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Paper short abstract:

Food insecurity is an outcome and a driver of inequity, described in the Nutrition Equity Framework as the social and political processes by which unfairness, injustice and exclusion condition deep drivers of unequal outcomes; and illustrated here through empirical case studies from four continents.

Paper long abstract:

Who is malnourished, why some people have access to diverse and healthy diets while others do not, and the lifelong and intergenerational consequences of these situations are questions that are central to why we care about food security and nutrition equity – but these questions are often overlooked in research and practice. The purpose of this paper is to review recent work on equity and equality in the field of food, diets and nutrition, and to provide empirical case-studies demonstrating issues and solutions in practice, in order to move the field forward coherently. The Nutrition Equity Framework illustrates how unfairness, injustice and exclusion condition deep drivers of inequity that lead to unequal food security, diet and nutrition outcomes. We use the framework to structure four case-studies from Brazil, South Africa, Vietnam and the UK on how researchers and activists are involved in the struggle for healthier, just and more sustainable diets. Comparison across the four case-studies provides a useful illustration of how diet and nutrition equity dynamics can play out in diverse ways depending on national historical and contemporary contexts; but at the same time, we see some parallel trends and characteristics suggesting common drivers of unhealthy and inequitable diets across the North-South divide. In terms of action, equity can be operationalized in the positive as the need for recognition, representation and redistribution with relation to marginalized population groups, and the paper ends with suggestions from the literature on how to take this forward in research and action.

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We explore how illegal transshipment at sea – a practice popularly known in Ghana as saiko – has transformed over time given the relative difficulty in achieving a ‘zero' IUU at sea. We scrutinized the implications of saiko trading for fishery governance and seafood sustainability.

Paper long abstract:

This study examined the actors, institutions and the rationalities that frame saiko fishing in its informalized contexts. We investigated the actors involved in the saiko, their interests, rationalities and power relations that frame their engagements in the industry. We conducted 36 in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders within the Ghanaian fishery industry, particularly Elmina. The results reveal that diverse actors including formal and informal are involved in the saiko fish trade business. While the assumption was that state regulation has drastically reduced saiko nation-wide, the argument is made here that the state has rather emerged as an important actor in the strategic (re)positioning of saiko without careful treatment of the highly uneven and asymmetrical power relations in the fishing industry.

This study has shed light on unequal distribution of fisheries benefits and income among the saiko canoe fishers and canoe fisherfolk. Saiko canoe owners using their economic and political networks are able to establish contacts with Chinese industrial trawlers to engaged in illegal trans-shipment at sea. Getting abundant supply of fish and making more money whilst canoe fisherfolk struggle with low-catch and declining income. We also show intra-fleet inequalities where few saiko canoe owners with the political support are able to operate despite ban on the trans-shipment at sea. The paper therefore calls for a more transparent governance of the fisheries resources where all members of the community would have equal access.

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This paper explores the intricate nexus between the integration of the Brazilian soybean complex into global value chains and the concurrent expansion of financial markets, instruments, and institutions in agribusiness. Over recent years, this trend has extended into speculative activities surrounding environment-related investments, including insurance and futures hedging against adverse weather events, carbon credits in agricultural production, and green bonds for sustainability-branded projects. Our study focuses on the main agribusiness transnationals involved in green finance-driven investments in farming, processing, and trade in Brazil. We discuss the various ways in which they adhere to local and global environmental regulations while engaging in speculative practices related to green investments. By adopting an actor-centred approach, we closely examine the individual strategies employed by each dominant player, providing a nuanced understanding of their corporate policies and elucidating their social and environmental impacts. Close attention is directed to top Chinese companies recently engaged in soybean exports, like COFCO. We enquire to what extent they have imitated “greed finance” strategies from North Atlantic counterparts and how their expansion relates to environmental regulations, norms and sustainable corporate policies for soybean exports. To do so, we combine global value chain and environmental governance analyses, delving into relationships between dominant economic practices and institutional frameworks within a dynamic historical context. The findings of this study shed light on the evolving landscape of financialisation and green investments in agricultural exports from the Global South following the expansion strategies and disputes among dominant players.

