Bridging the Divide: Affordable Food and Rural Prosperity

Global food systems face a critical challenge: ensuring affordable food for all while securing dignified livelihoods for farmers and rural communities. Past strategies focused on boosting staple crop yields. In many cases this reduced hunger but left rural poverty unresolved. Particularly for low-income countries (LICs), this strategy has run its course: We need fresh thinking, including innovative policies and business models that balance affordability, nutrition and rural prosperity. In LIC the narrow focus on staple crops for smallholders overlooks the potential of high-value, diversified agriculture operating within well-functioning value chains to improve rural livelihoods and provide nutritious, balanced diets.To achieve more equitable balances between the welfare of rural food producers and urban consumers will require re-examination of our food systems. This special issue seeks actionable insights and bold ideas to transform food systems so that they can deliver both affordable food and thriving rural economies, particularly in LICs. We invite contributions that explore policy innovations, value chain development and strategies for equitable transitions. To support prospective authors in understanding the motivation for this Research Topic and the themes to be explored, we encourage them to consult the Perspective article “Rural prosperity: the key to sustainable farm and food systems”, written by the editors of this collection. The article outlines the underlying tensions between affordable food, rural livelihoods, and resilient food systems—particularly in low-income countries.The special issue will explore the following topics in more depth:● Reconciling affordable food provision, rural prosperity and reducing inequality● Coexistence of modern, mechanised agriculture and agroecology in sustainable systems that meet the world's food needs● Trade-offs between increased labour productivity and rural employment● Pathways for smallholders to pivot toward high-value crops and agricultural products.● Aligning food sovereignty with global trade efficiency● Establishing and maintaining fit-for-purpose value chains● Future scenarios for agricultural systems under climate and market shocks● Role of international financing in enabling diversified rural economies● Strategies for better coordination of research and development● Technology development and support for diverse, high-value agricultural productsWe are following a summary-first process. The editorial team will review and select summaries after the deadline to curate a balanced and wide-ranging collection. Please do not submit a full manuscript before submitting a summary. If a full manuscript is submitted without a prior summary, it may still be processed by the journal. However, it may be decided that it will not be included in the Research Topic. In that case, it will continue through peer review as a regular journal article and, if accepted, will be published outside the collection.The editorial team will give priority to Case Studies, Perspectives, Opinions, and Conceptual Analysis, although other article types remain welcome if they clearly align with the Research Topic’s aims and scope. Topic editors: James H. Cock, Holger Meinke, Ingrid Fromm, Frank Sperling Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/75495/bridging-the-divide-affordable-food-and-rural-prosperity