Agri4D Online Conference of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

28-30 September 2021. Agri4D Online Conference 2021. Food Systems for New Realities. by SLU/Sweden. 

• Theme 2 of the Agri4D conference focuses on the role for smallholders within inclusive food systems that will enable rural and urban (producer and consumer) food and nutrition security. There is tremendous potential for smallholders to benefit from the current changes occurring within rural-urban food systems as greater proportions of developing country populations shift to being net purchasers of food, and as rural populations increasingly consolidate into new small towns, and as existing urban populations grow.
• There are also high risks and many barriers, particularly in the face of changing land markets, declining plot sizes, rising agribusiness-Big Food industry interactions and changing dietary needs and preferences, not to mention changing climatic and environmental conditions, or disruptive pandemic health threats.

Extract of the programme

• See detailed programme (6 p.)
• See the full book of abstracts (94 p.)
• Streaming on: Food Systems for New Realities - Agri4D 2021 (coeo.events)

Welcome address by Maria Knutson Wedel, Vice-Chancellor SLU Opening address by Janine Alm

Ericson, Sweden´s State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation Per Olsson Fridh Plenary Keynote 1 - Ana María Loboguerrero, CIAT Plenary Keynote 2 - Rhoda Mofya-Mukuka, FAO

Plenary keynote speakers 

• Scaling-up action for transformative change of the world's food systems Martien van Nieuwkoop, World Bank Group, Agriculture Global Practice 
• Food systems: Challenges and solutions from a Farmers perspective Stephen Muchiri, Eastern African Farmers Federation (EAFF)
• Sustainable livestock opportunities and new food system realities Shirley Tarawali, ILRI

Smallholder-inclusive Food and Nutrition Security - Panel 

• Vermi-composting improved the livelihood of women-headed households through increased agricultural productivity in northern Ethiopia Kassa Teka et al.
• Adoption constraints and impacts of training sources and consumption behavior on supply of edible crickets in Kenya Arnold Musungu et al.
• The relations of maize- an interdisciplinary understanding of crop-led agriculture development in Africa Klara Fischer

Agroecology - Panel 1

• Georg Carlsson, SLU - moderator
• Emma Siliprandi, FAO
• Mureithi Livestock Cafés; experimental research and co-learning hubs in Dryland Transform in West Pokot Kenya
• Franziska Ollendorf et al. Industry-led sustainability certification or agroecological change in cocoa production? Stakeholder perspectives on the future of cocoa in Ghana 
  see also: Ethical Certification and Sustainable Transformation of the CocoaValue Chain: Insights from Ghana Franziska Ollendorf @ Tropentags 2016
• Mahlet Degefu Awoke et al A Framework to assess adoption of agroforestry technologies Nexus: foodsecurity and landscape restoration in semi-arid areas of Tanzania 
• Aboubakar Iyabano Unraveling the role of Farmers' Organizations in the promotion of agroecological techniques in Burkina Faso 

Agroecology - Panel 2

• Muneezay Jaffery Agroecology for new realities 
• Artur Granstedt and Olof Thomsson Food for the future! Agriculture Scenarios for climate and environment
  The impact of low input example farms on  climate - per hectare of agricultural area on average - was 82 to 88 % lower , taking into account the carbon sequestration in the soil in each cultivation system and the nitrogen surplus 43 % lower than today's average conventional agriculture in Sweden. Two scenarios, based on two different diets, showed that national self-sufficiency (for 11 million inhabitants by 2030) based on the example farms, using mainly local and renewable resources, could be produced on a total of 2.7 to 3.1 million ha (available today 3 million ha but historically 3.5). It requires however a radical dietary change with a 44 % reduction from today’s average consumption of meat from ruminants and at least 90 % less meat from monogastric animals

Acroecology - Poster session 

• Livestock Cafés; experimental research and co-learning hubs in Dryland Transform Gert Nyberg et al. 
• Innovations for agroecological sustainability by rural youth; a case study Dheeraj Singh et al. 
• Analysis of seed and ware potato production systems and yield constraints in Zimbabwe: towards sustainable production, food security and improved livelihoods. Oniward Svubure and T Chapman 
• Resource Use Efficiency and Value Chain Analysis in Smallholder Irish Potato Production in Zimbabwe: toward ecological sustainability for household food security 
• Embracing the whole farm approach as a way of promoting economic, environmental and socially sustainable food production Perez K. Katambala 
• Growth and yield of amaranth crop (Amaranthus cruentus L.) as affected by Siam weed compost tea Judicaël Dandjlessa et al. 
• Impacts of Long-term Integrated Nutrient Management on Crop Yield and Soil Health in Northern Ghana Edwin K. Akley et al. 
• Arbuscular mycorrhiza for Striga control in smallholder farming systems John Baptist Tumuhairwe and Sigrun Dahlin

Resilience against shocks: COVID-19 & Climate change 

Chair Julius Adewopo, IITA - moderator

• Keynote speaker Elisabeth Simelton, ICRAF 
• Building Organizational Resilience for Food System Transformation during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Extension System in Nigeria Ifeoma Anugwa et al. 
• Climate change mitigation through community managed conservation: a case study from arid zone of Pali, India Dheeraj Singh et al. 
• Climate Change and Maize Production in Zambia: Time Series Analysis Byrne Kaulu 
• Recovery and building resilience during and after pandemics: How gender responsive are the policy measures? Linda Etale et al.