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• (Article) Conference report: Insects to Feed the World

  01.06.2014
  

• (Article) Processing and quality attributes of gowe: a malted and fermented cereal-based beverage from Benin

  01.06.2014
  Gowe is a sweetish paste of malted, fermented, and cooked sorghum and/or maize flour, consumed in its pure state, but preferentially as a beverage after homogenizing with water, sugar, milk, and ice. A survey was carried out at different localities in the traditional gowe producing areas to investigate the diversity of the processing techniques, consumers’ characteristics, and the quality attributes. Producers and sellers were women exclusively while consumers cut across all classes of age, socio-cultural groups, and educational levels. Gowe varied in cereal and processing techniques, with maize and sorghum being used either singly or in combination (maize/sorghum ratio varying from 1 to 3) through four processes. Apart from the alternative process which leaves out the malting step, gowe processing techniques aim at producing sweetish and acidic tasting products through malting, saccharification, and fermentation. A principal component analysis plot of quality criteria of gowe indicated that the preference of consumers was directly associated with the perceptions of producers.

• (Article) Impact measurement for companies sourcing from smallholder farmers in their value chains

  01.06.2014
  Just as no company would launch a new product or make a major investment without considering how to assess its effectiveness, no company should consider working with smallholder farmers without considering how to measure and monitor the financial and social performance of this activity. Most companies working with smallholder farmers do gather some information, but this information often lacks a clear focus. While these stories can help personalize the impact of a strategy, they are not sufficient to improve a company's performance or communicate to discerning external stakeholders. To demonstrate true poverty impact and returns on resources committed, companies need to measure their activities in a systematic way. Facing this gap, a number of companies have experimented with their own approaches to assessing poverty impact, and organizations have proposed a variety of different measurement and monitoring frameworks specifically designed with companies in mind. This paper gives an overview of the business value that can be created from measuring poverty impact in an agricultural value chain initiative and points to some tools, indicators, and lessons learned for how companies can go about maximizing the business and social impact of their work with smallholder farmers.

• (Article) The future of smallholders in Latin America: land, food, livelihoods, and the growth of monoculture

  01.06.2014
  Greater investment in agriculture is needed to reduce rural poverty and improve food security; but how investment is made, its context and conditions, is at least as important as how much is invested. This paper presents three case studies of large-scale agricultural investment in Paraguay, Guatemala, and Colombia and shows how monoculture expansion is displacing communities, undermining smallholder livelihoods, and worsening local food security. In some cases displacement is a direct result, when companies acquire land from smallholders. In others it is indirect, when smallholders next to plantations are unable to coexist with the health and environmental problems caused by the intensive use of agrochemicals. Cases also showed how large-scale monoculture expansion is competing for land with small-scale basic food production; thus, households which used to be self-sufficient in food now rely on local markets. Even when companies claim to operate responsibly, their business model determines who bears the risks, who has access to capital, and where market power lies. Responsibility should mean benefits and costs are fairly distributed and all rights upheld, including land rights. Private agricultural investment is needed, but it should complement rather than undermine smallholders, who are the main investors in agriculture.

• (Article) Nutrient composition of insects and their potential application in food and feed in Europe

  01.06.2014
  With the increasing demand for alternative protein sources for food and feed due to a growing global population and changing food habits, insects and insect proteins have attracted attention in Europe as a hitherto unexploited alternative animal protein source for food and feed. The nutrient compositions, amino acid spectra, and mineral compositions of the three exemplary insect species Acheta domesticus (adult house crickets), Tenebrio molitor (mealworm larvae), and Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly larvae) are compared with the two conventional feed components soy bean meal and fish meal as well as with the human amino acid requirement, and the potential and suitability of edible insects as food and feed is discussed.

• (Article) Insect products for high-value Western markets

  01.06.2014
  Despite widespread resistance to eating insects in Western countries, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in entomophagy and the sale of insects. This paper outlines some of the insect-based dishes being developed by restaurants in Europe and the sale of high-value insects as snack foods, novelty foods or gifts in Western markets. With continuing uptake of internet access, it is now possible for small-scale insect processors worldwide to gain direct access to retail buyers and consumers in the high-value markets of industrialized countries.

