Introduction
Agri-Innovations in Developing Countries: Relevant Responses to the Environmental, Food, and Social Crisis

I.1. Introduction

A total of 828 million people were suffering from food poverty in 2021, representing 9.8% of the world's population. In 2019 and 2020, this share was 8% and 9.3%, respectively. Nearly 2.3 billion people (29.3% of the world population) were moderately or severely food insecure. In 2021, 31.9% of the world's women were moderately or severely food insecure, compared to 27.6% of men. Note that 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet. In most countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, as well as in some Central American countries, the food emergency is absolute. In the world, due to the increase in social inequalities, conflicts and especially climate change, food is far from being guaranteed and the conditions of agricultural production are worsening. The latest FAO report (2022) is more than alarming. If nothing is done to curb global warming, improve the sharing of wealth and stop military conflicts between nations, it is the world's food security that will be threatened: loss of nutrients in staple foods, reduced harvests, large-scale climatic disasters in several regions, etc. The risks are high and the first signs of this agricultural and food crisis are already visible. Food security will be increasingly compromised by future climate change due to lower yields, especially in tropical regions, higher prices, reduced quality of nutrients and disruptions in the supply chain.

Ecologically responsible agricultural production, less harmful to the environment and biodiversity, requires targeted innovations through research processes, dissemination of relevant knowledge, for the experimentation of this knowledge in the field, productive adaptation, integration in crops, livestock and processing or by promoting adapted commercial channels and creative entrepreneurship.

I.2. Food security, climate change and socioeconomic disorder

Food safety can only be understood holistically: it encompasses all elements that can impact food safety at each stage of the agri-food value chain. Applying this approach means that food safety is not only about the development of the final product that starts with primary production, with it being processed in the factory and sold in the market, but also emphasizes the need for interaction between all stakeholders in the value chain and between these and the characteristics of their environment, such as climate change, demographics, the state of the economy, social structure, etc. (Gaitis and Ouzounidou 2017).

The correlation between food security and climate change is part of a sociotechnical and economic context based on the following three pillars (Uzunidis 2019):

a) The rapid increase in the world population associated with malnutrition, poverty and famine: the FAO estimates that by 2050, the global demand for food and feed will increase by 60%. Two billion people in the world are overweight; one billion are chronically undernourished.

b) The domination of the petrochemical paradigm in economic activity.

c) The socioeconomic organization and the global model of governance: industrial and intensive agriculture and breeding, transnational oligopoly (Big Food), conflicts of sanitary norms and patents, protectionist tendencies, unequal distribution of income and access to food resources, decrease or sudden fluctuations of raw material prices, etc. - "planet for profit strategies and policies" or "profit strategies against planet and people". The current food system generates one-third of greenhouse gas emissions!

The correlation between agriculture, food security and climate change can be seen in the definitions of these two concepts: food security is achieved when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their energy needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

The following four conditions must be met to achieve food safety:

- Food availability: this first condition refers to the quantity of food available that is sufficiently abundant to satisfy the vital needs of the population. The growth of agricultural production must therefore be positively correlated with the increase in population.

- Physical, social and economic access to food: this second condition refers to demand. The evolution of the supply of agricultural products must be correlated with the evolution of demand, which, correlated with the level of income, must be satisfied to cover vital individual and collective needs.

- The quality of the food consumed: this condition refers to the nature of the products consumed and must be correlated with other parameters related to health, the physical environment and the individual and collective socialization of the populations.

- Stability or sustainability, in the sense that the food security sought is not a one-time event and must be part of a sustainable and socially equitable development perspective.

Food security is therefore a complex, multidimensional concept that depends on agricultural and cooperation policies, economic choices, trade regulations and social policies and standards.

Climate change refers to all variations in climatic characteristics. Air pollution, resulting from human activities, modifies the climate, in the sense of a global warming. This phenomenon can cause significant damage: rising sea levels, increased extreme weather events (droughts, floods, cyclones, etc.), destabilization of forests, threats to freshwater resources, agricultural difficulties, desertification, reduction of biodiversity, extension of tropical diseases, etc.

The effects of climate change are increasingly felt in agricultural production. Inaction in decision-making to adapt to this change is becoming an insurmountable constraint, with the risk of leading to a total impasse. In any case, adjustments must be multi-level and implemented at the international, national and local levels on the basis of a set of precise and imperative actions to address the issues raised by climate change. Climate change is a major concern in primary production, marketing and processing, in particular, of plants, as extreme weather events in recent decades have resulted in lower crop yields, loss of production and income due to harsh bioeconomic conditions, and a decrease in the quantities of nutritious quality products packaged and processed (Ortiz-Bobea et al. 2021).

The challenge, according to the experts (Christopoulos and Ozounidou 2021), is to articulate an economic approach, environmental protection and new models of technological, organizational and social innovation and social justice in a context of economic globalization, privatization/commodification of natural resources and deepening inequalities. Indeed, regarding the variations and the extreme climatic conditions:

a) They are negatively impact the availability, access, use and stability of agricultural and food resources, as well as feeding, care and health practices. Direct and indirect climate impacts have a cumulative effect, leading to increased food insecurity and malnutrition.

b) They are negatively correlated with agricultural productivity, food production, cropping patterns, thus contributing to food shortages, and nutrition: the nutritional quality and diversity of food produced and consumed deteriorates, and water stress increases, resulting in increased health risks, diseases and poverty.

c) They lead to sharp increases and volatility in primary product and food prices, often associated with losses of farm income reducing access to food and negatively affecting the quantity, quality and dietary diversity of food consumed.

I.3. Paradigm shift

As climate change contributes to biodiversity loss, which poses an imminent and ongoing threat to food security and livelihoods, the urgency of the paradigm shift is equally clear (Schlaile et al. 2022). The food chain faces increasing threats each year from repeated droughts, floods, wildfires, loss of wildlife and the emergence of new pests, microbes and viruses. In response to these threats to cope with climate change, there is a need to (a) implement measures to plan new plantings by selecting appropriate varieties according to local climatic conditions, (b) promote research and development (R&D) to discover/design stress-resistant varieties, (c) record climatic parameters, (d) provide timely information to growers on the importance of modifying conventional farming practices (e.g. use of chemicals and intensive farming), (e) use modern technological tools (precision or smart farming), (f) develop irrigation and flood protection infrastructure, (g) restructure some crops to higher elevations where conditions are more suitable, (h) provide artificial soil cover crops and (i) rely on traditional and endogenous knowledge and models of community self-organization that can be compatible with "doing" and "sustaining". In animal husbandry, the use of on-farm technologies to improve herd management for maximum production results at the lowest possible cost is another avenue to explore. Finally, and for all this, water management is the key issue. The achievement of all these objectives, which are difficult to reach but urgent, requires the introduction of major innovations in the productive systems.

To cope with extreme weather events, satisfy ever-changing consumer tastes, and meet ever-increasing demand for high-quality food, or simply...