Food Policy

Abstract

Current trends in adult obesity threaten global health. Although the implications of changes in diets, lifestyles, and food environments have been examined, the specific role of excess calorie availability (ECA)—understood as calorie availability in excess of human requirements for a healthy life—and the cohort mechanisms that underlie trends in adult body mass index (BMI) are poorly understood. We examine these relationships for 156 countries over the past century using an age-, sex-, and cohort-specific approach.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda makes achieving food security and ending malnutrition a global priority. Within this framework, the importance of fisheries in local and global food systems and its contribution to nutrition and health, particularly for the poor are overlooked and undervalued. This paper reviews current fish production and consumption from capture fisheries and aquaculture, highlights opportunities for enhancing healthy diets and outlines key multi-sectoral policy solutions.

While tissue culture (TC) technology for vegetative plant propagation is gradually gaining in importance in Africa, rigorous assessment of broader welfare effects for adopting smallholder farm households is lacking. Using survey data and accounting for selection bias in technology adoption, we analyze the impact of TC banana technology on household income and food security in Kenya. To assess food security outcomes, we employ the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) – a tool that has not been used for impact assessment before.