IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v61y2014icp85-101.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Taking Complexity in Food Systems Seriously: An Interdisciplinary Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Foran, Tira
  • Butler, James R.A.
  • Williams, Liana J.
  • Wanjura, Wolf J.
  • Hall, Andy
  • Carter, Lucy
  • Carberry, Peter S.

Abstract

Motivated by donor interest in innovative thinking on food security, we conducted an interdisciplinary, triangulation analysis of four divergent conceptual frameworks, each relevant to diagnosing food insecurity in developing countries. We found notable tensions as well as synergistic interactions between agroecology, agricultural innovation systems, social–ecological systems, and political ecology. Cross-framework interactions enhance our understanding of how sectoral and macro-economic development strategies impact on livelihoods, availability, and access. Re-invigorated, more profound dialog between divergent conceptual frameworks enables diagnosis of complex food insecurity problems, and context-specific interventions and innovations. Informed use of divergent approaches constitutes a new ambition for research and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Foran, Tira & Butler, James R.A. & Williams, Liana J. & Wanjura, Wolf J. & Hall, Andy & Carter, Lucy & Carberry, Peter S., 2014. "Taking Complexity in Food Systems Seriously: An Interdisciplinary Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 85-101.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:61:y:2014:i:c:p:85-101
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X14000965
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hall, Andy, 2007. "Challenges to Strengthening Agricultural Innovation Systems: Where Do We Go From Here?," MERIT Working Papers 2007-038, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Mariam A T J Mapila & Johann F Kirsten & Ferdinand Meyer, 2012. "The impact of agricultural innovation system interventions on rural livelihoods in Malawi," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 303-315, June.
    3. Sally Brooks & Michael Loevinsohn, 2011. "Shaping agricultural innovation systems responsive to food insecurity and climate change," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(3), pages 185-200, August.
    4. Allouche, Jeremy, 2011. "The sustainability and resilience of global water and food systems: Political analysis of the interplay between security, resource scarcity, political systems and global trade," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 3-8, January.
    5. Wood, Apanie L. & Butler, James R.A. & Sheaves, Marcus & Wani, Jacob, 2013. "Sport fisheries: Opportunities and challenges for diversifying coastal livelihoods in the Pacific," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 305-314.
    6. Wendy Olsen, 2006. "Pluralism, poverty and sharecropping: Cultivating open-mindedness in development studies," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1130-1157.
    7. Spielman, David J. & Ekboir, Javier & Davis, Kristin, 2009. "The art and science of innovation systems inquiry: Applications to Sub-Saharan African agriculture," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 399-405.
    8. Reij, Chris & Tappan, Gary & Smale, Melinda, 2009. "Agroenvironmental transformation in the Sahel: Another kind of “Green Revolution"," IFPRI discussion papers 914, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Allouche, Jeremy, 2011. "The sustainability and resilience of global water and food systems: Political analysis of the interplay between security, resource scarcity, political systems and global trade," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(S1), pages 3-8.
    10. David Spielman & Kristin Davis & Martha Negash & Gezahegn Ayele, 2011. "Rural innovation systems and networks: findings from a study of Ethiopian smallholders," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(2), pages 195-212, June.
    11. Blackman, Allen & Rivera, Jorge, 2010. "The Evidence Base for Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of “Sustainable” Certification," RFF Working Paper Series dp-10-17, Resources for the Future.
    12. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Pandolfelli, Lauren, 2010. "Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers: Resources, Constraints, and Interventions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 581-592, April.
    13. Hampshire, Katherine Rebecca & Panter-Brick, Catherine & Kilpatrick, Kate & Casiday, Rachel E., 2009. "Saving lives, preserving livelihoods: Understanding risk, decision-making and child health in a food crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 758-765, February.
    14. Barrett, Christopher B. & Bachke, Maren E. & Bellemare, Marc F. & Michelson, Hope C. & Narayanan, Sudha & Walker, Thomas F., 2012. "Smallholder Participation in Contract Farming: Comparative Evidence from Five Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 715-730.
    15. Norman Clark, 2002. "Innovation Systems, Institutional Change And The New Knowledge Market: Implications For Third World Agricultural Development," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4-5), pages 353-368.
    16. Laurens Klerkx & Andy Hall & Cees Leeuwis, 2009. "Strengthening agricultural innovation capacity: are innovation brokers the answer?," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(5/6), pages 409-438.
    17. Markelova, Helen & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Hellin, Jon & Dohrn, Stephan, 2009. "Collective action for smallholder market access," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-7, February.
