Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

The main challenge for African food systems in the future will be to provide food for a rapidly growing population with changing diets and food preferences. Whilst the population of Europe is decreasing, with consumers demanding food that is produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way, Africa’s population will more than double between 2020 and 2050, with food demand increasing even more as a result of dietary changes.

SALSA is an EU Horizon 2020 project that set out to assess the current and future role of small farms and related small food businesses (suppliers, processors, distributors) in achieving sustainable Food and Nutrition Security (FNS). One important part of the project was identifying the necessary enabling conditions for small farms to meet the growing demand for food in an increasingly populated and resource-constrained world. SALSA studied small farms in 30 reference regions in 20 countries - 25 regions (at the so-called NUTS3 administrative level) in Europe and 5 regions in Africa. In Africa, these reference regions were equivalent to a district (Ghana and Malawi), subcounty (Kenya), commune (Tunisia) or island (Cape Verde).