The editorial board is pleased to announce the debut of the African Journal of Agriculture, Nutrition and Hospitality (AJANH). The Journal was founded in response to the increasing demands on issues around agricultural production, controversies around food and nutritional sciences including hospitality. The editorial team worked tirelessly to compile articles for the first edition of the Journal. 

In this issue, the focus is on influential factors in agriculture, land and crop production as well as on gender equity, especially as it pertains to entrepreneural skills in agriculture and policy reforms. The contributors throw light on how certain behaviour and attitudes can influence food choices, particularly among certain age groups. The debut issue equally highlights an ongoing commitment in advancing the field of Agriculture, which is seen as the primary feeder to both the Nutrition and Hospitality industries. 

The debut issue contains five well-researched papers: 

In “Gender Targeting in Agriculture Subsidy Policy Reforms: A Comparative Analysis of Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) and Agriculture Input Program (AIP) in Malawi”, Gracious Chirambo examined whether agricultural subsidy reforms in Malawi have enhanced gender-specific targeting, focusing on the transition from the Fertilizer Input Subsidy Programme to its successor, the Agriculture Inputs Programme. The research concluded that the agricultural subsidy policy reform in Malawi has not effectively advanced gender targeting.

Ademola, Oyegbami and Adeniran in “Analysis of Gender based Entrepreneurial Skills Required of Agricultural Education Students for Entry into Oil Palm Production Enterprises in South-Western State in Nigeria” discussed the entrepreneurial skills necessary for Agricultural Education students aspiring to enter the competitive trade of oil palm production enterprises in South-Western Nigeria. They contended that “understanding the nuances of planning, organizing, and personal attributes, educators and policymakers can better equip aspiring entrepreneurs, irrespective of gender, thus fostering a more robust and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in South-Western Nigeria”.

In “Building Resilience among potato smallholder farmers through Collaborative-based-Revenue Insurance Scheme (CoBRIS) in Tanzania”, Ngozi Semeni discusses the strategies used to build resilience among smallholder potato farming households in Tanzania.  The author recommends that micro-insurance providers like MGen, UAP, and ACRE Africa should keep collaborating with Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives (AMCOS) such as Lusitu Agribusiness Group to increase the likelihood that potato smallholder farmers will voluntarily participate in and pay- for- crop-revenue insurance products like CoBRIS.

Limpho Kokome in “Influential Actors and Motivations in Shaping Lesotho’s Land Policy Reform Agenda” analyses Lesotho’s land reform policy, focusing on the 2009 Land Bill and its culmination in the 2010 Land Act. The study shows the complex interplay between foreign aid and domestic public policy and also highlights the tension between donor-driven economic objectives and local social needs.

Lastly, in the “Social Norm and Attitudes of Young Consumers to Organic Food in Nigeria” paper, Oloveze,, Oteh, Ollawa, C. C., Ogbonna,  and Onwusiribe, investigated organic food market in developing economies and consumer attitude to it, particularly among  young people in Nigeria. Their findings revealed that social norm performs a dual role on young consumers’ organic food choice behaviour with the strongest influence being the indirect path to affective element.

Our target is that the journal will be one of the leading global journals in the field in no distant time.