    18. Sarah L. McKune & Julie A. Silva, 2013. "Pastoralists under Pressure: Double Exposure to Economic and Environmental Change in Niger," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(12), pages 1711-1727, December.
    19. Kym Anderson, 2010. "Globalisation's Effects on World Agricultural Trade, 1960 to 2050," Centre for International Economic Studies Working Papers 2010-11, University of Adelaide, Centre for International Economic Studies.
    20. Biggs, Stephen D. & Clay, Edward J., 1981. "Sources of innovation in agricultural technology," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 321-336, April.
    21. Rufino, M.C. & Dury, J. & Tittonell, P. & van Wijk, M.T. & Herrero, M. & Zingore, S. & Mapfumo, P. & Giller, K.E., 2011. "Competing use of organic resources, village-level interactions between farm types and climate variability in a communal area of NE Zimbabwe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 175-190, February.
    22. Sashi Sivramkrishna & Amalendu Jyotishi, 2008. "Monopsonistic exploitation in contract farming: articulating a strategy for grower cooperation," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(3), pages 280-296.
    23. Andy Hall, 2005. "Capacity development for agricultural biotechnology in developing countries: an innovation systems view of what it is and how to develop it," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(5), pages 611-630.
    24. Hounkonnou, Dominique & Kossou, Dansou & Kuyper, Thomas W. & Leeuwis, Cees & Nederlof, E. Suzanne & Röling, Niels & Sakyi-Dawson, Owuraku & Traoré, Mamoudou & van Huis, Arnold, 2012. "An innovation systems approach to institutional change: Smallholder development in West Africa," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 74-83.
    25. Jim Woodhill, 2010. "Capacities for Institutional Innovation: A Complexity Perspective," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(3), pages 47-59, May.
    26. Helen Markelova & Esther Mwangi, 2010. "Collective Action for Smallholder Market Access: Evidence and Implications for Africa," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 27(5), pages 621-640, September.
    27. Douthwaite, Boru & Kuby, Thomas & van de Fliert, Elske & Schulz, Steffen, 2003. "Impact pathway evaluation: an approach for achieving and attributing impact in complex systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 243-265, November.
    28. Corbett, Jane, 1988. "Famine and household coping strategies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 16(9), pages 1099-1112, September.
    29. M. E. Atkinson & D. C.M. Dickson, 2000. "An Introduction to Actuarial Studies," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2155.
    30. Dobermann, A., 2004. "A critical assessment of the system of rice intensification (SRI)," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 261-281, March.
    31. James C. McCann, 2011. "The Political Ecology of Cereal Seed Development in Africa: A History of Selection," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 24-35, July.
    32. Bacon, Christopher M., 2010. "Who decides what is fair in fair trade? The agri-environmental governance of standards, access, and price," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt8px4f62v, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    33. Barrett, Christopher B. & Swallow, Brent M., 2006. "Fractal poverty traps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, January.
    34. Verena Seufert & Navin Ramankutty & Jonathan A. Foley, 2012. "Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture," Nature, Nature, vol. 485(7397), pages 229-232, May.
    35. Rockström, Johan & Karlberg, Louise & Wani, Suhas P. & Barron, Jennie & Hatibu, Nuhu & Oweis, Theib & Bruggeman, Adriana & Farahani, Jalali & Qiang, Zhu, 2010. "Managing water in rainfed agriculture--The need for a paradigm shift," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 543-550, April.
    36. World Bank, 2012. "Agricultural Innovation Systems : An Investment Sourcebook [Systèmes d’innovation agricole - Guide d'investissement]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2247.
    37. Hall, Andy & Dijkman, Jeroen & Sulaiman, Rasheed, 2010. "Research Into Use: Investigating the Relationship between Agricultural Research and Innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2010-044, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    38. Stephen Biggs, 2007. "Building on the positive: an actor innovation systems approach to finding and promoting pro poor natural resources institutional and technical innovations," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(2), pages 144-164.
    39. Butler, James R.A. & Middlemas, Stuart J. & Graham, Isla M. & Harris, Robert N., 2011. "Perceptions and costs of seal impacts on Atlantic salmon fisheries in the Moray Firth, Scotland: Implications for the adaptive co-management of seal-fishery conflict," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 317-323, May.
    40. Ekboir, Javier M., 2003. "Research and technology policies in innovation systems: zero tillage in Brazil," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 573-586, April.
    41. Blackman, Allen & Rivera, Jorge, 2010. "The Evidence Base for Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of “Sustainable†Certification," RFF Working Paper Series dp-10-10-efd, Resources for the Future.