• (Article) Insects in the human food chain: global status and opportunities

  01.06.2014
  Insects are part of the traditional diets of approximately 2 billion people worldwide. Insects can contribute to food security and be a part of the solution to protein shortages, given their high nutritional value, low emissions of greenhouse gases, low requirements for land and water, and the high efficiency at which they can convert feed into food. This article outlines the potential of insects as a food for humans as well as a feedstock for animals and fish. The majority of insects consumed in developing countries today are harvested in nature from wild populations. In Western countries, the disgust factor in considering insects as food, combined currently with their limited availability on the market, and a lack of regulations governing insects as food and feed, are major barriers for their further expansion. However, the biggest opportunity may well lie in the production of insect biomass as feedstock for animals and fish, to partly replace the increasingly expensive protein ingredients of compound feeds in the livestock industries. Considering the immense quantities of insect biomass needed to replace current protein-rich ingredients such as meal from fish and soybeans, automated mass rearing facilities need to be developed. For this to occur, significant technological innovations, changes in consumer food preferences, insect-encompassing food and feed legislation, and progress towards more sustainable food production systems are needed. The close collaboration of government, food and feed industry, media, chefs, and academia will be essential for success.

• (Article) Editorial: insects for food and feed

  01.06.2014
  

• (Article) Events

  01.02.2014
  

• (Article) Reviews

  01.02.2014
  The Complete Manual of Small-scale Food Processing Peter Fellows 2013, Practical Action Publishing, 568 pages ISBN 978-1-85339-765-3 hardback £59.95 / €89.95 / US$119.95 ISBN 978-1-85339-766-0 paperback £29.95 / €44.95 / US$59.95

• (Article) Why ‘place’ matters in the development and impacts of Fairtrade production

  01.02.2014
  This paper examines the importance of place for the cultural and environmental dynamics shaping Fairtrade cooperatives. It draws on a case study of the Eksteenskuil Agricultural Cooperative (EAC) in South Africa's Northern Cape, which supplies Fairtrade raisins to Traidcraft plc, one of the UK's leading Fairtrade organizations. It examines how the histories and geographies of place continually challenge and redefine the meaning and effectiveness of Fairtrade. It concludes with a number of recommendations for both Fairtrade organizations in general and EAC/Traidcraft specifically.

• (Article) Enhancing Fairtrade for women workers on plantations: insights from Kenyan agriculture

  01.02.2014
  The growth in the market for Fairtrade certified agricultural exports from Africa has been rapid, promising empowerment for workers and communities through the Fairtrade Premium. Increasingly the Joint Bodies that administer the premium and the kinds of projects funded have been the subject of mounting criticism. Drawing from two empirical studies on Kenyan flowers and tea that explored pathways to empowerment for women workers on plantations, this paper compares and contrasts the practices of two standards mechanisms operating on the farms: the Joint Body (JB) and the Gender Committee (GC). This analysis finds that the GCs were more empowering for women workers than the JBs and draws out examples of good practice from the former that could help to improve practice in Fairtrade in plantation agriculture. The paper argues that appropriate training for members and non-members of committees alike, organizational and spatial structures, the nature of representation, and mechanisms for strengthening voice are of great importance in ensuring empowering outcomes for workers.

• (Article) Access to the Fairtrade system: the geography of certification for social justice

  01.02.2014
  A growing body of research and analysis identifies that fair trade practices create opportunities for developing world producers in a manner best described as providing ‘shaped advantage’, as access to Northern markets is reconfigured to operate under preferable conditions for some producers, but is not necessarily universally expanded and improved. From this point of view, impact potential is first and foremost delineated through the conditions of access to fair trade supply networks. In order to unpack this perspective, the article analyses barriers to entry embedded in the most significant avenue through which producers become involved in fair trade: certification by Fairtrade International. Here it is found that in addition to arguably justifiable restrictions on participation, structured around producer capacity to viably engage in trade, more arbitrary geographical restrictions embedded in the Fairtrade system are also an ongoing and significant barrier to widening impact. This article illustrates the reality of these technical limitations by presenting the mixed experiences of the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi, and their efforts to use Fairtrade certification as a market development tool.

