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CRIFS Technical Brief: A Food Systems Framework

EPAR TECHNICAL BRIEF #396A

Fri, 01/24/2025

AUTHORS: C. Leigh Anderson, Alex Huff, Telli Koroma, Lucero Marquez, and Rebecca Toole

ABSTRACT: Existing frameworks fail to explicitly identify the role of small-scale producers (SSPs) in food systems. We adapted existing food system frameworks to develop a supply chain-focused, conceptual framework of food systems that accounted for SSPs activities, outcomes, and linkages to other system actors. Following the UN High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) in the Nutrition and Food Systems Report (2017), we organize our framework around three elements: drivers, components, and outcomes. The CRIFS food system framework can be used to generate hypotheses regarding risk, SSP decision-making, markets and policy systems, and available technology while understanding the numerous pre-conditions and enabling environments that affect the food system, including gender. 

TYPE OF RESEARCH: Literature Review

RESEARCH TOPIC CATEGORY: Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods; Environment & Climate Change

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS: Sub-Saharan Africa; South Asia

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Research Brief