Co-Creating Sustainable Food Systems: Resilience

Episode five of the podcast series, co-produced as part of the Co-creating Change towards Sustainable Food Systems: Learning with Communities of Practice in Zimbabwe project.

In this episode, we discuss how strengthening local food systems and adopting more sustainable agricultural practices can significantly improve the resilience of communities. Capacity-building is essential for resilience. Skills in organic farming, compost-making and livestock rearing, for example, can enhance income generation and living standards, fostering greater diversity in livelihood strategies and creating more economic stability. 

Additionally, promoting local food processing and preservation techniques can boost food security and nutrition throughout the year, by enabling communities to store and sell surplus produce. Addressing the impacts of climate change is also crucial, with agroecological practices (such as swales, agroforestry and holistic land-use management) helping communities to adapt and to protect their environment in the face of more frequent climatic shocks. Such methods and strategies, like those shared in our personal stories, can help to secure a more resilient future for our communities and for our children. 

The podcast series, along with a website (see link below) and Stories of Change book (available for download on the website), have resulted from a collaboration between Dr Pamela Richardson (University of Sheffield) and three Zimbabwean organisations: Kufunda Village, PORET Trust and PELUM Zimbabwe. 

The production of the podcast series and book was funded through a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship, with support from the Institute for Sustainable Food, the Institute for Global Sustainable Development and the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield.

Both the podcast series and book will be freely available to all as an open educational resource.

Visit the website: https://storymaps.com/stories/b8d4962d055c4ad2b7845317b16d2614