Nutrition, health, quality of work, and agriculture are inextricably linked to each other, especially in rural households in developing countries.
Studies in this area are concerned with the link between agriculture, productivity, income, food security, working conditions and diet under different production conditions of farms. Critical and systematic analysis of the impact of agricultural interventions on nutrition and quality of employment are at the center of research activities.
Projects
INCiTiS-FOOD: Integrated and Circular Technologies for Sustainable city region FOOD systems in Africa
INCiTiS-FOOD aims to improve food and nutrition security in African city regions and reduce the food-system-related environmental footprint while contributing to circularity. Furthermore, the project will empower communities by opening up opportunities for them in agri-food supply and value chains, and by achieving environmental justice through transformative food policies. This will be achieved through interdisciplinary research, integrated best-fit technologies, stakeholder led action, capacity-building, research-practitioner-policy collaborative engagement, and Europe-Africa partnership.
The INCiTiS-FOOD project will co-create circular agri-food technologies, practices, and business models for an inclusive food system in African cities and towns. The agri-food technologies comprise soilless crop farming (hydroponics), recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), and insect farming. These circular agri-food technologies have been deemed suitable for the context of African cities because they do not require great access to land, water, or wealth.
The project is based on a multi-actor approach, involving 8 Living Labs (LLs) in 6 countries from 3 African regions (East: Kenya; West: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone; Central: Cameroon, Gabon). Once the agri-food technologies have reached a sufficiently high technological, societal, and business readiness level, they will be validated in a demonstration phase targeting 800-1000+ start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the basis of open calls for a Cascade Fund. The beneficiaries of the Cascade Fund will be surveyed to generate empirical evidence on the co-benefits of the INCiTiS-FOOD project technologies and business models.
Duration: 1 January 2023 – 31 December 2026
INCiTiS-FOOD is funded by the Horizon Europe Framework Programme.
Impacts of Risk in Resource Allocation, Innovation and Adaptation Mechanisms: The Case of Arable Farms in EU (Germany)
The implication of risk, as inherent element in the production system, is one of the key elements of decision making in farming. This research project analyzes risk perception of decision makers and explore the impacts on resource allocation decisions, innovation and adoption of technologies, and farmers’ adaptation mechanisms. We use European FADN panel data integrated with weather information and robust econometric estimation procedures employed for analysis. (Habtamu Ayenew)
PARI (Program of Accompanying Research for Innovation)
To a large extent, hunger is still a poverty-related problem. In order to achieve enhanced production and higher incomes in a small-farm agricultural system, productivity, organization, marketing and processing along the entire agricultural value chain require significant and sustainable improvement. In other words, locally adapted innovations are needed for the sustainable development of the whole agricultural and food sector.
In Africa, there is an increasing emphasis on the role of innovation in development. Innovation for sustainable and high agricultural growth forms an important part of this ambition. The German Government has acknowledged this innovation potential and wants to support the improvement of food and nutrition security and sustainable agricultural value chains in Africa through Agricultural Innovation Centers (AICs) in 12 African countries.
The main goal of the PARI is to contribute to sustainable agricultural growth, and food and nutrition security in the AIC countries of Africa and in India through independent scientific advice. Related goals are to:
promote and support the scaling of proven innovations in the agri-food sector in collaboration and partnership with all relevant actors,
support and enhance investments in the AICs through research, and thereby
contribute to the development of the agri-food sector in Africa and India through the identification, assessment and up-scaling of innovations.
The PARI’s main components are:
1. Accompanying research with future-oriented impact analyses including :
Methodology and concept for strategic analysis and visioning
Baseline studies
Modelling the direct and indirect impacts of potential innovations
Institutional analysis of the AICs and their role in the national agricultural innovation system.
2. Research-based design and assessment of technological and institutional innovations, including:
Identification of promising innovations (“top-down“ innovations)
Screening and identifying innovations generated by farmers and other actors in the value chains (“bottom-up“ innovations)
Focus on youth and women farmers.
The PARI brings together partners from different countries and research institutions to contribute to sustainable agricultural growth, and food and nutrition security in Africa and India as part of the AIC initiative supported by the German government.
Impact of an EU free trade agreement with the United States (TTIP) on the Bavarian agricultural foreign trade
Taken the ongoing negotiations on a free trade agreement between the EU and the US into account, the research project analyses the agricultural trade between Bavaria and the United States. The project deals with two main objectives: a description of trade flows by means of volume and value of relevant products as well as an analysis of possible developments in the agricultural foreign trade by enacting TTIP.
The project is realized in cooperation with the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture and funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry. (Dr. Corina Jantke, Nadja Koch)
