The United Nations through the SDG 2[Zero Hunger] commits to ending hunger worldwide. BRICS in subsequent summits including Johannesburg (2023) and Kazan (2024) support the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and calls on achieving food security and improved nutrition, promote sustainable agriculture and food systems, and implement resilient agricultural practices.
Globally, agriculture contribution to GDP is averaged at 4.3% For the first five BRICS nations, it averages at 9.3%. Importantly, while nearly 1.9 million people are in the grips of catastrophic hunger in countries like Palestine and Haiti and Sudan according to the World Food Programme, collectively however, BRICS countries achieved the Millennium Development Goal of halving undernourishment by 2015. Globally, the economic and social conditions of people living in rural areas are worst affected. The focus is therefor on enhancing agricultural practices and infrastructure in these communities.
This COP intend to establish a network of BRICS researchers championing research in sustainable agricultural practices, agriculture policies and agriculture reform, among others. The COP intends to produce policy briefs, books, journal articles, seminars and among others, support student and academic mobility across the BRICS nations.
COP lead, Maponya
Dr Phokela Maponya
He hold a Bachelor of Agricultural Management (University of the Free State), a Hons (Agricultural Economics) (University of Pretoria), a Master in Human Ecology (Food Security & Rural Development) (University of South Africa), PhD (Environmental & Agricultural) (University of South Africa), a Post-Doctoral (University of Johannesburg) and Senior Research Associate (University of Johannesburg) and have more than 15 years Teaching, Research and Project Management experience.
Supervised Honours, Master’s and Doctoral students to completion.at various universities in South Africa. Have published +30 articles in different international peer-reviewed journals; + 30 peer-reviewed conference proceedings (Local & International), 2 books, +10 book chapters and policy brief And currently employed at the Agricultural Research Council as a Senior Researcher: Smallholder Farmer and Enterprise Development and serving as an agroforestry expert by RE- NATURE (Amsterdam); Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) Research Institute Community of Practice (CoP) leader (Agrarian and Rural Development), BRICS Book Editor Innovation and Development of Agricultural Systems: Cases from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (Palgrave Macmillan Publishers),
BRICS Book Editor Agroforestry Adoption: Cases from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Springer Switzerland Publishers), Project Leader Agroforestry (Agricultural Research Council & South African Forestry Company Limited (SAFCOL) partnership), member of the International Union on Agroforestry (IUAF).