An Overview

DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security

How will we feed ourselves in the future?

Unless we change our production or consumption patterns, “…in the next 40 years we need to produce more food than we have produced over the last 8000 years” (Josette Sheeran, 2012)

• Put fewer spoons on the table

• Bake a bigger and better cakes

• Teach everyone better table manners (adapted from Joel Cohen, 1995)

Some concepts• Food is any substance,

whether processed, semi-processed or raw, which is intended for human consumption … and any substance which has been used in the manufacture, preparation or treatment of “food” (Codex Alimentarius 1963)

• Eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth (Wendell Berry, 1990)

• (food is) a highly condensed social fact (Arjun Appadurai 1981)

• Food security exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. This definition has been identified with the four dimensions of food security: availability, access, stability and utilisation. It embodies the food and care-related aspects of good nutrition (Committee on World Food Security 1996, 2012)

The Food System

• A large number of interacting parts• Complex in their arrangement and characterised

by interdependence• Populated by “keystone” entities• Dynamically seeking equilibrium through motion• Interactions are non-simple, change is non-linear• Vulnerable to internal and exogenous forces

(Bertanlanffy, 1968; Paine, 1995; Progogine, & Stengers, 1984; Saafy & Kearns, 1985; Simon, 1962)

ContestationThe Food System

Food Security as a Wicked Problem

• Food security problems are not solved, at best they are only re-solved, repeatedly: they are “wicked problems” or “social messes”

• Wicked problems do not have an enumerable set of potential solutions (Rittel & Webber, 1973)

• Every problem interacts with other problems and is therefore part of a set of interrelated problems, a system of problems…. a (social) mess (Ackoff, 1997)

• ... exist in a dynamic, changing world. Thus, ameliorative efforts may have substantial, yet impermanent effects (Horn & Weber, 2007)

• Solutions may generate second-order problems (Saaty & Kearns, 1985)

Our contention is…

• Food and nutritional security is imperative for human survival with dignity

• Economic vitality, social justice, human health and environmental health

• Producers, processors, distributors and consumers are incorporated into the food system under varying terms and returns

• Changing food systems impact on South Africa• We make a difference to food security by linking

innovative science to critical enquiry

The South African Situation

Stats SA, 2003-2014

Stats SA, 2013, 2014

Hunger

Poverty

The South African Situation

Challenges in health & nutrition

Diabetes prevalence

NFCS, 1999; NFCS, 2005; SANHANES, 2012

Peer, N., Steyn, K., Lombard, C., Lambert, E. V., Vythilingum, B., & Levitt, N. S. (2012).PSLDS, 1993; NFCS, 1999; NIDS, 2008; SANHANES, 2012

Anthropometric status of children< 5 yrs

Challenges in production & processingConcentration of farm enterprises

Stats SA, Manufacturing Census, 2008

Concentration of processing enterprises

Stats SA, Agricultural Censuses, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2007

Challenges of water & climate

• Greater climatic variability• Increased demand for

animal protein• Increased costs of energy• Decrease in the

availability of water

2005 Annual water balance in SA catchments. Source: DWAF Water Situation Assessment Model

Challenges in distribution & pricing

• A rapid, but uneven transition of the urban food system

• Increasing penetration of supermarkets into low income areas

• This has implications for value chains, food-based livelihoods, consumer food choice and diet-related health

Challenges of inequality

• The poorest 10% of households received less than 0.5% of all income

• 90% of households received 55% of all income

• The income of the wealthiest group is 88 times greater than that of the poorest decile

Stats SA, 2013, MDG Report

South Africa doesnot have a sustainablefood system to realise food security and nutritionfor the poor

Seven million South Africans experience chronic or more severe hunger, 21 million are overweight or obese

Production & provisioning is becoming less diversified

Cost, quality & sustainability of inputs, including water & soil, threaten food security

Widespread loss & waste of food

Cheap food at the expense of livelihoods and health

Unresolved inequities of land & opportunity

Unhealthy diets and lifestyles leading to an epidemic of non-communicable disease

Food contaminated with pathogens

Food governance does not connect state & citizen

The right to food not implemented

Poor coordination between responsible institutions

Data incomplete, inconsistent and dated

Ishikawa/Fishbone Diagram

Causal Factor 1

Causal Factor 3

Causal Factor 5

Causal Factor 6

Causal Factor 9

Problem, effect or solution

Causal Factor 2

Causal Factor 4

Causal Factor 6

Causal Factor 8

Causal Factor 1

Ishikawa/Fishbone Diagram

Gender & Identity

Policies & Rights

Nutrition & Health

Value Chains & Livelihoods

Production

SouthAfrica doesnot have asustainable food system to realise food security and nutrition for the poor

Ethics & Values

Safety & Control

Diet & Behaviour

Markets & Prices

Processing

Contestation Governance Consumption Distribution Creation

Gender & Identity

Policies & Rights

Nutrition & Health

Value Chains & Livelihoods

Production

SouthAfrica doesnot have asustainable food system to realise food security and nutrition for the poor

Ethics & Values

Safety & Control

Diet & Behaviour

Markets & Prices

Processing

Contestation Governance Consumption Distribution Creation

Fresh produce safety

Multi-level government

Animal produce safety

CSG & food choices

Policy for diet change

Policy for choice change

Determinants of Hhd food security

Food Food inflation & price transmission

Financialisation & food security

Food in the informal economy

Farm-worker livelihoods

Agro-food value chains

Agro-food processing SMME’s Post-harvest wastage & loss

Processing Indigenous crops

Right to food Participatory

governance Regulations Measurement &

monitoring

Life course consequences

Highly vulnerable groups

Diet assessment tools

Gender & Identity

Policies & Rights

Nutrition & Health

Value Chains & Livelihoods

Production

SouthAfrica doesnot have asustainable food system to realise food security and nutrition for the poor

Ethics & Values

Safety & Control

Diet & Choice

Markets & Prices

Processing

Urban self-provisioning Sustainable inputs (feed, water, soil Small-holder production Commercial production

Long term research questions

• How is the global and national food system changing and how does this affect the sustainability, availability, access and attributes of food?

