II: Case Studies
In Chap. 10 Khouri, Breisinger and ElDidi discuss the objective of achieving food and nutrition security in the Middle East and North Africa region with particular emphasis on data and information required in order to formulate evidence-based food security and sustainable development policies. Across the Arab region, there is a renewed consensus on the urgency of addressing the conflicts, the refugee crisis and the economic challenges posed by the international environment, which are impeding development. Consensus-building around regional priorities for the newly launched SDGs, along with some key food policy changes in the region, may afford a new opportunity to address food security, nutrition and poverty needs and contribute to regional stability. Applying evidence- based policies will be key to help achieve these goals. With that comes the renewed need for relevant data, which represents another challenge given the lack of reliable, accessible data in the region. The chapter concludes with three high-priority areas for policy intervention to improve food and nutrition security in the Arab countries: (a) peace building through development activities at local and national levels, (b) education and subsidy reforms to improve nutrition, and (c) research and improved data gathering and analysis on rural development and food security.
In Chap. 11 Soliman explores the need for effective vocational education and training to improve the food security situation in Egypt. Food security has always been on top of the political and economic agenda in North Africa. In Egypt, the problem becomes increasingly complex and challenging because of high population growth and poverty, as well as due to the political and economic circumstances the country is going through, particularly in the past few years. This chapter examines the problem from mainly an economic perspective. However, the links between vocational education and training and the current problem of food security have not attracted the attention they deserve by policy makers and academics alike. The purpose of analysis in this chapter is to explore the relationship between the food security situation and the ineffectiveness of the agricultural vocational education and training system in Egypt. This analysis improves the understanding of the problem of food security and informs policy makers on agricultural development strategies.
In Chap. 12 Taghouti, Ellumi, Martinez-Gomez andAlvarez-Coque provide an overview of the competitiveness of the Tunisian agrofood sector before signing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the European Union (EU). The agro-food sector plays a vital role in Tunisian economy and exports. However, the globalisation of markets can influence the comparative advantage of the agrofood sector enjoyed by Tunisia in exporting several Mediterranean products and increase competition. The Tunisian agricultural sector’s competitiveness is an important concern given the particular economic context in the country after the revolution and the important competitive conditions in the Mediterranean area. Meanwhile, food security is an essential priority that cannot be compromised. Thus, Tunisia may need to consider a trade-off between two options by signing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA): developing agro-food exports in free trade area to enhance economic growth or protecting the local market and the implementation of new policies to ensure food security. An analysis of the competitive advantage of the Tunisian agro-food sector reveals an important potential of exporting some agro-food staples. Recently, Tunisia has been facing new challenges in exporting strategic products such as dates and olive oil, underlying the importance of new inclusive business strategies in local value chains.
In Chap. 13 Park, Choi, Kim and Evans explore food security in Mongolia from the perspective of system innovation with an emphasis on sustainability and technology progress. Mongolia has been short of food supply for stable crops, milk and meats over the last few decades. Although Mongolia has conducted many domestic and international collaboration projects in food security, it has seldom succeeded in leading the results to projects that would establish a holistic learning system of food security in the country. In this regard, this chapter investigates the food security situation in Mongolia with an emphasis on technology and sustainability using the perspective of system innovation. This theoretical framework enables reviewing learning capabilities in attaining food security in the country rather than the consequences of past and current projects and policies. The advantage of using this theoretical framework of system innovation is that it allows the identification of the roles of the main institutions in the food and agriculture industry for food security in the country and suggests three main learning dimensions for these institutions: first, “policy co-ordination for food security”; second, “entrepreneurial learning for food industry”; and third, “public awareness of food security”. Furthermore, this chapter elaborates how the country can implement these learning dimensions into practice, providing readers with practical knowledge and policy implications on how government, industry, university and local people in the country can create continuous long-term learning systems for food security.
In Chap. 14 Kamenidou, Priporas and Rigas focus on food security at the household level presenting the findings of their research on the impact of the ongoing economic crisis in Greece on household food security. Their analysis examines the perception of households about their food security, as well as household behaviour regarding food production and storage activities. By employing a multistage sampling method and considering as sampling unit one person per family, the one responsible for food decisions, 1305 households from two poor regions of the country were included in the research. The results show that the welfare of the majority of the studied population has been affected by the economic crisis and most importantly their access to food has been affected as well. To survive during this harsh economic crisis many households have started producing, storing, freezing and preserving food.
