Building Africa’s capacity in food systems

Read how a group of international and interdisciplinary partners, including Dr Susannah Sallu and Dr Susannah Sallu are developing agriculture strategies in Southern Africa.

Academics from the University of Leeds are studying the implications of food systems transformations for the health of people, animals and ecosystems in Southern Africa in the Food Systems Transformation in Southern Africa (FoSTA) Health Project.

FoSTA Health intends to focus on bottom-up processes. This means they work with farmers at local levels, empowering them to have a voice and allowing them to understand how their futures could look.

They collaborate with a pan-African network of organisations and individuals from various sectors and the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), partners from across Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

Stephen Whitfield leads the FoSTA Health project. He is a Professor of Food, Agriculture and Climate. His main research interests are in the socio-politics of agri-food systems

Susannah Sallu, co-investigator, is an Associate Professor in Environment and Development based in the Sustainable Research Institute of the School of Earth and Environment.

Susannah focuses on rural livelihoods, environmental change, marginalisation and natural resource governance in East and Southern Africa, particularly Tanzania, where she has worked for over 20 years.

Read the Spotlight article about the collaboration to understand implications of food systems transformations in Southern Africa.