Sheryl L Hendriks

University of Greenwich · Natural Resources Institute

The current lack of consensus on the relationships between hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity frustrates efforts to design good policies and programs to deal with the many problems. Disputes over terminology distract from the need for urgent action. This paper argues that our understanding of food insecurity is incremental: it develops as new...

Although the term itself was only developed in the 1970s, food security has played a central role in policies that have shaped the history of South Africa from the 17th century. As with the changing international interpretation of food security over the past four decades, South African food security determinants have been interpreted differently by...

Almost two decades after South Africa’s political transformation, the country’s food security context demands serious attention amidst excessively high unemployment and depressed economic growth. Although food insecurity at household and individual levels is unacceptably high in South Africa, the nation has for decades reported its aggregate nation...

Food insecurity is an intractable problem in South Africa. The country has a tradition of evidence-based decision making, grounded in the findings of national surveys. However, the rich insights from sub-national surveys remain a largely untapped resource for understandings of the contextual experience of food insecurity. A web-based search identif...

Little is known about the potential for food assistance in the form of cash and food transfers to improve nutrition and create demand for nutritious food in crises. This study investigated the influence of the World Food Programme’s cash and food transfers on the diversity and quality of diets among recipient households in Mozambique and the implic...

A transformation of food systems is needed to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals specified in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Recognizing the true costs and benefits of food production and consumption can help guide public policy decisions to effectively transform food systems in support of sustainable healthy diets. A new, e...

All countries have a rising burden of diet-related disease from the consumption of unhealthy foods. About three billion people around the world cannot afford the diverse foods needed for a healthy diet. This chapter aims to extend previous work on diet cost and affordability to address the hidden costs of meal preparation inside the home. Costs of...

Action Track 1 of the Food Systems Summit offers an opportunity to bring together the crucial elements of food safety, nutrition, poverty and inequalities in the framework of food systems within the context of climate and environmental change to ensure that all people have access to a safe and nutritious diet. Achieving Action Track 1’s goal is ess...

The aim of this chapter is to propose a definition of “ healthy diets” and provide related evidence, thus permitting the alignment of terminology for the Food Systems Summit and beyond. Diets are combinations of foods and beverages (referred to as foods hereafter, for simplicity) consumed by individuals. However, the specific combination of foods t...

Ensuring sustainable food systems requires vastly reducing their environmental and health costs while making healthy and sustainable food affordable to all. One of the central problems of current food systems is that many of the costs of harmful foods are externalized, i.e., are not reflected in market prices. At the same time, the benefits of heal...

As recognized by the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa – 2024 (STISA-2024), science, technology and innovation (STI) offer many opportunities for addressing the main constraints to embracing transformation in Africa, while important lessons can be learned from successful interventions, including policy and institutional innovat...

The complexity and interconnectivity of food systems and climate requires new thinking and research designs that better address the real‐world challenges of securing the resilience and sustainability of human and environmental systems. Central to such an approach is coherent action across sectors and scales. Although inter‐and transdisciplinary app...

Sheryl L Hendriks and colleagues describe the global risks and vulnerabilities associated with health, food security, and nutrition

Public agriculture expenditure is a significant growth catalyst. However, evaluating the impact of public agriculture expenditure on food security remains scanty. This paper assessed the impact of public expenditure on food security in nine ECOWAS countries using four indicators of food security, one in each dimension (availability, access, utiliza...

Most farmers in Nigeria are food-insecure smallholders without secure land tenure. Children growing up in these households may be at higher risk of malnutrition. However, there is a paucity of evidence of the effect of land tenure on child nutrition. The present paper examines whether smallholders' mode of land acquisition and tenure documentation...

Artisanal fishing can improve livelihoods, boost nutrition and strengthen food systems, but fishers’ input is needed at local, national and global levels. Artisanal fishing can improve livelihoods, boost nutrition and strengthen food systems, but fishers’ input is needed at local, national and global levels. Senegalese women handle a bucket of fish...

This study set out to estimate the role of large-scale agricultural investments on household vulnerability to food insecurity in sample communities in Kenya, Madagascar and Mozambique based on their adoption of coping strategies. The study used secondary data from the three countries (Kenya, Madagascar and Mozambique). The findings of the study rev...

Large-scale agricultural investments (LAIs) transform land use systems worldwide. There is, however, limited understanding about how the common global drivers of land use change induce different forms of agricultural investment and produce different impacts on the ground. This article provides a crosscountry comparative analysis of how differences...

This book identifies ways in which Africa can realize its potential to secure a supply of food for affordable and healthy diets through the sustainable use of its own resources. The focus is on investment, cooperation, and policy action. The agenda proposed here is intended to be a long-term one, but one that should be initiated in the short term w...

Food systems that support healthy diets in sustainable, resilient, just, and equitable ways can engender progress in eradicating poverty and malnutrition; protecting human rights; and restoring natural resources. Food system activities have contributed to great gains for humanity but have also led to significant challenges, including hunger, poor d...

