**Abstracts**

### **Preface to Transitioning to Zero Hunger by Delwendé Innocent Kiba**

Food insecurity remains a global concern, with challenges exacerbated by social and health crises, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts. Experts agree that food security requires coordinated efforts for a transition to zero hunger. Despite technological advances, agrifood systems still face significant hidden costs linked to environmental, social, and health problems. Efforts to address food security are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015, but the FAO estimates that nearly 670 million people will still suffer from hunger in 2030. This book explores the quest for a world with access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, focusing on the need for inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems. It analyzes the drivers of hunger and the sustainability of food production, offering pathways for a transition to zero hunger. The chapters examine the links between SDG 2 and the other SDGs, the role of social capital, and agroecology, presenting case studies on agroforestry, agrobiodiversity, yam farming in West Africa, livestock farming integrated with coconut production in Sri Lanka, and approaches to limit food waste.

### **Challenges for Zero Hunger (SDG 2): Links with Other SDGs by Ramona Lile, Monica Ocnean, and Ioana Mihaela Balan**

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ratified by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, embody a set of 17 objectives designed to address the world's most urgent challenges. SDG 2: Zero Hunger is intricately linked with all other SDGs, aiming not only to eliminate global hunger but also to collectively achieve the broader spectrum of all other SDGs. In this context, it becomes imperative to address and resolve issues encompassing poverty, health, education, inequality, and climate change in a comprehensive manner, while fostering equitable development. SDG 2: Zero Hunger centers on the elimination of hunger and malnutrition, promoting sustainable agricultural practices, and enhancing productivity and incomes for smallholder farmers and food producers, particularly in developing nations. Accomplishing these targets hinges on the development of resilient food systems, the promotion of innovative agricultural technologies, including those geared towards climate resilience. SDG 2: Zero Hunger encounters multifaceted challenges arising from climate change impacts, rapid urbanization, and the imperative to foster sustainable agricultural practices while reducing disparities. These challenges are inherently intertwined with the goals of the broader SDGs framework, necessitating cooperative efforts, innovative approaches, and concerted actions to guarantee global food security and establish a sustainable and equitable future for all of humanity. This book chapter underscores the undeniable direct and indirect links of SDG 2: Zero Hunger with the entire spectrum of SDGs, substantiated through tangible examples, but also the deficiencies and slow pace of progress. It also underscores the significance of a holistic and integrated approach, emphasizing the need to address SDG 2 and its complementary objectives in a synergistic manner, thereby facilitating tangible and lasting progress towards a more promising future.

### **The Power of Social Capital to Address Structural Factors of Hunger by Gian L. Nicolay**

This essay contributes to the theory of the current crises of the world food system and agriculture, including persistent hunger. It is organized into seven chapters and develops the critical importance of social capital in ending hunger. The introduction highlights the importance of a theoretical understanding of this issue to address the well-known symptoms under the guidance of the FAO. Then, the commonly agreed upon five groups of structural factors of hunger are recalled: poverty; wars and pandemics; gender, age, and race; divided societies; and finally capitalist-driven economies including land grabbing. Thirdly, the concept of social capital is proposed as related to social networks and social systems, and the consequences of its neglect as a hunger parameter are explained. Agroecology, often considered the solution since 2008, is critically analyzed and compared with the food regime based on industrial agriculture. These two regimes are confronted with a third method, applying the morphological analyses invented by Zwicky. The surprising results are further developed into proposals on how social capital can be created and used to end hunger. The essay develops around the main discourses since the IAASTD report, the food crises of 2008, and the required transformation into more sustainable forms. Social science and the concepts of social systems are essential in this narrative. We see the underdeveloped social capital, particularly social networks and other local institutions related to national policies at the local and rural levels, as a critical parameter and indicator to predict hunger or food and nutrition insecurity. Empirical studies and experiments from the author's research and work in Africa support this short and dense essay, hoping to contribute to a better understanding of ending hunger before 2050.

### **The Implications of Agroecology and Conventional Agriculture for Food Security and the Environment in Africa by Terence Epule Epule and Abdelghani Chehbouni**

As global climate continues to change, changes need to be made in our production systems to ensure global food production. These constraints are daunting in Africa, as Africa is the most vulnerable region to climate change and variability. Agroecology provides a unique opportunity for Africa to achieve the twin challenges of food security and environmental resilience. This chapter aims at examining the relative contributions of agroecology and conventional agriculture towards resilient food security in Africa. The chapter examines the theoretical foundations and components of these two paradigms as well as their contributions to food security in Africa. This chapter also examines the likely benefits and challenges associated with these systems and discusses in an integrated manner which of these options offers the most likely resilient agricultural revolution for Africa. The methodology is based on a bibliometric review of publications in the grey and peer-reviewed literature on this subject. The compendium of 49 suitable studies was culled through search engines such as Google Scholar, Scopus, SCI, and ISI Web of Science. It is observed that agroecology needs more valorization to be able to match the yields of conventional agriculture in Africa. Since agriculture in Africa is mostly in the hands of smallholders, production is generally under natural conditions driven by limited access to conventional production inputs. Agroecology will require inputs from conventional production to be able to sustain production, except the system is valorized.

### **Agroforestry: An Avenue for Resilient and Productive Farming through Integrated Crops and Livestock Production by Nuwandhya S. Dissanayaka, Shashi S. Udumann, Tharindu D. Nuwarapaksha and Anjana J. Atapattu**

The global population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. With more mouths to feed, achieving zero hunger becomes even more crucial to ensure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. Resilient and productive farming practices are crucial in attaining this objective and aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 2. By enhancing food security, promoting sustainability, supporting rural development, adapting to climate change, and conserving biodiversity, resilient and productive farming becomes an essential pathway towards zero hunger, benefiting both present and future generations. Agroforestry is a versatile, resilient farming approach that can be easily adapted to most of the cropping systems worldwide. It involves combining trees, crops, and/or livestock more efficiently and effectively to maximize land utilization and food production with lower environmental impacts and financial costs. This chapter provides an overview of different agroforestry systems suitable for resilient farming. It explores criteria for selecting and managing appropriate plant and animal species in agroforestry systems, highlighting the potential benefits in terms of land utilization and food production while minimizing financial costs and environmental impact. The chapter also explores the role of agroforestry in biodiversity preservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, economic feasibility, and scaling up for resilient and productive farming.

### **Improving the Diversity of Native Edible Plants and Traditional Food and Agriculture Practices for Sustainable Food Security in the Future**
