Principles of innovation to build nutrition-sensitive food systems in South Asia

Innovations within global food systems have contributed to the predicament known as the triple burden of malnutrition – the co-existence of hunger and micronutrient deficiency with the diseases of overnutrition, such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension. We use the case of the triple burden in South Asia to demonstrate analytically that innovation is a double-edged sword, with positive and negative potential, rather than a simple good. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals that target food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture (e.g. SDGs 2, 3 and 12), the countries of South Asia need more innovation, but, first, they would also benefit from some intelligent reflection about what innovation means, the directions it should take, and its risks and downsides alongside its benefits. In the present juncture, South Asian countries have an opportunity to learn from the experiences of other developing nations, and choose from alternative options to steer their own course. In this paper, we discuss how innovation has contributed to the present situation and ask how alternative kinds of innovation may enable South Asian countries to escape from the triple burden. We describe a conceptual framework that may be useful for thinking about how innovation pathways can be created and directed towards the goal of improving nutritional outcomes in South Asia. The framework draws attention to the direction of socio-technical change, the distribution of technologies and their risks and benefits, and the diversity of possible innovation pathways (STEPS Centre, 2010). We illustrate these points using examples of innovations in the areas of agricultural production, value chain interventions, and policy and institutional reforms.     

The Brandt report and international food problems

The political role that food has played in the Afghanistan and Iran crises, as well as in the UK's relations with its EEC partners has focused more attention on international food questions than at any time since the pre-war campaign for tariff reform. International food problems involve issues broader and more complex than finding ways of combating widespread hunger: showing concern and contributing some resources to solving someone e/se's problem. This increased awareness of the political and economic as well as humanitarian aspects of the food problem should enable us to recognise the need to give particular attention to proposals such as those made by the Brandt Commission¹ on world hunger and international food questions.     

Is rationing socialist?: Cuba's food distribution system

Cuba, an economically underdeveloped country, has achieved a goal that even most developed countries find elusive: it has eliminated hunger. A 1982 report prepared for the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress acknowledged that Cuba has ‘eliminated almost all malnutrition, particularly among small children.’¹ This article looks at how Cuba has managed to feed its people. It also questions whether the system created 25 years ago to ensure just distribution, ie rationing, today stands as an obstacle to the further development of Cuba's food system.     

Status of development,regulation and adoption of GM agriculture in Africa: Views and positions of stakeholder groups

The use of genetically modified (GM) crop technology in tackling food security problems and poverty reduction in Africa continues to generate debates over its benefits and safety. Only four countries, South Africa, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Egypt have commercialized GM crops in Africa but controversy surrounds current cultivation of GM maize in Egypt. Our study provides new perspectives on the status, development and regulation of GM crops through examining the views of 305 stakeholders in six African countries across four regions: South Africa, Kenya (East Africa), Egypt and Tunisia (North Africa), Ghana and Nigeria (West Africa), supplemented by interviews with relevant international organizations. The study revealed the challenges leading to the development of biosafety regulatory frameworks and the role of individual stakeholders in the facilitation of GM crops across African countries. This study also revealed that some countries may go through a Fiber–Feed–Food (F3) approach to adopt GM crops where Bt cotton will be adopted first followed by GM crops for livestock feed while undergoing all the necessary assessments before producing GM foods for human consumption. An overwhelming majority of stakeholders placed emphasis on risk analysis (risk assessment and management) in view of limited capacity, lack of scientific expertise and public concern, and encouraged a centralized approach to risk assessment similar to the European Union model of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).     

Food,peace — and the pursuit of arms

‘Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in a final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed from those who are cold and are not clothed.’ So said President Eisenhower 20 years ago. ¹ Today the world spends over $350 000 million a year on military and armaments — money lost to world development     

Disentangling the effects on OTT platform performance of three strategies: Pricing,M&As,and content investments

OTT streaming services have been restructuring the global multimedia industry, and there have been strategic actions and reactions among OTT players and traditional pay-TV platforms. This study found that Pricing and Content investments are key factors affecting market share and subscribership in global OTT markets, and M&As have positive effects on the two performance measures, although with less statistical confidence. OTT-specialized firms in the UK, Germany, France, Japan, and South Korea did not expand subscribers to the same extent as those in the US, but they were able to expand their market share in the UK and Germany while failing to increase it in the other three countries. Local OTT players, especially those in Europe and Asia, might need to be more strategic in coping with US-based firms’ expansion by materializing the positive interaction effects among the three strategies to increase both their subscriber base and market share.     