Composite indicators have gained popularity in various research areas. However, the determination of an appropriate weighting method is challenging. Subjective weighting methods are criticised for their potential bias that may reduce stakeholders’ trust in the results of a composite index. By contrast, objective weighting processes are perceived to...

Ensuring sustainable food systems requires vastly reducing its environmental and health costs while making healthy and sustainable food affordable to all. One of the central problems of current food systems is that many of the costs of harmful foods are externalized, i.e. are not reflected in market prices. At the same time, the benefits of healthf...

Increasing urbanisation could pose significant food insecurity challenges in Africa, yet little has been researched regarding food insecurity in urban Africa. This study compared the levels and severity of food insecurity in Malawi’s four major cities using data from Malawi’s fourth Integrated Household Survey (2016/17). Urban food insecurity was f...

This study set out to estimate the effects of large-scale agricultural investments (LSAIs) on household food security in one community each in Kenya, Madagascar and Mozambique. An endogenous switching regression model was adopted to control for a possible selection bias due to unobserved factors. It was found that households with members employed b...

This paper addresses the "dependent variable"problem in food security policies, namely the difficulty in classifying food security policies that limits comparative policy studies. Policy comparisons require criteria that are general enough for broad application but sensitive to the context. A rigorous and objective basis for comparisons would allow...

Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, zu ermitteln, wie Afrika seine Potenziale ausschöpfen und seine Versorgung mit Lebensmitteln für eine erschwingliche und gesunde Ernährung durch die nachhaltige Nutzung seiner eigenen Ressourcen sichern kann. Afrikas Lebensmittelimporte belaufen sich auf etwa 60 Milliarden US-Dollar pro Jahr (UNCTAD, 2020). In Nettoza...

The aim of this study is to identify how Africa may transform its potentials into realities and actually secure its supply of food for affordable and healthy diets from the sustainable use of resources. Africa’s food imports amount to about US$ 60 billion per year. In net terms, cereals account for about US$ 25 billion per year, meat and dairy for...

Scientific enquiry and the communication of science are essential to achieving development goals. The demand for evidence-based policy poses a challenge to maintaining the ethical conduct of science. The modern scientist faces intense competition in light of the changing nature of collaborative efforts, the quickening pace and increasing complexity...

Background: Very little has been researched about the efficacy, effectiveness, feasibility, sustainability and impact of food-based approaches on the diets and nutritional status of populations at risk of hunger and food insecurity. This study contributes knowledge about the impact of food-based approaches on the diets of populations at risk of hu...

Large-scale agricultural investments in developing countries have escalated over the past decade. While much is written about the potential adverse effects of these acquisitions on local communities, there is a paucity of evidence of these impacts. This paper explores the effect of large-scale agribusinesses on household food security in two locati...

Despite commitment to the 2003 Maputo Declaration, South Africa has not yet formally launched a domestication process for the Comprehensive Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Maputo and Malabo Declarations, even though the National Development Plan and Medium Term Strategic Framework generally align with the continental growth agenda; and no...

This presentation was part of a session at the Global Leadership in the 21st Century UNOG, WAAS - Online session, 18 June 2020, entitled: The Role of Academies in Addressing Global Social Challenges: IAP’s Food & Nutrition Security and Agriculture project.

There is increased interest and awareness in country and among donors of the importance of evidence-based policy change in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. While much is known about the technical and programmatic elements necessary to end hunger and undernutrition (including micronutrient deficiencies), far less is known about how to in...

Amidst conflicting narratives in development circles regarding the drive for nutrition-sensitive agriculture and the displacement of household production by supermarket penetration into deep rural areas, little is documented about the design of nutrition-sensitive agricultural programmes in the context of changing food systems. This is the first co...

Amidst conflicting narratives in development circles regarding the drive for nutrition-sensitive agriculture and the displacement of household production by supermarket penetration into deep rural areas, little is documented about the design of nutrition-sensitive agricultural programmes in the context of changing food systems. This is the first co...

Background Very little has been researched about the efficacy, effectiveness, feasibility, sustainability and impact of food-based approaches on the diets and nutritional status of populations at risk of hunger and food insecurity. This study contributes knowledge about the impact of food-based approaches on the diets of populations at risk of hung...

Financing systems polices are crucial in Malawi’s development agenda which have serious implications on the accomplishment or failure to achieve policy goals. The policy brief therefore assessed whether financing policies are sensitive to food systems transformation in Malawi.

The United Nations has developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to transform our world. Smart Computing aims to combine advances in Information and Communication Technologies including Internet of Things, cloud computing, mobile computing and social computing to create smart systems to make human life better. Smart Computing is providing a...

Many studies purport that in low-income countries, women are often responsible for producing, preparing and purchasing food. Consequently, policies related to food and nutrition overemphasise the role of women, underestimating the potential for cooperation and complementarity between men and women. This focus on women does not account for socially...