• Who are the ‘food insecure’, where are they located, what are their choices, strategies and opportunities when seeking food security, health, and well-being and how do these change in response to the changing food system?

• What policies, technologies, interventions and products enable access to affordable and nutritious food in ecological, economic, social and politically sustainable ways?

Immediate questions

• What is on the South African consumer’s plate?

• Are these items nourishing, safe and affordable?

• What role do enterprises of different sizes play in bringing these items to this plate?

• What direct role did the state play in putting these items on this plate?

Building the plane while flying it

Configuring a Multi-disciplinary COE

• “Scientific research activity gives rise to a range of social and cognitive organisational configurations” (Shinn, 1982: 251)

• The COE in Food Security has adopted an ‘organic’ model of organisation comprising:– Pluralistic leadership based on negotiation– A flat hierarchy within which programme PI’s identify and

guide key projects– Most projects adopt the epistemic structure of the

disciplines within which they operate– Some projects break new ground through trans-

disciplinary research

Structure

Role of the PI and PPI’s

• Four thematic areas, each with two programmes led by senior researchers (Programme Principal Investigators)– Scientists who craft the research agenda– Mediators who bridge gaps– Project leaders who manage diverse teams– Architects and “boundary spanners” (Shinn, 1988)

Progress

• Launched April, 2014• Directors and PPIs appointed and MANCO constituted• Combined Research Plan accepted by NRF• First and second calls for proposals issued• 40 concept notes submitted, 28 approved for funding from 2014 budget• Draft Organisation Strategy, Communication Strategy and proposals

templates and MIS prepared• Appointment of Centre support staff in progress• MOU and SLA between NRF, UWC and UP prepared• COE Steering Committee constituted• Over 10 visibility activities undertaken• Equipment purchased and office space assigned• An additional R8.6 million in process for a theme in Food Contestation• An additional R500 000 raised for collaborative projects• Website and social media established

Opportunities for Research Community

• Bursaries for post-graduate students• Collaborations with national and international

researchers• Trans-disciplinarity• Testing innovation• Access to policy makers• Crowding in funding

How to find out more

• Call for concept notes each year in April• Concepts notes that fall within the scope and priorities of CoE

are invited to submit full proposals in May• Proposals must be submitted by 01 August• Recommended proposals submitted to Steering Committee in

October• Approval in November• Contracting from January the follow year• Register on our database by contacting Jacqueline Tamri

(jtamri@gmail.com)• Read the manual at: http://www.uwc.ac.za/Faculties/EMS/COEFS• Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/496797523765303/

DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security

• Food Creation– Production, processing & preservation

• Food Distribution– Markets, livelihoods & value chains

• Food Consumption– Health, nutrition, choice & behaviour

• Food Governance– Safety, standards, policy & rights

• Food Contestation– Gender, identity, values & ethics

References

• Ackoff, RL. 1997. Systems, messes and interactive planning. The Societal Engagement of Social Science, 3, 417-438.

• Appadurai, A. 1981. Gastro politics in Hindu South Asia. ‐ American Ethnologist, 8(3), 494-511.

• Berry, W., 1990. The pleasure of eating, in What are people for?: Essays, North Point Press.

• Bertalanffy, L., 1968. General Systems Theory, George Braziller, New York.• Cohen, JE. 1995. How Many People Can the Earth Support? W. W. Norton, New

York.• DST-NRF, 2012. Handbook to Assist with the Operation of a DST-NRF Centre of

Excellence, v3.1, Dept of Science & Technology, National Research Foundation, Pretoria.

• Horn, RE., & Weber, RP. 2007. New tools for resolving wicked problems. MacroVu Inc and Strategy Kinetics. Available at: http://www. strategykinetics. com/files/New_Tools_For_Resolving_Wicked_Problems. pdf.

• Kaipa, P. 2000. Knowledge architecture for the twenty-first century. Behaviour & information Technology, 19(3), 153-161.

• Kirsh, D. 1996. Adapting the environment instead of oneself, Adaptive Behavior, 4(3-4):415-452.

References

• Paine, RT., 1995. Conversation on Refining the Concept of Keystone Species , Conservation Biology, 9(4): 962-964.

• Pollan, M. 2006. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Penguin.• Rittel, HW. & Webber, M.M. 1973. Planning Problems are Wicked. Polity, 4, 155-69.• Saaty, TL. & Kearns, KP., 1985. Analytical Planning: The Organisaton of Systems, International Series

in Modern Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Vol. 7, Pergamon Press, Oxford• Sheeran, J. 2012. Public-Private Partnerships Innovating to End Malnutrition, 22nd Annual Martin J.

Forman Memorial Lecture, December 4, 2012, available at http://www.ifpri.org/event/22nd-annual-martin-j-forman-memorial-lecture.

• Shinn, T., 1982. Scientific disciplines and organisational specificity: The social and cognitive configuration of laboratory activities, in Elia, N., Martins, H. & Whitley, R., Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies, Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook 1982, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Boston.

• Shinn, T. ,1988. Hierarchies des chercheurs et formes de recherche. Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 74, 2–22.

• Simon, HA., 1962. The architecture of complexity, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106(6): 467-482.

• Vogt, K. (Ed.). 1997. Ecosystems: balancing science with management. Springer.