Special Issue Theme: Based on a webinar organized in 2022 by JENA, ASAP and Yale’s Global Justice Program, Journal ASAP is planning a special issue Toward Food Security in Africa. Producing food in an environmentally, economically, and socially acceptable manner to meet the increasing demands of a growing population is a grand challenge for agricultural production in Africa. This Special Issue will contribute toward achieving Aspiration 1 of Africa Agenda 2063, which envisions a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development and a key goal of which is to ensure a continent of healthy and well-nourished citizens. Aspiration 1 jives with Sustainable Development Goal 2 (end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture) and with Target III (Ending Hunger in Africa by 2025) of the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.
This special issue will profile African challenges and solutions in building resilient food systems and consider what must be done to turn political ambition into reality.
Special Issue Editors: Dr Anne Grace Gongwe, Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT), Tanzania; Dr Jean Mboma, School of Agricultural Science, Loyola University, Democratic Republic of Congo; Kevin Okoth Ouko, Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
Among topical areas to be discussed:
1. Agriculture and the climate challenge (impacts, contributions, mitigation) in Africa
2. Finance and investment of food and implications for food security in Africa
3. Food systems and international trade
4. Food sovereignty and justice in Africa
5. Food security and human security in Africa
6. Food security and sustainability: policy challenges
7. Food security, conflict, demographic change and urbanization
8. Food and nutrition security and the role of institutional quality
9. Nexus between land use, land reforms and food security in Africa
10. Agroecology as a solution to food systems transformation in Africa
11. Agripreneurship toward creating employment for youths and women Africa.
Special Issue Keywords: Africa, agroecology, food sovereignty, hunger, justice, land reform, poverty, regenerative agriculture, sustainable food systems
Tentative Timeline:
1. Abstracts due: 1 March 2023.
2. Notification of acceptance: 15 March 2023.
3. Full drafts due: early May 2023 (as drafts are to be discussed at a zoom conference of contributing authors)
4. Final papers due: 15 July 2023.
5. Revision and submission of final version: 31 August 2023.
6. Publication: 30 September 2023 (accepted papers will appear online earlier).
7. Invitation to Special Panel during the annual Global Justice Program Conference in November 2023.
Dr Anne Grace Gongwe is currently a senior lecturer, a research fellow, and a consultant in the Economics Department at Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT). She is also the Director Quality Assurance at SUAT. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Gongwe graduated from Colorado State University in 2011 with a Ph.D. in Economics, specializing in Regional Economic and Economics Development. Dr. Gongwe also holds a Master of Science Degree in Agricultural Economics from Wye College, the University of London in the UK and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Rural Economy) from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. Her research interest is quantitative research methods as applied to regional economic development.
Dr Jean Mboma, SJ, is a Jesuit priest and currently the Dean School of Agricultural Science, Loyola University, DRC. He holds a PhD in Nutrition from Université Laval and specialized in food quality and food processing and human health. His research interests are in the quality of food systems.
Dr Kevin Okoth Ouko is an Agricultural Economist and Policy Analyst with over 8 years’ experience in consultancy, research, policy and training in both public and private sectors. He holds a Msc in Agricultural and Applied Economics of Egerton University, Kenya and University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is a PhD in Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture candidate under African Centres of Excellence (ACE II)-World Bank Project. Kevin is currently a Research and Policy Analyst at Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA), Nairobi ,Kenya. His areas of interest in research include evaluation of public policies in agriculture, climate change, climate justice, climate finance, biofuels, and food and nutrition security; food systems, food sovereignty, food governance, poverty eradication, health and nutrition economics, gender issues, rural development, sustainable development, microfinance, public debt and Special Drawing Rights, SMEs, and value chain development. His research and policy work has been published in reports and academic papers in several ISI-indexed journals.
This Special Issue is a collaboration of
Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network https://www.jenaafrica.org/index.php/about-jena/
Yale Global Justice Program https://globaljustice.yale.edu/
Academics Stand Against Poverty https://academicsstand.org/
Journal ASAP https://www.journalasap.org/index.php/asap/about
