by Abhigya (CzechGlobe – Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
December 18, 2023

The FoSTA-Health team conducted the first round of cross-country stakeholder consultation workshops for the project across Zambia, Tanzania, South Africa, and Malawi in the month of October 2023. The workshops aimed to glean diverse perspectives on food system transformations, focusing on One Health outcomes. These engagements are the first step toward exploring how human, animal, and environmental health linkages can be leveraged to transform food systems. These interactions also seek to understand how different project partners and stakeholders across the focus countries conceptualise food systems and One Health.

by Russell Cain and Andrew Challinor (University of Leeds)
December 14, 2023

National Dialogues for Food System Transformation Modelling

Modelling potential food system transformations and their impacts upon people, animals and the environment helps us understand which pathways of transformation might be best and what they might entail. Throughout October 2023, a series of national dialogues was held in Zambia, Tanzania, South Africa, and Malawi; asking FoSTA-Health stakeholders to tell us more about what those food transformation pathways and their futures might look like. We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved as we now take this information to inform the modelling process.

By Christiaan Mostert and Danie Jordaan (University of Pretoria), Fiona Smith (University of Leeds)
August 11, 2023

The development of the legal and compliance environment for food and agriculture in eastern and southern Africa has been underpinned by increasingly strict food safety and food quality standards, in both the Global North and Global South.  Regulatory frameworks are important tools in food systems for outlining food safety and quality requirements for commodities and signaling the same to markets and consumers. They offer guidance and aid-compliance for food producers and processors with regards to basic or minimum requirements, which are often mandated by national governments.

By Haji Msangi and Betty Waized (Sokoine University of Agriculture), Jonas Cromwell, Susannah Sallu, Ruth Smith and Stephen Whitfield (University of Leeds)

August 1, 2023

The agricultural sector in Tanzania is vital to the country's economy, providing employment, income generation, and food security. However, it faces challenges such as climate change, population pressures, and soil degradation, necessitating innovative approaches for sustainable agricultural development. In the Tanga region of Tanzania, there has been a noticeable shift from traditionally important crops to horticultural value chains, offering opportunities for improving nutrition security, income streams, and high-value market access. The FoSTA-Health project will  examine the transformation of agricultural value chains in the Tanga region, focusing on the dynamics and implications of the shift towards export-oriented horticulture. The goal is to understand the governance structures, market engagement, agricultural practices, social relationships, and livelihood dynamics within these value chains.

By Ruth Smith, Jonas Cromwell, and Susannah Sallu (University of Leeds), Maureen Miruka, Nedjma Ouerdane and Caitlin Shannon (CARE USA), Haji Msangi and Betty Waized (Sokoine University of Agriculture), Lenka Suchá (Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

August 1, 2023

Women play an integral role in the agricultural sector across much of sub-Saharan Africa where 66% of  women’s employment is in agrifood systems. Considering the current calls for transformation of these food systems to tackle widespread structural inequities in the production, distribution and consumption of food, understanding the role of women within such transformations and leverage points for their empowerment is important. In Tanzania, a commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment has gained salience within national policy frameworks over recent years. A key focus has been on the economic empowerment of rural women – integrating female farmers into market systems with a focus on their productivity and productive asset gaps, business skills and employment opportunities.  Pertinent to Tanzania's development agenda, the FoSTA-Health project will explore the relationship between women's empowerment, food system transformation and engagement in markets through empirically grounded research in Tanga region, northeast Tanzania.

By Peter Yiga, Pui Yee Tan, Yun Yun Gong (University of Leeds), Caitlin Shannon (Care International), and Mathews Mhuru (National Food and Nutrition Commission, Zambia)
July 25, 2023

Zambia is experiencing a double burden of malnutrition- which may signal an ongoing nutrition transition- shaped by food supply and demand pressure, alongside international food and agriculture policies. However, nutrition transitions are insufficiently documented in the Zambian context. Furthermore, there is little knowledge of the short and long-term impact of a nutrition transition on interrelated human, animal and environmental health.