Higher Education and SDG2: Zero Hunger

This chapter focuses on the potential of urban agriculture to support progress in SDG targets 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4 in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. The chapter integrates findings from the British Council-funded project, ‘Urban Resilience from Agriculture through Highly Automated Vertical Farming in the UK and Vietnam’, undertaken in collaboration with Middlesex University, Van Lang University, and local agricultural stakeholders in HCMC. Food security in the city faces multiple challenges ranging from significant in-migration, decreasing area of cultivated land, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that continues to depress the economy and disrupt food supply chains, and climate change impacts affecting the environment and people throughout the city. HCMC accommodates a substantial agricultural sector, which is evolving from traditional to modern production practices. City’s leaders established numerous policies that emphasise green, circular economies, climate change resilience, and low carbon emissions fuelling demand for agricultural solutions that integrate traditional and modern technologies that can be embedded in the local topography, soil types, architectural space, and native culture. Findings from greenhouse trials, community awareness surveys, and stakeholder-led workshops point to a range of high-technology-supported agriculture models that, if applied flexibly throughout the varying context of the urban area, have good scope to help Ho Chi Minh City and meet its growing need for food as well as its sustainability aspirations.

Enhancing agricultural productivity is imperative for sustainable food production and aligns with the objectives of SDG2 target 2.3. This target aims to achieve a twofold increase in agricultural productivity by doubling the volume of production per labour unit by 2030. Higher education institutions have actively engaged in leveraging information, technology, and promotional strategies to bolster agricultural productivity in developing nations, contributing to the broader SDG2 Zero Hunger agenda. However, limited research addresses the impact of heavy rainfall on productivity, utilising robust methodologies such as differences-in-differences and advocating for prospective causal investigations. This study specifically investigates the repercussions of heavy rain on Peruvian sugar companies, utilising data from the Lima Stock Exchange and the National Institute of Statistics for 18 companies spanning 2014 to 2017. Emphasising the negative consequences of heavy rain in 2017 attributed to the El Niño phenomenon, the research underscores regional variations, particularly noting heightened adversities for sugar companies in Northern Peru. This study not only elucidates the factors contributing to these negative consequences but also suggests diverse research approaches for comprehensive understanding and causal impact assessments, contributing significantly to interdisciplinary research in disaster management and impact economic evaluation. As an imperative step towards achieving Zero Hunger goals amid the prevailing climate emergency, the study concludes by presenting recommendations to mitigate the challenging effects of El Niño on the agroindustry.

Sustainable development goal 2 (SDG2) is about creating a world free of hunger by 2030. Southern Africa faces a myriad of challenges affecting food and nutrition security, from population expansion, old and emerging pandemics, increased frequency of climate-induced natural disasters, ageing infrastructure, and challenging service delivery. The increased shocks and hazards and inadequate social safety nets have changed the dimensions of food and nutrition insecurity, giving rise to new roles for higher and tertiary education. Higher education (HE) institutions are expected to play a more active role in capacity building and producing goods and services that can contribute to the achievement of SDG2. This chapter assesses the role of HE towards the attainment of SDG2 which seeks to eliminate hunger and all forms of malnutrition. The chapter will highlight an insect-based value chain project as an example of HE contribution to reducing food insecurity. Through the case study, the chapter will explore the role of HE in community engagement, human capital development, and conducting research that informs policy and programming decisions. Furthermore, the chapter explores the role of North–South Collaborative research, interdisciplinary collaborations, and innovation hubs in developing innovations that can transform food systems and help build resilience in the face of the increasing climate and health shocks. Within these spaces, the contribution of HE to the achievement of food and nutrition security in Africa can be realised, and this approach replicated in other African institutions seeking to engage in such work.

A case study of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi explores its contribution to improving food security and nutrition using varied genetic resources and plant-based diets. The chapter articulates specific examples of research and outreach activities conducted to improve availability, access, and consumption of safe and quality food to reduce undernutrition. Malawi, together with other countries, adopted the global 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs) during the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 to transform the world, end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice, and prosperity. SDG2 is on ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Malawi has made significant progress and is on track to achieving SDG number 2 by 2030, and LUANAR has contributed to this achievement in multiple ways. The university has academic programmes and carries out research in various areas of agriculture and natural resources that relate directly to SGD 2. The faculty of Food and Human Sciences champions training, research, and innovation on food and nutrition at the university. The chapter concludes by reiterating that government leadership, support from development partners, and collaboration with the academic, research, and private sectors are key to success. The research models, impact, and challenges presented in the chapter have relevance and potential for wider application in the developing world.

The chapter highlights the growing phenomenon of hunger in affluent nations among vulnerable groups, such as university students. It draws on the results of two studies on food insecurity in the student body at an Australian university in Sydney. It highlights the need and desire of students for increased food literacy at a formative stage of their lives, noting the absence of food growing skills as a recognised part of current understanding of food literacy. The chapter discusses the way in which urbanisation and modern food systems have created such a profound disconnect between people and food production that it no longer occurs to governments and institutions in the Global North that people could grow their own food. The chapter explores historical and global examples of urban agriculture producing meaningful quantities of supplementary food, particularly in times of crisis. Urban agriculture can augment access to safe and nutritious foods (SDG2.1), increase productivity of small producers through knowledge dissemination (SDG2.3), create resilient agricultural practices, maintain ecosystems (SDG2.4), and genetic diversity of seeds through seed-saving practices (SDG2.5). The chapter concludes with a case study of a campus food garden used to increase student food literacy, providing an exemplar for higher education institutions that want to engage with the aims of SDG2 in the context of their own campus.

In 2022, the SDG2-Zero Hunger Consortium, under the umbrella of the University Global Coalition (UGC), launched an international student challenge. More than 200 students applied to participate from around the world. Eleven teams completed the challenge in May 2023; each team produced a three-minute video explaining an innovative idea for addressing hunger. The first-place team included students from Indonesia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Spain, and the United States. Their idea was to establish an End-Hunger Community Center (EHCC) in Indonesia. This chapter describes why and how the SDG2 Consortium developed this challenge and includes a case study from the winning student team. The chapter provides other higher education (HE) institutions with ideas for engaging students in innovation for the SDGs.

The final chapter of this book captures a diverse range of case studies across teaching and learning and campus stewardship. The five case studies presented here add illustrative insights of global actions, following on from the four case studies presented within previous chapters. These contributions provide compelling and practical insights into how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are broadly addressing SDG2 through student competitions in the first section, and curriculum approaches in subject areas in which ‘food’ and ‘hunger’ might not be expected in the second section. The final section of cases further explores HEIs’ approaches to food security through both a curriculum lens and a student-led campus project. It is a fitting way to close the book since the cases collectively illustrate the potential contribution that any student and/or educator might make to raising awareness of and action towards achieving zero hunger and SDG2.