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The paper is a synthesis of the 2017 Global Food Policy Report, and the purpose of this paper is to put into perspective the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2016 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2017.

The paper presents an overview of recent changes in the global context for food security and nutrition, and synthesizes research findings on major issues that arise in an urbanizing world. Based on its findings, the authors present policy recommendations and areas for future research for food security and nutrition.

Urbanization is linked with dietary changes to more energy-dense diets, and, the triple burden of malnutrition is increasing, particularly in rapidly urbanizing developing countries. Rural-urban linkages are key to improving food security and nutrition in both rural and urban areas, and traditional agricultural value chains linking farms to cities are undergoing a “quiet revolution.” Governance to enhance food security in the context of rapid urbanization faces various challenges in the institutional, administrative, and political realms, especially for the informal economy in developing countries. To address the unique challenges of urbanization, policies will need to create enabling environments, promote efficient and inclusive value chains, improve governance, and promote tailored programs. Research gaps that need to be filled include better, updated, and disaggregated data on food security and nutrition, as well as an enhanced understanding of enabling environments.

The paper highlights the increasingly relevant issue of rapid urbanization, especially in developing countries, for food security and nutrition, and synthesizes recent research in this area.

The purposes of this paper are to review the impact on food and nutrition security of several pandemic emergencies and the 2018 food price crisis from a global perspective, examine the Chinese experiences and lessons in ensuring food and nutrition security for its citizen and propose policy actions to prevent a global food and nutrition security crisis.

The authors utilize a noncomprehensive review of peer-reviewed and nonpeer-reviewed literature, as well as a case study approach.

Under the ongoing COVID-19, China's food and nutrition are relatively secure in short run largely due to governmental proactive policies but may face uncertainties in livestock production and imports of soybean in the medium and long terms. Given that the disease has spread to almost all countries in the world, global cooperation and coordination are needed to prevent systemic risks to global food and nutrition security.

The review and analysis of this paper will help policymakers in China and other countries to design strategies and actions to prevent food and nutrition security crisis under the ongoing COVID-19 emergency and other similar threats in the future.

This paper provides recommendations to prevent food and nutrition security crisis based on data, evidence and case studies.

Living a nutritious lifestyle requires that people get a sufficient amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals every day. Healthy dietary practices are related to a stronger immune system, better prevention and easier recovery from illnesses, lower blood pressure, healthy weight, lower risk of diabetes, heart problems and other medical conditions and improved overall well-being (WHO, 2020). Therefore, to maintain a strong immune system able to prevent diseases and ease recovery, optimal nutrition and healthy habits are of increased importance during a pandemic such as Covid-19. However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 22 million Americans have lost a job between February and October 2020, increasing the unemployment rate from 3.5% in February 2020 to 6.9% in October 2020, reaching a peak of 14.7% in April 2020. Job losses during the Covid-19 crisis are likely to put lots of families at risk of malnutrition and food insufficiency and to further deteriorate the already existing food insecurity (Gundersen et al., 2018). This research explores the effect of a recent job loss between August and October 2020 on food sufficiency.

This research examines the impact of a job loss on nutrition and food safety. Specifically, this study explores the effect of a job loss during the Covid-19 pandemic on the level of family and child food sufficiency as perceived by the respondent, confidence about meeting family’s dietary needs in the four weeks following the interview, and an indicator of whether the food sufficiency status of the family has deteriorated or not. This study also determines the differential effect of a job loss by individuals who are still employed despite the loss relative to workers who remained unemployed after a job loss during the Covid-19 crisis. Subsample analyses based on ethnicities, genders and educational attainment are also performed to identify the most vulnerable groups.

The results provide evidence that a job loss is associated with a highly statistically significant deterioration of food sufficiency for families and children and a reduction in the confidence in food security for the near future. This effect is observed for all job losers, but from them, it is larger for the ones who are currently unemployed compared to those who are working. The association between a job loss and family’s nutrition insecurity is the greatest for Hispanic, males and people with some college. Children’s nutrition suffers the most for children whose parents have not completed high school. These results provide an insight into the adverse effect of Covid-19 on food security.

From a policy perspective, the results indicate that federal nutrition programs whose goal is to ensure that the dietary needs of Americans, and especially children, are met, which are most likely to benefit the Hispanic population, individuals with low educational attainment and individuals who remained unemployed after losing a job.

