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Design of an Empirical Agent-Based Model to Explore Rural Household Food Security Within a Developing Country Context

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Advances in Social Simulation 2015

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 528))

Abstract

Food security is an unresolved issue, especially so among developing countries. Models of food security usually focus on the farming components (availability) and neglect to fully incorporate its multi-dimensional nature: including access, utilization and stability (of food). This article proposes the design of an empirical agent-based model representing Malawian smallholders, which operationalizes the FAO framework on food security at the household level. While the general structure can be customized and replicated for other contexts, the agents’ characterization is based on national survey data. Preliminary results suggest that non-agricultural workers are more food secure. However important feedbacks with the natural (ecosystem services) and the economic system (local/international market) are foreseen but not fully implemented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Farm plots used for winter cultivations primarily based on the residual moisture of areas bordering streams and rivers.

  2. 2.

    Documentation of the model procedures is available here: http://tinyurl.com/nhmx9at.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre grant (EP/G03690X/1). It was also inspired by an ESPA funded research project: Attaining Sustainable Services from Ecosystems (ASSETS), which aims to “explicitly quantify the linkages between ecosystem services that affect—and are affected by—food security and nutritional health for the rural poor at the forest-agricultural interface” (http://espa-assets.org/). The participatory rural appraisal (PRA) carried out by the University of Southampton and LEAD-SEA, Malawi in the Zomba and Machinga districts of Malawi (6 villages of Chilwa East and West areas) was subjectively interpreted by the authors to build the model general framework which was subsequently assessed by project experts. The authors wish to thank the advice and support of: Kate Schreckenberg, Carlos Torres Vitolas (PRA experts), Nyovani Madise, Dalitso Kafumbata, Patrick Linkongwe (local experts), and Simon Willcock, Ferdinando Villa and James Dyke (modeling experts).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    Samantha Dobbie

  2. Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), 48008, Bilbao Bizkaia, Spain

    Stefano Balbi

Authors
  1. Samantha Dobbie
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  2. Stefano Balbi
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Correspondence to Samantha Dobbie .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University College Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Wander Jager

  2. Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Rineke Verbrugge

  3. Faculty for Social and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Andreas Flache

  4. Faculty of Spatial Sciences, Department of Spatial Planning and Environment, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Gert de Roo

  5. Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Lex Hoogduin

  6. Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Behavioural Ecology and Self-organisation, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Charlotte Hemelrijk

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Dobbie, S., Balbi, S. (2017). Design of an Empirical Agent-Based Model to Explore Rural Household Food Security Within a Developing Country Context. In: Jager, W., Verbrugge, R., Flache, A., de Roo, G., Hoogduin, L., Hemelrijk, C. (eds) Advances in Social Simulation 2015. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 528. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47253-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47253-9_7

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