Digital technologies offer a potential solution to improve sustainability—economic, social, and environmental—of agri-food systems around the globe. While developed countries have led the innovation and adoption of digital agriculture, the potential impact in developing countries—including in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region—is massive. This article synthesizes existing evidence to review the potential and current contribution of digital technologies to the agri-food sectors in MENA. Digital agriculture shows promise in addressing the key challenges facing the agri-food sector across MENA countries. Improvements in primary production, supply chain and logistics performance, and optimized use of scarce natural resources (notably agricultural water) could be notable, if digital technologies can be implemented as envisioned. Available evidence shows that adoption of digital agriculture is at early stages, generally led by high-value agricultural production targeting domestic markets in Gulf countries and export markets in Mashreq countries. Economic sustainability appears the strongest force for current adoption, with less focus on social or environmental sustainability. Public policies should not only foster the adoption of digital technologies in MENA but also ensure equity of access, transparency of use, data protections, and labor protections. Policymakers should move beyond traditional, production-centric views to deliver also on social and environmental sustainability.
This review argues that nutrition is an integral component of food security, and should be embedded within all four of its dimensions -availability, access, utilization, and stability. The review highlights current food insecurity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as exacerbated by the triple burden of malnutrition, where undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight/obesity coexist. Previous efforts to address food security in MENA have focused on food availability, overlooking the other three dimensions and leaving nutrition considerations aside. Meanwhile, the literature has recognized the need to highlight nutrition as fundamental, and opted for the term 'food and nutrition security'. To achieve food and nutrition security in MENA, a nutrition lens must be applied across all four dimensions -from assessment, to policy and programming, to capacity building. For example, MENA countries can adopt policies and programs including well-structured food subsidies, dietary guidelines, public awareness, and education campaigns to increase availability and accessibility of nutritious and safe foods, and stimulate consumer demand for those. To accomplish this, MENA needs to build stakeholders' capacity and equip them to address the challenges that are hindering the achievement of food and nutrition security now and into the future. ARTICLE HISTORY
The food safety landscape continues to evolve across time, geography, and supply chains. This research seeks to analyze the determinants of market‐based food safety management systems (FSMSs) implementation in the Middle Eastern context. Primary data were collected from food safety managers representing 94 processors across Lebanon. We found food processors having implemented ISO 22000 (50%), HACCP (40%), and ISO 9001 (25.5%); however, none of the processors implemented industry‐based FSMSs. Although ISO 22000 was mostly implemented by large (85%) and medium (67%) processors, the uptake of ISO 22000 by small processors has picked up (29%). Economic incentives (market orientation) and firm‐specific factors (organizational readiness, product/process characteristics, company size, and ownership structure) are the key drivers for the increased implementation of market‐based FSMSs. Predominantly export‐oriented processors had the odds of implementing ISO 22000 5.5 times more than the domestically oriented processors. Firms with a quality assurance (QA) unit had 15 times higher chance of implementing ISO 22000 than otherwise. Finally, processors engaged in fresh produce had 4.9 times higher chance of implementing ISO 22000 than those engaged in dry goods. The study establishes that the dominance of public‐based FSMSs in the governance of food safety is a strategic choice (economic incentives) more than statutory requirements.
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries face considerable challenges in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Reducing the escalating diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), combatting food insecurity, and preserving environmental resources are major issues and these countries are struggling to address. The adoption of sustainable and healthy diets is proposed as a measure that would deliver both environmental and health benefits to these countries. Whether shifting to a recommended healthier food consumption pattern affects the environmental sustainability of the region needs to be investigated. This study assesses the environmental footprints-total and blue water, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE)-of four food groups (red meat, vegetables/beans, nuts/seeds, and fruits), shown to be associated with the burden of NCDs. Footprints of current and nutritionally recommended consumption levels were calculated, and the net savings or expenditure for each food group was aggregated across adult populations in each of 17 MENA countries. Results showed that reduced red-meat consumption would generate savings in all four footprints, while higher vegetables/beans, nuts/seeds, and fruits' consumption would yield net expenditure in those footprints. The findings demonstrate the beneficial environmental effects of reducing consumption of red meat, and the tradeoffs that would result from a simultaneous increase in consumption of vegetables/beans, across MENA countries. Further analysis is needed to elucidate the environmental footprints of other recommended changes in food consumption habits that would clarify further potential tradeoffs associated with recommended shifts in the consumption of other protective and harmful foods in the MENA region.
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