Data challenges and opportunities for food systems transformation in Africa

Matchaya, Greenwell Collins; Makombe, Tsitsi; and Mihaylova, Neli Georgieva. 2023. Data challenges and opportunities for food systems transformation in Africa. In African Food Systems Transformation and the Post-Malabo Agenda, eds. John M. Ulimwengu, Ebenezer M. Kwofie, and Julia Collins. Chapter 11, Pp. 189-209. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/134904

African food systems began to transform during the last decade in response to higher agricultural productivity growth, rising per capita incomes, a growing middle class, and rapid urbanization. Africa’s emerging food systems transformation was also driven by changes in food consumption patterns (dietary transformation) and the growth of small and medium enterprises operating in downstream and midstream segments of food supply chains such as processing and distribution (Tschirley, Haggblade, and Reardon 2014; Reardon et al. 2015). These changes have contributed to greater availability and consumption of highly processed and high-calorie foods, which have been significant drivers of the growth in overweight and obesity and related noncommunicable diseases on the continent (Ecker and Fang 2016), as well as having far-reaching implications for nutrition and the sustainability of African food systems as a whole.