“We’re not headed to a good place. We’re in a situation where food systems are not working. We’ve got nearly a billion hungry now, and we’ve got to prepare for feeding 9 billion by 2050. We’re in a situation where smallholders farmers have not got secure livelihoods, are at risk due to climate change, and where, at least in my estimation, we may well be entering into another serious period because of rising food prices and food price volatility. We’ve got a lot of action underway. . . . But to take the links between agriculture, nutrition, and health to scale, we have to do a lot more.”


—David Nabarro, United Nations


farmers. A more diverse and productive agri- cultural system will in turn accelerate growth in the rural nonfarm sector, in areas like agro- processing. Investments in rural infrastructure could help ensure that this growth can take place and will contribute to better nutrition.


It is important to remember, however, that


a growth strategy must be accompanied by investments in safety nets and education, nutri- tion, and health programs so that the poorest people are not left behind.


AGRICULTURE FOR BETTER NUTRITION


So far, the agriculture and nutrition sectors have tended to operate in separate spheres, and little effort has been made to use agricultural policies and programs specifically to improve human nutrition. A few programs and approaches, how- ever, point to the significant potential for lever- aging agriculture to improve nutrition.


Food products often undergo many stages


between farm and fork, and this value chain— that is, the supply chain along which value is added to a product—offers opportunities for improving nutrition. Value-chain analysis can be used to assess why foods are or are not avail- able in specific communities, why foods cost what they do, and how the nutrient quality of foods changes through the chain. Once prob- lems are identified, value-chain approaches can be used to design and implement solutions to increase the availability, affordability, and quality of nutritious foods. For example, this approach can lead to increased production, better distribution, and greater consumption of fruits and vegetables or biofortified foods (that is, crops with extra nutrients bred into


them). It can result in new initiatives to create more nutritious process foods or to buy nutri- tious products from local farmers. Value-chain approaches are only beginning to be used, so there is much more potential for them to make a difference.5


In Bangladesh and elsewhere, Helen Keller


International is using home food production to leverage agriculture for nutrition. This scheme aims to increase households’ production and consumption of micronutrient-rich vegetables, fruits, and animal-source foods to address defi- ciencies in vitamin A and iron, especially among young children and women. The goal is not just to achieve improve households’ nutrition, but also to enhance the livelihoods of women smallholder farmers through better access to markets, agricultural services, and health and nutrition services. Participants have produced bumper crops, and in some countries, the program has reduced the prevalence of anemia in nonpregnant women and the prevalence of anemia and night blindness in young children. The model has been extended to Cambodia, Nepal, and the Philippines and now reaches more than 5 million people.6


And still other interventions are being tried


to come to grips with the challenges: examples include local production of foods for school


“I’ve never really understood why when women grow fruits and vegetables, it’s called ‘kitchen gardens,’ and when men grow the same things, it’s called ‘high-value horticulture.’”


—Ruth Meinzen-Dick, International Food Policy Research Institute


3


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20