    42. Clark, Norman & Hall, Andy & Sulaiman, Rasheed & Naik, Guru, 2003. "Research as Capacity Building: The Case of an NGO Facilitated Post-Harvest Innovation System for the Himalayan Hills," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(11), pages 1845-1863, November.
    43. Butler, J.R.A. & Skewes, T. & Mitchell, D. & Pontio, M. & Hills, T., 2014. "Stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem service declines in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea: Is human population a more critical driver than climate change?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-13.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schut, Marc & Klerkx, Laurens & Rodenburg, Jonne & Kayeke, Juma & Hinnou, Léonard C. & Raboanarielina, Cara M. & Adegbola, Patrice Y. & van Ast, Aad & Bastiaans, Lammert, 2015. "RAAIS: Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (Part I). A diagnostic tool for integrated analysis of complex problems and innovation capacity," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1-11.
    2. Klerkx, Laurens & Aarts, Noelle & Leeuwis, Cees, 2010. "Adaptive management in agricultural innovation systems: The interactions between innovation networks and their environment," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(6), pages 390-400, July.
    3. Hall, Andy & Dijkman, Jeroen & Sulaiman, Rasheed, 2010. "Research Into Use: Investigating the Relationship between Agricultural Research and Innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2010-044, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Laurens Klerkx & Andy Hall & Cees Leeuwis, 2009. "Strengthening agricultural innovation capacity: are innovation brokers the answer?," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(5/6), pages 409-438.
    5. Yang, Huan & Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees, 2014. "Functions and limitations of farmer cooperatives as innovation intermediaries: Findings from China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 115-125.
    6. Maru, Yiheyis & Sparrow, Ashley & Stirzaker, Richard & Davies, Jocelyn, 2018. "Integrated agricultural research for development (IAR4D) from a theory of change perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 310-320.
    7. Kilelu, Catherine W. & Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees, 2013. "Unravelling the role of innovation platforms in supporting co-evolution of innovation: Contributions and tensions in a smallholder dairy development programme," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 65-77.
    8. Pigford, Ashlee-Ann E. & Hickey, Gordon M. & Klerkx, Laurens, 2018. "Beyond agricultural innovation systems? Exploring an agricultural innovation ecosystems approach for niche design and development in sustainability transitions," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 116-121.
    9. Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees, 2008. "Institutionalizing end-user demand steering in agricultural R&D: Farmer levy funding of R&D in The Netherlands," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 460-472, April.
    10. Letty, Brigid & Shezi, Zanele & Mudhara, Maxwell, 2012. "An exploration of agricultural grassroots innovation in South Africa and implications for innovation indicator development," MERIT Working Papers 2012-023, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Hall, Andy, 2011. "Putting agricultural research into use: Lessons from contested visions of innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2011-076, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Biggeri, Mario & Carraro, Alessandro & Ciani, Federico & Romano, Donato, 2022. "Disentangling the impact of a multiple-component project on SDG dimensions: The case of durum wheat value chain development in Oromia (Ethiopia)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    13. Xiao Lu & Yi Qu & Piling Sun & Wei Yu & Wenlong Peng, 2020. "Green Transition of Cultivated Land Use in the Yellow River Basin: A Perspective of Green Utilization Efficiency Evaluation," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, November.
    14. Kleemann, Linda & Abdulai, Awudu & Buss, Mareike, 2014. "Certification and Access to Export Markets: Adoption and Return on Investment of Organic-Certified Pineapple Farming in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 79-92.
    15. Falk, Thomas & Kumar, Shalander & Srigiri, Srinivasa, 2019. "Experimental games for developing institutional capacity to manage common water infrastructure in India," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 260-269.
    16. Evans Ngenoh & Barnabas K. Kurgat & Hillary K. Bett & Sindu W. Kebede & Wolfgang Bokelmann, 2019. "Determinants of the competitiveness of smallholder African indigenous vegetable farmers in high-value agro-food chains in Kenya: A multivariate probit regression analysis," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Sumberg, James, 2005. "Systems of innovation theory and the changing architecture of agricultural research in Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 21-41, February.
    18. Hall, Andy & Clark, Norman & Frost, Andy, 2010. "Bottom-up, Bottom-line: Development-Relevant Enterprises in East Africa and their Significance for Agricultural Innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2010-042, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. Kingiri, Ann & Hall, Andy, 2011. "Dynamics of biosciences regulation and opportunities for biosciences innovation in Africa: Exploring regulatory policy brokering," MERIT Working Papers 2011-023, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    20. Dolinska, Aleksandra & d'Aquino, Patrick, 2016. "Farmers as agents in innovation systems. Empowering farmers for innovation through communities of practice," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 122-130.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:61:y:2014:i:c:p:85-101. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.