This paper assesses the potential of jack bean as a viable diversification strategy within Indonesia’s soybean-dependent tempeh industry. Such a change could address structural challenges including dependence on imported soybeans, exposure to global price fluctuations, and supply chain vulnerabilities. As a locally sourced, nutritionally competitive, and climate-resilient crop, jack bean offers an alternative protein source that could strengthen Indonesia’s food security and sovereignty. Given Indonesia’s large tempeh market, capturing even a small share represents a significant commercial opportunity.
Food trade plays a significant role in shaping food security and nutrition worldwide, with both positive and negative implications for diet quality. This is particularly relevant in West Africa, where persistent challenges such as low dietary diversity and limited affordability of healthy diets coexist with rapidly changing food consumption patterns.
Intra-regional food trade is especially important in this context, yet its scale and nutritional significance remain poorly understood due to the large share of trade that goes unrecorded in official statistics.
Jack bean offers Indonesia a practical, climate-resilient crop option at a time when El Niño, drought and rising climate variability are putting farmers, food security and agricultural systems under increasing pressure. Drawing on experiences from drought-prone regions across Indonesia, the blog highlights how jack bean continues to grow, flower and produce when crops such as maize, chili and soybean struggle or fail. Its deep roots, nitrogen-fixing ability, tolerance of poor soils and potential use in foods such as tempeh make it valuable for smallholder resilience, soil health, food diversification and reducing dependence on imported soybeans. The blog argues that Indonesia should give jack bean stronger policy, research, extension and market support as part of its climate adaptation and food security strategies.
At AVPN Global Conference 2026 in New Delhi, GAIN will show how nutrition can be embedded across Asia’s food systems, investment strategies and development priorities — helping funders, investors and partners move from food production to better diets, stronger markets and more resilient communities.
A new tool helps decision makers do just that. The Priority List uses a holistic food rating system called the Nutritional Value Score to identify the most nutritious foods for programmes and policies.
In low- and middle-income countries where GAIN and partners work, every bite counts towards tackling persistent undernutrition and rising rates of diet-related chronic disease.
Start Where You Are: A Story of Food, Conflict & Hope With Aida Eyasu
EP 33
At just 16, Ethiopian youth leader Aida turned wartime scarcity into a calling — cooking for her…
The 2026 Food Systems Countdown Report reveals that progress is too slow and insufficient to meet 2030 goals, but 2050 could still be achievable, provided actions are consistent and accelerated.
Crowdsourcing, i.e., leveraging digital platforms to mobilise distributed contributors for
data collection, harnessing the collective power of large, distributed networks of people to accomplish such tasks through open calls has gained traction in recent years, yet practical guidance for implementation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
remains limited. This paper examines lessons from three food systems research case
studies conducted by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition in Indonesia and Kenya
between 2019-2024, analysing what worked, what didn't, and why.
In Tehene, a remote community near Gurué in central Mozambique, high costs and difficult market access mean families rarely eat animal-source foods such as frozen fish or chicken. To help close this gap, entrepreneur Inocêncio Calado founded Alto Licungo, a cold chain distribution business supported by GAIN’s Improving the Consumption of Animal Source Foods project. Inspired by his late father, Inocêncio is helping transport perishable foods safely across long distances so rural communities can access nutritious foods more regularly.
According to the 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, an estimated 935 million people in sub-Saharan Africa cannot afford a healthy diet. This stark reality underscores one of the region's greatest nutrition challenges: ensuring that nutritious foods are not only available, but also affordable for the people who need them most.
Addressing this challenge requires strong agrifood businesses capable of producing, processing and distributing nutritious foods at scale. This is precisely why the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) launched the Nutritious Foods Financing Facility (N3F).
