Foodborne diseases (FBD) are an important externality of agriculture and food systems, but only recently have they risen up the development agenda as the result of growing awareness of the health and economic burdens of FBD and how they relate to food systems with a focus on low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC), particularly African nations. The health burden of FBD is comparable with that of malaria, and over 90% falls on people in LMIC, with an economic burden of more than US$100 million per year. FBD have many other, less well-estimated effects on nutrition, gender, equity, and the environment. While understanding of food safety in domestic markets of LMICs has advanced greatly, risk management is in its infancy. This Research Topic will bring together leading regional perspectives on food safety in LMICs.

Ethiopia is a low-income country and agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for for 34 percent of GDP and 70 percent of total employment share. Ethiopia remains one of the world’s poorest countries, despite the significant progress achieved in reducing poverty and hunger. The Government of Ethiopia through its Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) has consistently prioritized the transformation of agriculture from low-input, subsistence-oriented production systems to a fast-growing, intensive and commercially oriented sector to support the country’s aspirations to become a middle-income country by 2025. FAO’s Country Programme Framework (2016-2020), was formulated based on the GTP II. Over the evaluation period (2014-2019), FAO exceeded the resource mobilization targets. Overall, FAO’s programme displays several imbalances and disconnects, specifically between development activities and emergency response. The evaluation calls for FAO to adopt a more cohesive programmatic approach and continue to consolidate its fragmented programme. In the context of the Government’s plans for agricultural transformation, the evaluation also recommends that FAO support an economically sound value chain and market-based approach to agricultural development, while upholding normative values of inclusiveness and ecological sustainability.

Smallholder farming systems contribute a substantial quantity of the food consumed in many lower and middle-income countries and contribute to the national and local economies. Despite the importance of smallholder farming, a transformation is needed in order to deliver food security and decent incomes for the farmers themselves and at the national level. This transformation must also be sustainable in terms of environmental impacts and social equity in order to be successful in the long term. The pressures of population growth, climate change, and land fragmentation compound the problem. Addressing these overlapping issues is a big challenge. One obstacle is the lack of good quality granular data linking these issues together. Household surveys are the workhorse method for gathering such data, but there are well-known problems that prevent household survey data from building up a “big picture” and delivering insights beyond the geographical boundary of each individual study. Such obstacles include the lack of access to datasets, differences in survey design, and respondent biases. Agile, data-oriented research tools can help to overcome these challenges. We use the term “agile” to imply methods that do not attempt exhaustive measurements, which are designed to be easy to use, and which entail some degree of flexibility in terms of adaptation to local conditions and integration with other tools or methods. Often these methods also nudge the behavior of tool users towards best practices. In recent years various research tools and approaches have been published which fit within our definition of “agile data-oriented research tools”. The domains these tools function in include monitoring and evaluation, intervention targeting, tailored information delivery, citizen science, credit scoring, and user feedback collection; all with the over-arching aim to improve data quality and access for those studying the sustainable development of smallholder farming systems. The goal of this Research Topic is to better define that niche, the ecosystem of tools and current practices, and to explore how such approaches can provide the underpinning knowledge required for the transformation of smallholder farming systems. One example of an agile data-oriented research tool is the Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS). It is a modular, digital system for building household surveys addressing the common topics in smallholder development. It was purposefully designed to give a broad overview of the farm system whist keeping survey duration to a minimum, to be user-friendly in implementation, and to be sufficiently flexible to function in a broad variety of locations and projects. Since 2015 it has been used by 30 organizations in 32 countries to interview over 34,000 households. The tool and database are open access and a community of practice is developing around the tool. We particularly welcome contributions that engage with the RHoMIS tool and data. However, we also describe the tool in order to provide an example of what is meant by an agile data-oriented research tool, and welcome contributions focusing on other tools or methodologies. We encourage the submission of manuscripts addressing the above topic, and those which fit within one of the following three sub-themes: (i) Perspectives or review articles which explore the niche, best practices, or promising approaches in agile data-oriented research tools for smallholder farm system transformation. Also, technology and code articles that describe new tools are welcomed. (ii) Original research articles presenting analyses based on data derived from agile data-oriented tools used at the project level. Examples include impact evaluations, adoption studies, targeting studies, or adaptive management, and should reflect on the additional benefit leveraged by the agile method applied. (iii) Original research articles that make use of the large amounts of data generated by such agile methods and/or link between agile data and other data sources. Examples include meta-analyses of data from multiple studies, layering data collected from different agile tools, or linking agile data to remote sensing or large-scale modeling outputs.

This book is the first comprehensive account of developments in open and distance non-formal education in developing countries for over more than 20 years. It includes many instructive and inspiring examples of how international agencies such as UNESCO, FAO, WHO, UNICEF, USAID and the Commonwealth of Learning and national providers are using radio, TV, online and mobile learning, telecentres and other means to achieve the Education for All, Millennium Development and Sustainable Development Goals. It describes the educational needs of the world’s most disadvantaged, vulnerable and least formally educated children, youth and adult populations, including the disabled, refugees and prisoners. It also reports on the successes, outcomes, constraints and shortcomings of using open and distance methods and technology to deliver literacy and numeracy programmes, equivalency, ‘second chance’ or alternative schooling, life skills and rural community development programmes and income generation and vocational training outside the framework of the formal education system. It concludes with suggestions for the extension and improvement of such lifelong learning. Designed to encourage further research and development in these capacity-building practices outside the established formal system, this is a must-read for all policy-makers, managers, educators, students and researchers interested in non-formal education for individuals, families and communities in the developing world.