In this issue

We start this issue with an appreciation of the life of Ronald Wood (1919–2017) by Simon Archer. Professor Wood or RKS, as he was widely known, had a long and distinguished career in Plant Pathology. In particular, he must be credited with providing the impetus for the study of the physiology of plant disease by the research at his University, Imperial College, London, and his book, Physiological Plant Pathology. The subject has gained ever-increasing interest and has inexorably evolved into Molecular Plant Pathology. Some may ask why a food security journal devotes several pages to the obituary of a plant pathologist. The answer lies in the number of papers in which plant diseases arise. Out of 714 articles published in the journal since its inception in 2009, 396 i.e. 55% include the term plant disease, even more than nutrition at 386 i.e. 54%. This suggests that plant diseases are recognized as important determinants of food insecurity. However, papers describing the details of how they should be dealt with probably belong in plant pathology journals but their effects on food security decidedly belong in this one! The issue continues with a special section of 13 papers, describing part of a large project, Trans-SEC, dealing with regional food and nutritional security in Tanzania. The authors and their contributions are summarized by Stefan Sieber and in an accompanying paper by the same author the principles, research models and assumptions underlying the project are presented. The special section is followed by an opinion piece and nine original papers ranging from increasing the diversity of local diets, through crop losses, both pre-harvest and postharvest, to marketing, livelihoods and governance. Finally, there are two book reviews. Peter Horton opines that only radical change in the way we produce and consume food will allow the delivery of a sustainable and just global food system. Neither organic agriculture nor business as usual will feed the growing population. Peter offers a 10-point plan to solve the problem and suggests that each point should be tested empirically in specific locations. Peter R. Berti and Heber Araujo Cossio report on the promotion of chicken rearing in order to provide improved diets for Bolivian people. Egg production was established in ~80% of intervention households and increased egg consumption was recorded but intake of most nutrients did not change. The performance of three types of wheat in Ethiopia were compared by Zewdu Ayalew Abro and co-authors. These were traditional local varieties susceptible to stripe rust (caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici), improved varieties that were rust suceptible and improved varieties that were rust resistant. The last of these increased yields by 8% in comparison with traditional susceptible varieties but rust pressures were low in the years under study. Unfortunately, the improved varieties, with or without rust resistance performed considerably worse than local varieties under drought and other abiotic stresses, emphasising the necessity of combining resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses as well as high yield in the same variety. Ruth Chepchirchir and co-authors report on the success of push-pull technology (PPT) as an integrated techique for the simultaneous control of stemborers, the parasitic weed, Striga, and low soil fertility in Uganda. This remarkable technique boosted yields of maize and reduced the probability of being poor from 48% to 28% as average household incomes increased from 135 to 235 US$. Post-harvest losses of horticultural crops in Samoa are a serious problem and consequently their reduction is a priority. Steven Underhill and co-authors found that losses were particularly high – up to 22% for soursop (Annona muricata), papaya, Tahitian lime, mustard cabbage (Brassica juncea) and choko (Sechium edule). Contributing factors to these high losses were low or sporadic purchasing behaviour of consumers, necessitating long periods of storage and high tropical ambient temperatures. Jannike Wichern and co-authors report on food availability and livelihood strategies among rural households across Uganda. Households with limited food availability relied * R. Strange r.strange@ucl.ac.uk