• (Article) Partnerships in Fairtrade coffee: a close-up look at how buyers and NGOs build supply capacity in Nicaragua

  01.02.2014
  This paper examines efforts by buyers and NGOs to build the supply of Fairtrade coffee from the Nicaragua-based cooperative Soppexcca following the coffee crisis. Support was aimed at transforming Soppexcca into a viable business, able to respond to the needs of its coffee-farming members. Results show that Soppexcca made significant gains, including expansion of infrastructure, growth in membership, and increased financial stability. However, important issues remained, related to democratic governance, future growth and stability, and the provision of services. Results suggest that advances in building cooperatives do not easily translate into increased capacities at the household level. While some important gains were detected, in general, producers struggled to intensify coffee production and take full advantage of their access to preferential markets. This paper makes a plea for deeper discussions about how buyers and NGOs can more effectively contribute to building the supply of high-quality Fairtrade coffee, and the need for increased coordination and mutual learning as part of the process.

• (Article) Exploring issues of rigour and utility in Fairtrade impact assessment

  01.02.2014
  This article explores the evolution of Fairtrade impact assessment, which reflects the wider context of international development evaluation practice and debates. Appropriate designs and methods in evaluation are hotly contested, ultimately reflecting different development philosophies and values. Earlier Fairtrade impact studies were primarily case studies involving qualitative methods. As Fairtrade has grown and scrutiny from different stakeholders has increased, there has been increased demand for more rigour and criticism of studies that do not include a ‘credible’ counterfactual. More recently, there have been increasing numbers of impact evaluation studies using mixed designs as well as mixed methods. But challenges remain as to how to balance utility and rigour in Fairtrade impact assessment, because there are trade-offs in terms of skill and resource requirements and in relation to ethical issues. Yet all sustainability standards are being asked to both demonstrate impact and to inform impact. Achieving utility not only at higher levels of organizations in Fairtrade, but also for producers at the local level is a significant challenge, when ‘credibility’ in impact assessment is judged in some quarters as being the same as using counterfactual logics. In many cases the construction of a counterfactual is very difficult if not impossible. In this paper we seek to provide some practical suggestions for improving both rigour and utility.

• (Article) Crossfire: ‘Does Fairtrade have more impact than conventional trade or trade certified by other sustainability standards?’

  01.02.2014
  In this issue's Crossfire, Matthew Anderson discusses with Philip Booth and Sushil Mohan the impact of Fairtrade compared with other sustainability certified and conventional trade.

• (Article) Guest editorial: Fairtrade impacts

  01.02.2014
  

• (Article) Events

  01.10.2013
  Food-related meetings and conferences occurring between December 2013 and April 2014.

• (Article) Reviews

  01.10.2013
  A review of the literature on value chains, including but not restricted to Markets and Rural Poverty: Upgrading in Value Chains, edited by J. Coles and C. Mitchell, and Value Chains, Social Inclusion and Economic Development: Contrasting Theories and Realities, edited by A.H.J. Helmsing and S. Vellema, all reviewed by Nigel Poole. Competition and Efficiency in International Food Supply Chains: Improving Food Security, by John Williams, is reviewed by Ulrich Kleih. Finally, Contract Farming Handbook: A Practical Guide for Linking Small-scale Producers and Buyers through Business Model Innovation by Margret Will, is reviewed by Andrew W. Shepherd.

• (Article) Conference report: The 2013 G8 Summit: questioning the New Alliance

  01.10.2013
  Earlier commitments by the G8 to support agriculture in the wake of the 2007-08 food price crises have been partly forgotten. However, last year's G8 Summit saw the launch of the ‘New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition’, and a year on, ‘Nutrition for Growth’ attracted donor focus at a meeting leading up to this year's summit. Yet doubts exist about whether the New Alliance, under its current design, risks harming rather than helping Africa's smallholder farmers.