Economics and Politics for Food and Nutrition Security - Period 2

The course examines why in todays' world food system one out of every nine people is still food insecure and another one is at the edge of food and nutrition security (FNS). The food system is defined as the whole of interactions governing the production of food by farmers (supply side) and the consumption of food by households (demand side), including the activities that are needed to bring the foods from the farmers to the households such as trade, transport, agro-processing and food retail industries (food value chain). Several elements of a food system will be discussed by introducing economic theories of (subsistence) farming, food markets and food value chains. It is explained how well-functioning national food markets and international trade in food can help to promote FNS and how this well-functioning depends on economic and social policies.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA?s recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.