This study makes several contributions to the growing literature on food security. First, this study is novel in that it examines the effect of an ongoing event, specifically a labor market disruption as a result of a health and economic crisis, on families’ nutrition, and does so using the newest publicly available data designed to track the impact of Covid-19 on the American population. This is one of the first studies that investigates the forementioned impacts in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study further contributes to the literature by distinguishing between employed versus unemployed individuals despite a job loss and by studying distinct groups on the population. In addition, this study compares the effects of interest in the onset of the pandemic to a year later to examine the population’s adjustment to the crisis. The importance and relevance of the results for policy decision-making are also discussed in the paper.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with attempting to maintain a healthy traditional diet for newcomers living in the North End neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Canada.

In this mixed-methods photovoice study the researcher used food photographs taken by participants to facilitate in-depth, semi-structured interviews with newcomers living in the area of interest. Community workers involved in food and newcomer programming were also interviewed. Qualitative data from the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Food security status of newcomer participants was also determined using The Household Food Security Survey Module.

Newcomer participants reported many struggles, including low incomes, gardening challenges and little access to culturally acceptable foods. Community worker interviews, field notes and an environmental scan of community resources also revealed a lack of social inclusion/support and few food and nutrition resources for newcomers.

Newcomers to Canada experience high rates of food insecurity and diminishing health status associated with length of time in Canada. This study demonstrates an imminent need for additional resources and programmes in this inner city community in order to decrease food security rates and help newcomers in Winnipeg to eat healthy traditional diets and avoid a decline in health.

Nutrition is a widely known determinant of health and well-being of individuals. Adequate nutrition is dependent on food availability and optimal dietary intake. Rural communities are known to be disadvantaged in comparison with their urban counterparts This study therefore assessed food security and dietary diversity among adults in a rural community in Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Data for the cross-sectional study were collected using a semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire and a 24-h dietary recall. Data were analyzed with SPSS 20. The relevant descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated. Participation was fully voluntary.

The mean age of respondents was 46.7 ± 19.0 years. Only 43.6 per cent of the respondents were food secure; 43.4 per cent were severely food insecure; 30.3 per cent were moderately food insecure, while 26.3 per cent were mildly food insecure. Low dietary diversity was reported among 55.2 per cent of respondents; 41.0 per cent had medium dietary diversity, while 3.8 per cent had high dietary diversity.

This study was entirely quantitative and facility-based, so could not explore some themes to a greater depth. It however adds to the body of knowledge on dietary diversity and food security among patients accessing primary care services at Ode-Remo and its health implications.

Food security among respondents was low and dietary diversity was sub-optimal, a risk factor for both hidden hunger and multi-nutrient under-nutrition. Dietary diversity was significantly different between food secure and food insecure respondents. Community-directed efforts at improving residents’ food security status and dietary diversification efforts will be most appropriate and sustainable, thereby promoting self-reliance and wellbeing.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the pathways through which social protection policies in China and India can address the key challenges facing poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged groups under rapid transformation in both countries.

This paper reviews the main social protection policies in China and India and analyzes the challenges that they are facing. This analysis is based on an evaluation of poverty and food security trends in both countries among vulnerable and disadvantaged groups followed by an overview of major experiences and gaps in social protection policies in the two emerging Asian giants.

Improving the coverage and targeting of social protection systems is vital, and will require a multi-faceted reform portfolio that promotes more integrated and horizontally equitable systems. Emphasis should be placed on developing productive, cross-sectoral social protection programs that combine short-term social safety support with long-term tools to enhance productivity, paying special attention to nutrition, health, and human capital development. More efficient coverage and targeting should bridge the rural and urban divide and be grounded in transparent criteria and procedures that govern program implementation at all levels of the government. As both countries become more urbanized, social protection programs need to give equal attention to emerging food insecurity and nutrition issues within urban areas without detracting from food security and nutrition efforts in rural areas.

Faced with a sizable population of undernourished and poor people, India and China have applied rather different approaches to address food insecurity. The originality and value of this paper lie in an in-depth parallel analysis of how China and India can better use their social protection systems to address food insecurity and undernutrition among poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged groups.

This study aims at navigating the effects of climate change on the right to access to food within the East African Community region, using the case study of Uganda.

