AI for Food Security, Sustainable Livelihoods, and Responsible Land Use: Adoption, Equity, and Measurable Impacts

Food security, sustainable livelihoods, and responsible land use are foundational to the resilience and long-term sustainability of global food systems. In the global south, agriculture remains the primary source of income, livelihoods and nutrition for billions of people, particularly in land-dependent rural and peri-urban communities. Yet these systems are increasingly challenged by climate variability, land degradation, water scarcity, population growth, and volatile markets. These pressures are heightening vulnerability among smallholders, women, youth, and marginalised groups. Artificial intelligence and related digital tools are rapidly entering agricultural production, land management, and food supply chains, offering new opportunities to support these objectives. Achieving sustainable food systems requires more than technological adoption; it demands integrated approaches that protect land resources, stabilise incomes, and ensure equitable access to food and productive assets. AI-enabled innovations require scrutiny to ensure that decision-making processes do not reinforce existing social and economic inequalities. This is critical in domains that directly affect human sustainable livelihoods, land use, and food security, where technological interventions can have profound consequences for vulnerable populations.Despite rapid advances in artificial intelligence and related digital tools research for agriculture, most existing studies prioritise algorithmic performance, automation, and production efficiency, with limited attention to adoption dynamics and social outcomes. Evidence remains fragmented on whether AI applications meaningfully improve household food security, farmer incomes, land-use decision-making, sustainable livelihoods or resilience to climate shocks. Structural barriers such as limited infrastructure, affordability constraints, weak extension systems, insecure land tenure, skills gaps, and unequal access to data continue to shape who benefits from innovation and who is left behind. Without deliberate implementation strategies, AI-enabled interventions risk reinforcing existing inequalities across regions, farm sizes, and social groups.This topic positions food security, sustainable livelihoods, land stewardship, and social equity as the primary measures of success for AI-enabled innovation. Its main goal is to generate applied, interdisciplinary, and policy-relevant evidence on how artificial intelligence can be implemented in practice to support climate adaptation, sustainable land management, inclusive value chains, and resilient local and global food systems. The collection emphasises real-world deployment, institutional integration, participatory design, and measurable socioeconomic outcomes, rather than standalone technical development.The scope of the collection includes original research articles, systematic reviews, policy analyses, and implementation case studies examining AI-enabled interventions across agricultural production, land governance, post-harvest systems, markets, and food access. Possible Research Themes• AI-supported decision tools for land and water management• Impacts of AI adoption on farmer incomes and livelihood resilience• Adoption pathways, affordability, and scaling in resource-constrained contexts• AI applications to improve food availability, access, livelihoods and nutrition• Land tenure, data governance, and digital rights in agriculture• Gender, youth, and equity implications of AI deployment• AI digital tools for reducing food loss and strengthening local and regional value chains• Integration of AI into extension services and climate advisory systems• Participatory and community-centred AI implementation models for livelihood resilience• Ethical and responsible AI frameworks for sustainable food systems Topic editors: Osden Jokonya, Noel Aloysius, Camilius. A. Sanga Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77930/ai-for-food-security-sustainable-livelihoods-and-responsible-land-use-adoption-equity-and-measurable-impacts