To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, research concepts and empirical evi-dence are needed to upgrade smallholder activities within local value chains (LVCs) of many developing countries. Yet, comprehensive gender-sensitive investigations ofthe evolution and multiplicity of governance in whole food systems with parallel functioning of local and modern value chains (MVCs) are greatly underrepresented inthe scientific literature.
Research and the dissemination of evidence-based guidelines for best practice in crop production are fundamental for the protection of our crop yields against biotic and abiotic threats, and for meeting ambitious food production targets by 2050.