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Paper short abstract:

While demand for food support and reliance on food banks has risen, there has been a surge in experimentation with alternative food support (AFS). This paper explores AFS in six middle-and high-income countries, focusing on opportunities for cross-country learning across the North/South divide.

Paper long abstract:

Amidst the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the persistent cost-of-living crisis, the demand for food support and reliance on food banks has risen. Concurrently, there has been a surge in experimentation with alternative forms of food provisioning, often intertwined with alternative food networks, grassroots initiatives, and social innovation. These innovative approaches were initially stimulated and facilitated by the unique circumstances of the pandemic crisis, including widespread lockdowns, an upswing in volunteerism, additional government support, and increased public and private donations. This paper delves into the exploration of these alternative forms of food support, drawing insights from cases in six middle- and high-income countries spanning the Global North/South divide: Brazil, Canada, France, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The analysis will explore their distinct features, considering contextual specificities, and evaluate the extent to which they offer viable alternatives to prevailing food aid models. Furthermore, the paper will explore the challenges associated with sustaining these innovations and address the systemic injustices within the food system. Emphasis will also be placed on exploring opportunities for cross-country learning across the North/South divide.

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Paper short abstract:

This study explores the impact of digitalisation on UK food insecurity, examining Universal Credit, pre-paid cards, and e-vouchers. Findings show digitalisation's mixed effects, increasing access but also barriers for some, raising concerns about digital equity and the role of private partnerships.

Paper long abstract:

This paper outlines key findings from a scoping study exploring the impact of digitalisation in welfare systems on food insecurity for marginalised populations in the UK. The study integrates a literature review, interviews with stakeholders, and an analysis of digital transitions in welfare, including Universal Credit, pre-paid cards (e.g. Healthy Start as food assistance for pregnant women and young children or Aspen card for asylum seekers), and electronic school food vouchers. Initial findings reveal a nuanced relationship between digital welfare administration, private partnerships, and food insecurity. Digitalisation, aimed at enhancing efficiency and expanding access paradoxically heightens barriers for certain groups, potentially increasing their risk of food insecurity. A significant concern is the reliability and transparency of how digital systems are developed and managed. These challenges highlight a broader issue of digital equity in welfare systems and raise questions about the role and priority of the private sector. The study explores the feasibility of inclusive digitalisation strategies in welfare, the challenges posed by the current digitalisation infrastructure, and emphasises the need for human-centric design and protocols to safeguard the vulnerable against unintended adverse effects.

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Paper short abstract:

Using empirical cases from the current on going war-torn states in Sudan, intensifying food insecurity, and destruction of digitalization-related infrastructure; the paper helps in rethinking the efficiency of digitalized methods of assistance.

Paper long abstract:

The increasing turn to digitalized means of food assistance, such as bank transfer, QR code, prepaid cards, mobile money, to vulnerable communities are often argued to be more efficient than in-kind provision of food or physical cash. Drawing on the ongoing war crisis in Sudan, intensifying food insecurity, mass displacements and destruction of digitalization-related infrastructure, this paper will shed light on the effectiveness of digitalization in addressing food insecurity in such an extreme precarity. The paper will rely on qualitative data generated from three war affected state’s in Sudan; including: Darfur (in the far West), which has experienced conflict and displacement for more than 20 years, Khartoum (the capital) and Al-Gezira (the site of large agricultural scheme), which are affected by the country-wide war since April 2023. Particular attention will be given to analysis contexts surrounding issues of digitalization and the different actors involved, in particular how local groups, committees and diaspora have played a key role in providing assistance. The paper will also examine the broader range of organisations, authorities, and businesses engaged in food assistance, and their relation to Sudan’s intensifying and extractive political economy. The main argument of this paper is that, though digitalization might enable effective delivery of assistance during precarious times, however, there is a level of precarity in which digitalization itself is disabled.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines global trends in the digitalisation and financialisation of food assistance and social welfare, and its influence on the structural causes of food insecurity. It will use examples from Sudan, India to compare how digital practices feed into political and economic processes.