Alleviating rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

This analysis of rural poverty and hunger in Africa discusses the intertemporal and cross-sectional dimensions of poverty as an aid to policies and programs to alleviate hunger. Since nutritional adequacy of diets varies according to season, seasonality is an important cause of poverty especially in countries with 1 major harvest. In agricultural communities the wet season brings on food shortages and high prices, requiring assistance programs to concentrate on alleviating hunger at this time of year. Drought places a similar demand on resources. People may be poorer in 1 section of a country than another if they have no access to the existing power system, depriving them of services and assistance. There are forgotten regions of Africa where people are poor due to physical isolation, increasing the risk of drought and impeding emergency relief. Production in these areas may be low because there are no consumer goods to buy with surplus. It is important to identify target groups for financial assistance which will change with time and environmental conditions.     

Practice and potential in engineering education in Germany

English abstract In a long-term study, our research has shown that young engineers in industry experience a lack of knowledge, skills and competencies in nearly all non-engineering areas of work. Hence we have implemented within our university, educational innovations to improve this situation. These include the provision of an industry forum and course in which students work in small groups in a project which is a real life problem.

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German abstract In einem mehrijährigen Forschungspojekt Konnten wir zeigen, daß jungingenieure in der Industrie Defizite im Bereich nichttechnischer Ausbildung-sinhalte erfahren. Deshalb haben wir in unserer Hochschule zusätzliche Programme Für Studierende der Ingenieurwissens-chaften eingeführt.

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Hans Wankum and Dietrich Brandt Centre of Research and Development in Higher Education (HDZ) University of Technology (RWTH), Aachen, West-Germany.     

Bedeutung von CO2-Transport- und Speicheroptionen im europäischen Energiesystem

Aiming the stabilisation of the CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere at 450 ppm, a strong climate policy in the EU-27 will be required. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and the building up of a CO₂ pipeline system will be one option to avoid climate change. The analysis of the potential CO₂ storage options in Europe shows a huge potential in the North Sea and their neighbouring countries and only less potentials in the southern European countries. A scenario analysis using the European energy system model TIMES PanEU shows that the installation of CO₂ transport pipelines for cross boarder exchange of CO₂ from power plants located next to the boarder could be one possible infrastructure solution. This solution is a cost efficient option which will be used mainly by the North Sea neighbouring countries (Germany, UK, the Netherlands, Denmark) and Poland. A central pipeline grid in the North Sea for the usage of huge storage options like the Utsira formation will be important in the future for countries with limited CO₂ storage capacities (like Belgium or the Netherlands). If cheap storage options like onshore Aquifers are not available, the design of central CO₂ pipeline grids has a strong impact on the power plant structure, the electricity and CO₂ certificate price. Based on a limited availability of onshore CO₂ storages the electricity price will increase by up to 16 € 2007/MWh and the CO₂-certificate price will rise by additional 35 € 2007/t CO₂ in 2050.     

European dietary patterns and their associated land use: Variation between and within countries

This paper determines the cropland use associated with the dietary patterns of 16 European countries and investigates sources of variation in land use between and within these countries. The analysis combines food availability data at the household level with country-specific land use data for food items. The household food availability data is obtained from a standardized and post-harmonized databank, developed in the Data Food Networking Project (DAFNE). The results show large differences between the land use of the 16 European countries, ranging from ±1500 m² (Ireland) to ±3000 m² (Malta) to supply an average person’s food demand. Major reasons for this divergence include disparities in total caloric food availability and in national yields. The composition of the diet is only a minor source of variation. Using food consumption data at the household level makes it also possible to look for sources of variation within countries. This paper investigates sources of variation within countries by examining the influence of education of the household head on land use associated with food consumption. The analysis shows that diets of people with only elementary education need on average 20% more land than diets of people with a higher education (2302 m² and 1948 m², respectively). The basis of this difference is the higher caloric availability for people with only an elementary education; the influence of differences in the composition of the diet is negligible. Variation in land use between countries is thus caused by the different agricultural productivities and caloric availabilities, and the major source of variation within countries is the caloric availability. The composition of the diet is only a minor source of variation, both between and within countries. The results implicate that highly educated people have a lower demand for land.     

