of the limited social security system of the country. Despite all the challenges faced by smallholders, half of the interviewed households succeeded to commercialise and increase marketable surplus. Policies for increased commercialisation of smallholder farms and a structural change in agriculture should address, besides market factors, the socioeconomic aspects which contribute to the persistence of subsistence farming. Furthermore, when prioritising different policies, the chosen livelihood strategies of the households should be taken into account. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economics Perspectives on Sustainable Food Security)
Article
Farm Household Income Diversification as a Survival Strategy
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6341; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116341 - 03 Jun 2021
Viewed by 637
Abstract
The analyses focus on the structural change in agriculture and farm households for the selected hilly and mountainous areas in Slovenia before and after the accession to the European Union, with an emphasis on empirical analysis of a sample of income diversification of [...] Read more.
The analyses focus on the structural change in agriculture and farm households for the selected hilly and mountainous areas in Slovenia before and after the accession to the European Union, with an emphasis on empirical analysis of a sample of income diversification of rural households in the census years, and the importance of self-employment for farm households’ well-being and food security. A t-test was applied to investigate the differences of arithmetic means between the two municipalities and between the two census years, and an F-test with analysis of variance was used for the differences of arithmetic means between four socioeconomic types of agricultural households (AHs). The number of farm households has declined with heterogeneous patterns according to their socioeconomic type and their location areas according to the level of economic development and natural farming conditions. Farm exits do not necessarily mean discontinuation of other nonfarming activities at a household. While the number of farm households leaving farming has increased, there has also been an increase in farm households engaged in other gainful activity such as supplementary farm activities and in off-farm employment and off-farm incomes. Income from farming for most households is not sufficient for survival, and therefore, diversification of income for households is imminent. Diversification of income from self-employment is important for more than one-third of households that maintain agri-food production for the market. Income from self-employment is an important source of income for household well-being and for investment in agricultural production to improve incomes from farming activities. Expansion of self-employment impacts the lack of time, business risks, and lack of interest of households to expand the business by renting external sources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economics Perspectives on Sustainable Food Security)
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