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Food security outcomes in agricultural systems models: Current status and recommended improvements

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Title Food security outcomes in agricultural systems models: Current status and recommended improvements
 
Creator Nicholson, Charles F.
Stephens Emma C.
Kopainsky, Birgit
Jones, Andrew D.
Parsons, David
Garrett, James
 
Subject food security
farming systems
food access
stability
seguridad alimentaria
sistemas de explotación
acceso a los alimentos
 
Description Improvement of food security is a common objective for many agricultural systems analyses, but how food security has been conceptualized and evaluated within agricultural systems has not been systematically evaluated. We reviewed the literature on agricultural systems analyses of food security at the household- and regional-levels, finding that the primary focus is on only one dimension of food security—agricultural output as a proxy for food availability. Given that food security comprises availability, access, utilization and stability dimensions, improved practice would involve more effort to incorporate food access and stability indicators into agricultural systems models. The empirical evidence base for including food access indicators and their determinants within agricultural systems models requires further development through appropriate short and long-term investments in data collection and analysis. Assessment of the stability dimension of food security (through time) is also particularly under-represented in previous work and requires the development and application of appropriate dynamic models of agricultural systems that include food security indicators, coupled with more formalized treatment of robustness and adaptability at both the regional and household levels. We find that agricultural systems models often conflate analysis of food security covariates that have the potential to improve food security (like agricultural yields) with an assessment of food security itself. Agricultural systems modelers should exercise greater caution in referring to analyses of agricultural output and food availability as representing food security more generally.
 
Date 2021-01
2021-07-20T10:55:25Z
2021-07-20T10:55:25Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Nicholson, C.F.; Stephens E.C.; Kopainsky, B.; Jones, A.D.; Parsons, D.; Garrett, J. (2021) Food security outcomes in agricultural systems models: Current status and recommended improvements. Agricultural Systems 188: 103028. ISSN: 0308-521X
0308-521X
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114339
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.103028
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Format application/pdf
 
Source Agricultural Systems