Cereal shortages and adjustment in the Sahel

In spite of insufficient agricultural and demographic statistics for this region of Africa, several estimates of cereal production per head suggest that the average harvest in these arid zones provides slightly less than the quantity needed for domestic consumption. Alarmed by the drought of 1968–1973 and the resulting famine of 1973,¹ the development agencies questioned the capacity of the Sahel countries to feed their populations. ‘Is self-sufficiency in food a realistic objective?’, asked Robert Hirsch at the Noakchott Colloquium.² Statistical analysis leads to the conclusion that improvement is technically possible, and that the eight countries of CILSS, as a whole, should be able to achieve self-sufficiency in millet, sorghum and maize. However, certain individual countries will not be able to meet domestic needs. Moreover, Hirsch states that urban demand is increasing for corn and rice, which are difficult to produce locally and costly to import. (CILSS is the Comité Inter-états de Lutte contre la Sécheresse au Sahel).     

From `food aid' to `aid for food': into the 21st century

Food aid deserves much credit for having pioneered in the 1950/60s the transfer of large quantities of resources to the poorest nations and people inflicted with poverty and hunger. In recent years, the magnitude of this aid has drastically diminished. Fortunately, many of the programs that used to receive food aid are now funded by financial aid. The paper argues that it may have become counter-productive to plead for `food aid', because it distracts attention from the fact that many food shortages can be alleviated as well, or even better, with financial aid. It might be more effective to solicit `aid for food' and to assure an adequate allocation of overseas development assistance for the purpose, irrespective of the supply of food aid.The policies, of which food aid was a by-product and which have led to the accumulation of large food surpluses in the industrial countries and the inhibition of the efficient functioning of food markets in the developing countries, have by now become thoroughly discredited. Is it in parallel, not also high time to question the appropriateness of the public distribution of food to nations and people, short on food?     

Soft drink prices,sales, body mass index and diabetes: Evidence from a panel of low-, middle- and high-income countries

We take advantage of four different cross-country datasets containing data on 78 countries for the period 1999–2014, in order to assess the relationship of carbonated soft drinks’ sales, as well as their prices, with body mass index (BMI), overweight, obesity and diabetes. Using an ecological study design and multivariate regression longitudinal estimation approaches, we find that carbonated soft drink sales were significantly positively related to BMI, overweight and obesity – but only in the low and lower-middle income countries. This finding was robust to a number of sensitivity and falsification checks. In this sub-sample, an increase in per capita soft drink sales by 1 litre per year was related to an increase of BMI by about 0.009 kg/m² (p < 0.1).. This is a small effect, implying that halving annual consumption per capita in this group of countries would result in a drop of BMI by only about 0.03 kg/m². Although soft drink prices were negatively related to weight-related outcomes in the sample of higher middle income and high income countries, this finding was not robust to falsification checks. The results thus suggest that sales restrictions to steer consumers away from soft drinks could indeed have a beneficial health effects in poorer countries, although the effect magnitude appears to be very small. However, given potential limitations of using ecological research design, results from individual level studies would be required to further ascertain the role of soft drink sales and prices in obesity and diabetes.     

Survey on attitudes to nutrition planning

The results of a worldwide survey of nutrition planning professionals' attitudes towards nutrition policy are presented. The objective of the survey was to determine what those involved in nutrition planning perceive to be the causes of hunger and malnutrition, and their views on the effectiveness of the programs implemented to overcome these problems. In mid-1979, a questionnaire was compiled comprising 48 questions related to attitudes towards nutrition policy, voluntary questions about social class, political classification and professional behavior and a question on perceived major impediments to solving malnutrition in the world. The questionnaire was sent to 728 professionals 87 countries; 250 replies from 55 countries; 250 replies from 55 countries were received. 44% of respondents resided in the US, 16% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 14% in the Far East, 12% in Africa and the Middle East and 13% in Europe, Canada and Australasia. Self-classification of political beliefs is the most clear cut correlate in predicting attitudes towards food and nutrition policy. There appear to be 2 clear schools of scientific/political behavior in the sample: one holds a more moderate, but generally liberal, set of views regarding the failure of modern technology in resolving world hunger and nutrition problems; a 2nd more liberal group believes political causes to be at the root of hunger. There is no single profession that can be typified as a breeding ground for nutrition planners. While the European trained and/or native group tends to be more to the left in their attitudes than their counterparts in the US, both groups are decidedly liberal and believe that social structural changes are needed to solve the problems of hunger and malnutrition in the world.     