Food systems transformation

This study set out to investigate the extent of food security policy change between 2010 and 2018 in 11 countries actively engaged in the review and revision of their CAADP National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans (NAIPs) (informed by the Malabo Declarations) and to understand the extent to which these policy changes cover food secur...

This policy brief assesses ten African National Agriculture and Food Secuirty Investment Plans (NAIPs) from the perspective of the indicator sets contained in the NAIPs against the African Union Biennial Review, the First 10-year Implementation Plan of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 (2014 to 2023) and the SDGs. The research was conducted in three...

This policy brief assesses ten NAIP IIs from the perspective of the indicator sets contained in the NAIPs against the BR, the First 10-year Implementation Plan of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 (2014 to 2023) and the SDGs. The research was conducted in three steps. i. An assessment of the NAIP monitoring and evaluation frameworks of ten available...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have introduced greater integration of development objectives across traditional sectors. This integration is also reflected in Africa’s Agenda 2063 vision for development. Africa’s agricultural and food security initiatives through the 2003 Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) se...

What drives policy reform after long periods of policy inertia? What factors shape the effectiveness of policy implementation following reform decisions? These questions increasingly concern the international donor and research communities, given the importance of policy environments in shaping development outcomes and the growing need to achieve d...

Despite significant global interest in food policy since the 1974 food price crisis, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the first set of international development commitments in which the narrow focus of hunger and poverty explicitly include nutrition (SDG2) – beyond only health indicators related to maternal and child health indicators....

Nearly 50 different species of insects are reportedly consumed in South Africa, making it one of the most significant examples of entomophagy in Africa. While both small and medium enterprises are mushrooming in the country, legislative issues concerning the use of insects as food and feed are often overlooked. This chapter revisits the entire valu...

Food insecurity and malnutrition are legacies of South Africa’s colonial and apartheid past, shaped by the shocks and stresses of a globally-integrated food system, climate change and multiple policy contradictions. In this paper, the transformative potential of the 2013 national Policy for Food and Nutrition Security, its implementation plan and t...

The 2014 Malabo Declaration is an ambitious call to action with the vision of dramatically transforming agricultural growth and development in Africa. In the Declaration, African leaders approved seven commitments that include recommitting to the principles and values of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and ensurin...

Nutrition Economics: Principles and policy applications provides useful current knowledge and perspectives on a range of contemporary issues related to the economics of nutrition, alongside practical, real-world problems and how to solve them. The book seeks to provide content and methods to support the development of the analytical capacity among...

The 30th September 2017 second draft of the Malawi National Agriculture Investment Plan—the Prioritized and Coordinated Agricultural Transformation Plan for Malawi: 2017/18—2022/23 was reviewed (MoAIWS 2017). This policy brief reports on the findings of the review in order to provide (i) focused inputs into the finalization of the Malawi National A...

Men’s involvement in maternal and child health presents an opportunity for the advancement of maternal and child nutrition as men often play a key role in decision-making particularly regarding women’s reproductive health. While most research on men’s involvement in maternal and child health has focused on men’s participation in antenatal care, thi...

PRISMA 2009 checklist. (DOC)

List of case studies. (DOCX)

Nutrition policies tend to emphasise women, overlooking the important role men can play as allies in achieving positive nutrition outcomes. This article applies an integrated framework for gender analysis to assess the extent to which Malawi's National Nutrition Policy and Strategic Plan (2007 – 2012) is gender-responsive. The study found that the...

The Integrated Framework for Gender Analysis of Nutrition Policy is an analytical framework that can be used for assessing the gender-responsiveness of nutrition policy. It can also be used as a tool for advocating for gender policy change.

Interest in policy reform has grown recently in developing countries. Since policy environments shape the incentives, decisions and actions of key consumer and industry groups, policies become central determinants of economic performance as well as progress towards key agricultural, nutrition and food security goals. As a result, achievement of sus...

This policy brief was drafted based on a consultative policy dialogue that was conducted in collaboration with the Civil Society Organisation Nutrition Alliance and the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare in Malawi.

Focusing the 2015 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) on nutrition will contribute to a broader understanding of the critical role of nutrition in achieving international, continental, and national economic growth targets through agriculture, food security, and nutrition. This report presents information and analysis in support of evidence-base...

Objectives: The objective of the study was to identify child factors that influenced complementary feeding practices in 2006 and 2011 in Uganda. Design: Trend analysis of Uganda Demographic and Health Surveys (UDHS) from 2006 and 2011. Subjects and setting: Children aged 6 to 23 months, Uganda. Results: Between 2006 and 2011, the percentage of chil...

ASTRACT The development of national food security information systems is constrained by a lack of guidance on which indicators to use. This paper compares food security indicators across two seasons (summer and winter) in one of the most deprived areas of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The results show that only anthropometric indicator...