Paper long abstract:

The last two decades have seen increasing hunger and the introduction of digitalised practices to address it. This paper examines global trends in the digitalisation and financialisation of food assistance and social welfare, and its influence on the structural causes of food insecurity. Using the concept of ‘regimes of practices’ the paper analyses digital practices and associated infrastructure as a way of governing and to understand their interaction with political and economic processes. It will use examples from Sudan, India and the UK to highlight similarities in the adoption of mb phone or web-based practices, pre-paid cards, biometric IDs, digital platforms or apps in food assistance and welfare across the Global North and South, all with an underlying neoliberal logic. While practices may vary in terms of design and process across different countries and populations, the paper will draw out similarities in exclusions, impact on social relations and behaviour, the potential for feeding into inequalities and war. As such it will include an analysis of the benefits for financial and political institutions and the retail sector. The paper ends with reflections on implications for global food security.

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Paper short abstract:

Digitalisation of the PDS in India is likely to lead to a lack of transparency and exclusion of the most disadvantaged households. Data for this come from media analysis of two popular Hindi newspapers.

Paper long abstract:

The Public Distribution System (PDS) of India is one of the largest food assistance programmes in the world that provides selected foodstuffs at subsidized rates to the vulnerable sections of the population. In 2013 it changed from universal provisioning to targeting households that were below poverty line, i.e., 75% of rural and 50% of the urban population and in 2015 it was brought under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme. This scheme entails the transfer of cash equivalents of subsidy amounts directly into the bank accounts of eligible households to enable them to purchase food grains in the open market. By 2020 the PDS was digitalised throughout the country. The government claims that digitalisation of PDS has reduced corruption, leakage and has increased efficiency and improved food security of the targeted populations. However, this paper will argue that a technological system that links bank accounts, unique identification numbers (Aadhaar cards) and mobile phone numbers, in fact is more likely to lead to a lack of transparency and exclusion of the most disadvantaged households. Data for this come from media analysis. News from two popular newspapers in Hindi, one, that is widely read in an urban resettlement colony in New Delhi and another in a rural area in Chhattisgarh, a state that is classified as an economically backward, will be analysed.

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Paper short abstract:

Through an ethnographic study of the Amma Canteens in Chennai, I show how a state-run subsidised meals scheme has the potential to enable social justice in the urban.

Paper long abstract:

Amma canteens are a network of subsidised meal centres operated by the Greater Chennai Corporation serving the urban populace . This scheme enables its clientele to fulfil the basic need for food at minimal costs. Through a qualitative study of the canteens over a period six months , I argue that these canteens hold meanings beyond that of a meal-centre as they act as ‘spaces of care’ for different social groups. The beneficiaries are able to make a claim on the state’s resources while their status as rights bearing citizens is weakened by poverty, old age, unemployment , sickness or gender . The old who have no means for a decent meals ; the young factory worker struggling to save some money to send to his family back home ; a home-maker struggling to make ends meet ; a mentally challenged person who is left to fend in the streets ; all seek the service of the Amma canteens to satiate their hunger. In the context of unbridled urbanisation marked by exclusion and precarious employment , the Amma canteens hold the promise of social justice through its ability it care through provisioning of food. Despite limitations to state-capacity, this scheme has been operational for a decade. It continues to serve the poor and the marginalised shielding them from the pressures of inflation while upholding their dignity.