The evolution of the telecommunications policy agenda: Forty years of articles in Telecommunications Policy

This paper investigates the evolution of the telecommunications policy agenda by means of text mining forty years –from 1976 to 2016– of papers in the journal Telecommunications Policy. Text mining techniques help identify the key topics, the dominant combinations of concepts and the main areas of research within this multidisciplinary –technical, economic, social, policy– discipline. In addition they depict an evolution of the policy agenda more nuanced than the conventional public service, pre-competition and post-liberalisation stages typical of telecommunications. Also, in combination with bibliometric information, the results display the relationships between areas of research and methodologies, countries and authors’ background, all together providing a deeper understanding of the past, present and future avenues for research in telecommunications policy.     

Role of formal standards in transition to the technology frontier: Korean ICT systems

According to traditional wisdom, latecomer countries improve their technological capabilities in reverse of the product cycle, that is from mature towards new technologies. However, improvement of standards capabilities in this process has not been revealed clearly. This paper confirms similar patterns for improving formal standards capabilities as for the technological capabilities, but records some possible differences in the rate of catch-up when latecomers approach the technology frontier; a forward moving position where technology leaders (typically advanced countries) develop or conceptualize new technologies before being turned into products or systems. A number of case studies of South Korean ICT systems reveal that transition to the technological frontier is increasingly related to how they target and carry out formal standardization. The common elements driving differences in rates of successful catch-up for ICT systems standards are not only limited to generic standards capabilities, but also rely on characteristics of technology trajectories, national strategic focus, and organizing for standardization.³ This implies that a nation should not be discouraged by slow progress in standards-setting during earlier stages. Once a minimum level of capabilities is achieved, a nation pro-active in standards from the beginning may attain higher rates of catch-up near the technology frontier.     

Friends or Foes? Mobile money interaction with formal and informal finance

Access to formal financial services is a key determinant of financial inclusion and yet, informal mechanisms still dominate the financial system in developing countries. In this context, the purpose of our article is to investigate how the growing effort to harness mobile money designed for unbanked individuals may help to overcome barriers to access formal financial services. Using a unique dataset obtained from an individual-level survey conducted in Burkina Faso, we explore the interplay between mobile money innovation and pre-existing formal and informal financial instruments. Our main findings show that, overall there are no differences in the inclination of mobile money users and non-users to make deposits in formal or informal deposit instruments. However, a closer investigation reveals suggestive evidence that it may increase the probability of participants in informal mechanisms to make deposits in formal financial instruments, especially using a bank account. Moreover, considering disadvantaged groups, we find for women, irregular income and less educated individuals that mobile money may increase their probability to make deposits in a bank and/or credit union accounts. Our results are robust to using instrumental variables and propensity score matching techniques that mitigate the endogeneity problem. They also pass a number of robustness checks as well as considering an alternative dataset. Given the low access to formal financial services in developing countries, our findings taken together indicate how the increasing adoption of mobile money may act as a stepping-stone towards financial inclusion. (JEL Classification C83, D14, G21)     

Could marine resources provide a short-term solution to declining fish supply in SADC inland countries? The case of horse mackerel

Food insecurity, usually manifested as protein deficiency, is a growing problem in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. In the land-locked countries where fish is an important component of the dietary protein, one of the factors contributing to this phenomenon is the declining per caput supply against growing populations. In such instances, national production from capture fisheries or aquaculture has not kept pace with population growth. Meanwhile, some of the maritime states in the region such as Namibia, South Africa, Angola and Mozambique have abundant under-utilised fish resources which, if brought into production, could help in reducing this imbalance, provided that the economic, technological and marketing constraints pertaining to exploitation of the low-value species in question can be overcome. Of the species in question (horse mackerel in Namibia and South Africa, round herring in South Africa, anchovy in Mozambique and sardines in Angola), horse mackerel from Namibia holds the best promise of being easily brought into play in the short term. A precedent exists whereby entrepreneurs from Zimbabwe and also from Malawi and Zambia have been importing horse mackerel from Namibia since the early 1990s. But in order to boost production substantially for export human consumption, the support and facilitation of the governments concerned would be vital. This should be in the areas of appropriate research and studies necessary to overcome the constraints, development of infrastructure and putting in place enabling policies.     

Universal intellectual property rights: Too much of a good thing?

Developing countries’ incentives to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) are studied in a model of vertical innovation. Enforcing IPR boosts export opportunities to advanced economies but slows down technological transfers and incentives to invest in R&D. Asymmetric protection of IPR, strict in the North and lax in the South, leads in many cases to a higher world level of innovation than universal enforcement. IPR enforcement is U-shaped in the relative size of the export market compared to the domestic one: rich countries and small/poor countries enforce IPR, the former to protect their innovations, the latter to access foreign markets, while large emerging countries free-ride on rich countries’ technology to serve their internal demand.