Two projects conducting cross-disciplinary research activities have been granted funding as part of the Food&Cities seed funding call in 2023. The projects each explore different aspects of the systemic relations between food systems and sustainable urban development. The projects demonstrate the complex interactions between SDG 11 and other SDGs and illustrate SLU’s capacity to produce research across disciplines in order to address current and future sustainability challenges.
The following projects were granted funding:
The project will explore the determinants and impacts of Greenhouse Farming Technology on household food and nutritional security. The research will be conducted in the context of low and middle-income countries, specifically focused on Ghana, and will investigate how this technology impacts household food consumption. The research is situated at the intersection of multiple challenges like rapid urbanisaiton, food insecurity and food nutrition, where food systems solutions can contribute to creating more resilient urban food systems.
The funding will be used to hold a workshop together with researchers and stakeholders from both Sweden and Ghana, to explore the impacts of technology on household welfare and resilience against food insecurity and unexpected shocks. The seed funding will further support the collection primary data on the determinants of uptake of Greenhouse Farming Technology and its impacts on household food security.
Main applicant: Enoch Owusu-Sekyere, Department of Economics, SLU.
The use of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) as food products in urban contexts is poorly understood. This project will explore the urban users and markets for food NTFPs in Mombasa, Kenya's second and fast-growing city; and the opportunities for poverty reduction, creation of sustainable business models and value chains for food products from trees. The project will bring together a range of disciplines and expertise from ecology and social sciences through collaboration with research institutes and organisations in Kenya.
The funding will be used for the collection of field work in Kenya relating to the use, quantities, costs, uses, preparation practices, cultural significances and preferences around food forest products in Mombassa; and support the co-production of a study between SLU and Kenyan universities.
Main applicant: Anders Roos, Institutionen för skogsekonomis
Food & Cities is a collaboration between SLU Future Food and SLU Urban Futures. The project communicates SLU’s existing research and aims to create new encounters between different disciplines and sectors. The project seeks to identify knowledge gaps and cross-disciplinary research questions and investigates how a long-term thematic focus on food and cities could be established at SLU.
Håkan Jönsson
Coordinator for Food and Cities
hakan.l.jonsson@slu.se