The author used doctrinal review of different policies and strategies that have been developed and implemented by the EAC to address the growing patterns of food insecurity and climate change.

Findings show that besides climate change, there are other factors that have played a major role in contributing to food insecurity in the region such as the impact of the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war, absence of food storage reserves/banks, scarring effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, inadequate implementation of agricultural policies on climate change, high post-harvest losses and food waste amongst others.

This research paper is the author’s sole writing and has never been submitted for publication in any journal.

China and India have to provide food security to 1.36 billion and 1.25 billion populations, respectively. The purpose of this paper is to address the roles of trade and stock management in achieving food security in these countries, such as the impacts of trade on consumer and producer prices and incomes of farmers and others and implications for food security, and the impact of stock management on price stability, availability, access and nutrition.

The paper is based on secondary data and literature on these issues. It compares the policy tools of trade and stock management used in India and China for food security purpose, in terms of long-term efficiency, in order to provide better understanding on how to achieve food security through public interventions.

Although stock is an important tool for food security, it is likely to be costly if used for price support and redistribution purposes. Trade might provide cheap food to enhance access to food, the impact on domestic producers and the volatility in world market may lead to serious problems. A carefully designed policy combining stock management and trade may help achieving food security.

This paper relies on existing literature of current issues and policies, and tries to conduct comparative study on India and China, the two largest countries in the world. The scale and depth of the study are restricted by authors’ knowledge, hence may not be adequate in addressing those important issues.

Both India and China are undergoing policy review regarding food security, under pressures in domestic market and from multi-nation negotiations. This study may provide better understandings of the issues related to policy reform and trade negotiation.

Though a large portion of factual materials are adopted from existing literature and statistics, the analyses are those of authors.

The paper presents food and nutritional status and relevant policy objectives that can sustain food security in Cambodia. This paper aims to review Cambodia’s food security situation over a period.

The paper provides an approach for selecting food security indicators in relation to both inputs and outcomes by drawing on a conceptual framework. National level data for the food security indicators are analysed over a period to provide trends in food and nutritional status.

Cambodia has not experienced drastic food insecurity yet, as most people are farmers and their livelihoods dependent on agriculture. Agriculture has maintained food availability in the country; however, there is a proportion of the population living in remote areas unable to obtain sufficient, safe, nutritious food. Landlessness, internal migration, rapid population growth, lack of education and skills, limited access to natural resources and agricultural land, poor health and infrastructure leave the people with inadequate employment opportunities, low capabilities and low productivity which in turn bring deeper poverty. Therefore, people are insecure, excluded and vulnerable to food deprivation.

To tackle the food security challenges, the Government of Cambodia focuses on food-based social safety nets in the sectors of education, nutrition and productive assets/livelihoods support, to enable longer-term, nationally owned food security solutions.

The paper draws conclusions using a range of recently proposed food security indicators and offers a perspective for policy formulation which may be of interest to development scholars and practitioners.

This paper aims to evaluate the progress made in achieving sustainable development goal-2 (SDG 2) in India, with a focus on ending hunger, ensuring food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. The assessment uses data from SDG Index reports, which offer a comprehensive overview of the advancements made by 28 states and 8 union territories (UTs) in India.

The evaluation is based on information derived from three editions of the SDG Index reports, initially published in 2018 and subsequently in 2019 and 2020. These reports provide a detailed analysis of the status and achievements of different states and UTs in relation to SDG 2. The categorization of states and UTs into aspirant, performer, front runner and achiever categories serves as a crucial framework for assessing the progress.

Despite concerted efforts by India, the majority of states and UTs are positioned in the aspirant and performer categories, suggesting that significant challenges persist in achieving SDG 2 targets. The results emphasize the necessity for stronger measures to elevate states and UTs to the categories of front-runners and achievers. The persistent challenges of malnutrition, hunger and their economic ramifications require immediate and strategic interventions to address these pressing concerns.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the progress towards SDG 2 in India, using the insights from the SDG Index reports. The categorization framework used in this assessment offers a nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by different regions, highlighting the original contribution of this study. The findings underscore the urgency of targeted efforts to address malnutrition, hunger and related issues, emphasizing the importance of sustained commitment to achieving SDG 2 for the overall well-being of vulnerable populations.