The December issue of Food Security includes 15 articles and an announcement.

We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Sonia Akter as Senior Editor of Food Security. Dr. Akter is now in charge of submissions concerning agricultural economy with a specific emphasis on households and gender.

The first article is a review, titled “Resilience and household food security: a review of concepts, methodological approaches and empirical evidence”, which addresses the heterogeneous way resilience is measured in economic studies. This article provides a review of concepts, methodological approaches, and empirical evidence on resilience from a food security perspective, focusing on socio-economic research.

The second article, also a review, is titled “In search of alternative proteins: unlocking the potential of underutilized tropical legumes”. The article emphasises that many lesser-known legumes with nutritional properties similar to soybean are still underdeveloped, and yet are commonly grown in the tropics. These include winged bean, lentil, lima bean, lablab, and bambara groundnut. Only now are these species receiving more scientific attention. This review highlights the potential of these tropical legumes as future major sources of plant-based proteins, along with the critical research areas for their improvement.

The third article deals with household (home) gardens, which are critical food system components worldwide. The article, “Long-term behavioural impact of an integrated home garden intervention: evidence from Bangladesh”, provides a much-needed assessment of the long-term impacts of intervention to promote household gardening in the tropics.

The fourth article of this issue addresses wheat production in China, which is of strategic importance for China’s, and the global, food security. The article, “Responses of wheat yields and water use efficiency to climate change and nitrogen fertilization in the North China plain”, addresses the productivity of Chinese wheat fields under climate change. The study suggests that proper nitrogen fertiliser application, changes in crop establishment dates, and the cultivation of new cultivars could be efficient measures for food production prediction and climate change adaptation in the North China Plain.

The fifth article is a critically important analysis on women empowerment, access and integration to markets, and nutrition. The article, “Nutritional outcomes of empowerment and market integration for women in rural India”, provides an exceptionally documented analysis of this question in rural India.

Tropical intercropped fields constitute complex systems. Despite their ubiquity, much still remains to be understood of these systems, starting with their characterisation. The sixth article, “Methods of crop yield measurement on multi-cropped plots: Examples from Tanzania”, offers a methodological perspective on the topic.

The seventh article considers food security policies in Indonesia. The article, “An analysis of Indonesia’s shrinking food security policy space under the WTO”, examines the food security policy context in this country, compares existing food procurement expenditure with Indonesia’s commitments within the WTO, and evaluates the implications of different options.

The eighth article, “Adaptation to climate change and climate variability and its implications for household food security in Kenya”, uses a large household survey to analyse the level of adaptation of small-holding farms.

The ninth article, “Crop yield gap and yield convergence in African countries”, offers a perspective of the evolution of crop production and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis leads to a series of policy recommendations.

The tenth article, “Internationally-based indicators to measure Agri-food systems sustainability using food sovereignty as a conceptual framework”, revisits the theme of food sovereignty. The article proposes a quantitative methodology allowing analysis of the functioning of food systems at the international level.

Still dealing with food systems, the eleventh article, “How important are supermarkets for the diets of the urban poor in Africa?” considers the emergence of supermarkets in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the consequences for the urban poor. The analysis enables positioning this new component of the current food system, with important policy consequences.

The twelfth article is “Developing fruit tree portfolios that link agriculture more effectively with nutrition and health: a new approach for providing year-round micronutrients to smallholder farmers”. This work addresses and analyses the importance of fruits in the diversity and balance of diets.

The thirteenth article is “Exposure of the EU-28 food imports to extreme weather disasters in exporting countries”. The study looks at the vulnerability of Europe with respect to its agricultural imports. Hopefully, we shall soon publish on the vulnerability of Europe’s export—which is critically important to global food security.

The two last articles of this December issue deal with fish—which is not sufficiently represented in Food Security. The fourteenth article is “Measurement and implications of marine food security in the Western Indian Ocean: an impending crisis?” and addresses current threats to fish catches. The last article of the issue, “Following the fish inland: understanding fish distribution networks for rural development and nutrition security”, addresses the difficult distribution network of fish reaching populations.