Why universities must engage intransformative higher education to

to leverage global food and nutrition security

Michael HauserSource: WFP/Zoriah, flickr creative commons

For global food and nutrition security let us add one critical learning outcome:

University graduates successfully nudge food system transformations towards equality, resilience and sustainability.

How we promote transactional change towards global food and nutrition security

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Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

How to operationalise this definition?

Images: www.fao.org

Clock work approach to food and nutrition security

- Local- Closed systems- Causal behaviour- Rational actors- Specialisation- Linear change

But there are no easy fixes that work quickly.Photo Credit: Hauser / BOKU

Good news: Tropical agricultural research was tremendously successful in increasing crop and livestock productivity.

Photo Credit: Hauser / BOKU

But there is work to do: Despite progress in Asia and Latin America, the world is far away from global food and nutrition security, food sovereignty and food rights.

Photo Credit: Hauser / CDR

Why we must engage in transformational change to achieve food and nutrition security

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Thomas Robert Malthus1766 - 1834

Ester Boserup1910 - 1999

“More People, Less Hunger” – Stop the battle between approaches: work for innovation, deep change, and a new global societal contract.

Photo Credit: AusAid, flickr creative commons

Adopt food systems perspective to achieve global food and nutritional security.

Source: Norgaard / Development Betrayed

Photo Credit: CYMMIT, flickr creative commons

Systems approach to food and nutrition security

- Local and global- Open systems- Chaotic behaviour- Actors with interests- Inter- and

transdisciplinarity- Co-evolving change

But again there are no easy fixes that work quickly for complex, adaptive systems.

Source: Rico de Faria (2012)

Transformational change goes beyond knowledge, capacities and skills. It addresses values, beliefs and mindsets that underpin food and nutrition security behaviour at all levels.

What universities should do towards transformational food and nutrition security

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Across all relevant study programs, universities shall train a new generation of food system facilitators.

Source: AusAid, flickr creative commons

High end technology research will remain critical, but systems sciences help to develop sustainability pathways.

Geels, F. W. (2002). Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level

perspective and a case-study. Research Policy, 31(8-9), 1257–1274. doi:10.1016/S0048-7333(02)00062-8

Towards deep change: a new generation of food system facilitators mentor multi-stakeholder change processes.

Photo Credit: Mentler / BOKU

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Engage students in Experiential learning

Engaging students in transformative learning

- Social experiments- Open systems- Chaotic behaviour- Actors with interests- Co-evolving change

as a basis for future decision makers with new sets of knowledge, values and beliefs.

Photo Credit: Probst / BOKU

For global food and nutrition security university shall transform as well:

Engage in didactical experiments, innovative learning arrangements and cross-boundary partnerships .

Michael Hauser, Lorenz Probst and Didier Pillot

AGRINATURA – The European Alliance on Agricultural Knowledge for Development www.agrinatura.eu

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna l Centre for Development Research www.cdr.boku.ac.at

Montpellier SupAgro