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LEVERAGING AGRICULTURE FOR IMPROVING NUTRITION AND HEALTH 205


approaches and horticultural remedies used to treat poor nutrition can also do a great deal to improve health. Price policies can be used to promote consump- tion of more nutritious foods. Biofortification of staple crops can significantly improve the nutrition and health status of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children. Civil society actors such as nongovernmental organizations can bring indigenous knowledge about agriculture, nutrition, or health to bear on projects in other sectors.


• Incorporate nutrition into value chains for food products. The private sector plays an integral role in forming value chains and needs to have proper incentives, stemming from consumer demand, government intervention, or both, to include nutrition considerations at each stage of the chain. Improved nutrition results not only from greater volumes of food production on farms, but also from the way food commodities are handled in the postfarm segments of value chains. Processing can enhance year-round availability of products with high nutrient value. Fortification during postharvest processing can improve nutrient content or availability. Transport and storage improvements can reduce postharvest losses and deterioration of the nutritional quality of foods. Efficient post-farm handling can reduce costs and retail prices, thus increasing access for poor consumers. For underutilized crops rich in nutrients, value chains can be created to promote their conservation, cultivation, marketing, and consumption.


• Use all available levers for change. Science and technology levers, as well as eco- nomic, social, and governance levers, are important for maximizing agriculture’s contribution to nutrition and health. Science and technology levers could include innovations along the whole value chain. Plant and livestock breeding can increase both availability of and access to food. Food-processing technologies can reduce storage losses and increase nutrient value. Reducing transport costs can make food more affordable as well as accessible, especially for poor urban populations. Economic levers could include policies related to markets, trade, prices, and investment. Social levers could include education and activities to promote behavioral change. Governance levers could include incentives and institutional arrangements, as well as inclusion of marginalized and excluded groups—especially women, who are at the nexus of the agriculture, nutrition, and health sectors. Political levers can also be used to generate leadership that galvanizes different sectors to work together effectively and to learn more about prioritizing and sequencing actions and investments to link the three sectors.


• Increase consumers’ nutrition literacy and highlight the consequences of dietary choices. Consumer awareness campaigns, such as nutrition literacy programs in villages,


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