A preliminary study to improve income and nutrition in eastern and southern Africa by enhancing vegetable-based farming and food systems

This scoping study is now complete and has formed the basis of a larger project - Improving income and nutrition in eastern and southern Africa by enhancing vegetable-based farming and food systems in peri-urban corridors. Read the final report - pdf (File Size 789 KB) or word (File Size 1.9 MB).

The study aimed to understand the characteristics of vegetable production systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), specifically in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, in order to develop appropriate and effective technological interventions which can maximize returns, generate and increase income to reduce poverty, and contribute to greater food and nutritional security.

The specific objectives were to:

1. analyze the poverty and food insecurity reduction potential of vegetable production in urban, peri-urban and rural agriculture;
2. identify action-research topics with high potential for providing practical and policy advice on to how to promote vegetable production as a poverty and food insecurity reduction strategy;
3. identify research partners to implement these activities and establish the best combination of action-research topics and partners within a coherent research project.