CoE Articles

New book: “Resilience and Food Security in a Food Systems Context”

Published April 12, 2023, by Carla Bernardo

Resilience and Food Security in a Food Systems Context is a recently published, open-access resource which delves into why we need to “look beyond agriculture and trade and embrace a holistic food systems approach”.

Edited by Dr Christophe Béné, senior researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), and Professor Stephen Devereux, holder of the South Africa-UK Bilateral Research Chair (SARChI) in Social Protection for Food Security, and Fellow of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, the book forms part of the “Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy” book series.

It “broaches an array of issues relating to resilience and food security, including gender, climate change, and COVID-19”, featuring numerous leading thinkers in the fields of food security, food systems and resilience, and “appeals to a broad audience, from academics to policymakers, students to practitioners”.

CoE-FS connections

Editor Professor Devereux, whose SARChI is affiliated with the DSI-NRF Centre fo Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS), is also a principal investigator (PI) at the CoE-FS, which is hosted by the University of the Western Cape, and co-hosted by the University of Pretoria. He is one of many CoE-FS researchers and affiliates who have contributed to Resilience and Food Security in a Food Systems Context.

Other contributing authors and their chapters include:

  • Dr Patrick Caron (CoE-FS Steering Committee member, based at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD)), co-author on the chapter “The Global Food System is Not Broken but Its Resilience is Threatened”
  • Professor Bruno Losch (former CoE-FS PI, based at CIRAD), co-author on the chapter “Place-Based Approaches to Food System Resilience: Emerging Trends and Lessons from South Africa”
  • Professor Julian May (CoE-FS director, commissioner with the National Planning Commission and holder of the UNESCO Chair in African Food Systems), co-author on the chapter “Place-Based Approaches to Food System Resilience: Emerging Trends and Lessons from South Africa”
  • Dr Gareth Haysom (CoE-FS-affiliated researcher based at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town), co-author on the chapter “Urban Food Security and Resilience”
  • Professor Jane Battersby (CoE-FS-affiliated researcher based at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town), co-author on the chapter “Urban Food Security and Resilience”.

‘Free and unlimited access’

In addition to its accessibility to a broad audience, the book is open access, meaning that readers have free and unlimited access.

As per the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, “use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format” is permitted, “as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made”.

To download the digital version of the book, visit SpringerLink.

You are also able to purchase a soft- or hardcover book, also available via SpringerLink.

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