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Paper short abstract:

We discuss the tensions between Tech companies'/international donors’ claims and the everyday enactments of digital farm technologies, highlighting 1) limited accessibility for smallholders 2) technologies’ ambiguous role in smallholder empowerment 3) AgTech firms’ data-driven value extraction

Paper long abstract:

In the past few years, digital technologies have entered the rural space as a triple-win solution capable of achieving, at the same time, food security goals, reducing farming’s environmental impact, and enhancing farm profitability or - in the global South - lifting smallholder farmers out of poverty. However, with the exception of some sociological inquiries in the Global North, empirical studies looking at Global South contexts, often the main target of donors and international development agencies’ discourses, remain scarce. Our research aims at filling this gap. By looking at discourses around digitalization of agriculture in Africa, in combination with in-depth field research in one the major African digital innovation hubs (Ghana), our paper discusses the tensions between the grand claims of international donors and some of the material enactments of digital farming technologies on the ground. By highlighting 1. the limited accessibility of most of these technologies for small scale farmers; 2. the ambiguous and complex role of these technologies in empowering smallholder farmers in their daily practices and 3. the often overlooked importance of farmers’ data for value extraction in most AgTech companies' business models, we contend that the discourses of policy makers, tech companies and international donors around the digitalization of agriculture in Africa must be carefully scrutinized.

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This paper assesses the impact of three decades of militarized violence on indigenous food systems in Indian-administered Kashmir. We ask: How do protracted crises shape indigenous food systems, and what are their implications for the nutritional and socio-cultural health of local communities?

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the impact of three decades of militarized violence on indigenous food systems in Indian-administered Kashmir. We ask: How do protracted crises shape indigenous food systems, and what are their implications for the nutritional and socio-cultural health of local communities? The paper draws on semi-structured interviews and life-story interviews with households in rural Kashmir and supplements them with key stakeholder interviews, including government officials and union leaders from agricultural value chains. Building on decolonial and interdisciplinary research approaches, we have documented the following three aspects: First, the changes in land use patterns in both the household and neighborhood food environments Second, household and community knowledge of indigenous food cultivation, processing, and storage practices, the role of these in socio-cultural identity, and the impact of conflict on these practices. Third, the impact of the conflict and conflict-induced agrarian changes on nutrition and health outcomes. The paper argues that the state and its military apparatus play an important role in agrarian transformation by destroying local patterns of food production for consumption. This apparatus uses neoliberalism and food dumping policies as a tool to deepen state control. Food system changes are seen as the primary cause of food-related bio-cultural diversity loss and rising diet-related diseases, including obesity and heart disease. The paper also highlights that access to land, natural resources, and sovereignty to decide its own food policies are indispensable for the promotion of indigenous food systems.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how methods of food security analysis developed in the Global South can valuably be applied to Global North contexts. The results reveal a fuller picture of people’s livelihoods, amidst worsening poverty, and highlight severe limitations of increasingly-prevalent food aid.

Paper long abstract:

Food aid has become a high-profile component of the de facto UK welfare safety net over the past decade, alongside more widespread increases in food insecurity and poverty. Drawing on methods from the Global South which better account for the informality and irregularity of livelihoods that are typified by charitable food aid, this research provides new evidence of how different types of food aid affect UK households’ living standards and food security.

Interviews with people using food banks or community meals in London between 2016 and 2020 piloted a hybrid new Enhanced Family Budget approach, bringing together questions from established large-scale surveys with ground-breaking household economy methods that allow for analysis of ‘food income’ and other aspects which are often overlooked in survey data. Minimum Income Standard budgets were used to consider the adequacy of the incomes recorded, and open-ended questions gave additional context and meaning.

The results demonstrate the severe limitations of food aid as a component of food security systems in this context, where it can only satisfy the most reductive of approaches to food security. Almost all of the families’ total resources were far below a minimum socially-acceptable standard of living. Food aid helped to reduce essential costs to varying and potentially vital extents, sometimes with additional emotional or practical support. Yet food alone could not fill most of the deficits, and the provision of food rather than money generated further problems of unreliability, stigma and differences from desired consumption practices.