Event details

Global efforts towards achieving food security increasingly highlight indigenous underutilized/neglected crops as an indispensable channel to mitigate food insecurity. Exploring these crops in sustainable ways to transform food systems requires a holistic understanding of the complexities of interactions and interconnectedness of the different facets of the foodscapes of the target population.

Foodscapes refer to the food environment – the physical outlets and how foods are available and accessible to a people -, and the meanings/values [encompassing historical, cultural, religious and climactic underpinnings] attached to certain foods, food practices, and places where the food is consumed, and the complexities of their interconnectedness to the food behaviour. This
transdisciplinary concept has been used to explore ways to mitigate obesity and overweight among populations but has rarely been used as a tool for sustainable solutions to undernutrition. Our current research investigates foodscapes to provide empirical data for tailored intervention models against undernutrition in vulnerable populations and communities faced with climate-change-induced food insecurity in Ghana. 

Join YESI International Fellow Dr Abena Boakye, from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana in this workshop, to explore ways in which our existing research can be scaled up into a large-scale, interdisciplinary project that examines indigenous (usually underutilized) climate-resilient crops through a foodscape lens in order to tailor sustainable agricultural and food innovations that complement country-specific efforts on food security (SDG#2), good health and well-being (SDG#3), climate action (SDG#13) and ultimately poverty eradication (SDG#1) in the Global South.

If you are interested in participating in such a project, please join us for a discussion over lunch. You are also more than welcome to join us if you just want to contribute insights from your own work that may be useful for us to take our work forward. You can reach us at henrice.altink@york.ac.uk for further information ahead of the workshop.

Bio

Dr Abena Boakye is a Senior lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. Dr Boakye’s research explores the use of indigenous underutilised species and traditional food systems to meet dietary needs amid climate change influences using her expertise in food compositional studies, sensory evaluation, product development, and value-addition interventions. She was the food scientist on the Ghanaian team for the interdisciplinary Fried Sweetpotato Product Profiling Project for West Africa and has also received recognition through international activity grants, fellowships, and scholarly awards. Dr Boakye aspires to make meaningful professional contributions as an advocate for sustainable food security and improved nutrition in Africa.

She is affiliated with several professional bodies including the Food Systems Research Network for Africa and UNESCO’s Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World. Outside academia, Dr Boakye is a Bible class teacher and also pursues community engagement activities that “Demystify Science and make STEM friendly”. She loves to inspire young females to take up leadership positions in their areas of influence